Revitalize Your Church

  Matthew 7 stands against a censorious Christianity. "Judge not that ye be not judged" Mattew 13 stands against a coercive Christianity. "Let both wheat and tares grow together until the harvest." Matthew 18 standS FOR a conscientious Christianity. "If your brother sins against you. . ." ensuring that the church of Matthew 7's and 13's accomodation does not wink at sin. Matthew 7 & 13 keep the church from being puritanical, while Matthew 18 keeps the church from being epicurean. -- Reggie Kidd quoting Emil Brunner .

Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults -- unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly smear on your own. --Luke 7:1-3 (The Message)

Mildred, the church gossip, and self-appointed monitor of the church's morals, kept sticking her nose into other people's business. Several members did not approve of her extra curricular activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence. She made a mistake, however, when she accused George, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his old pickup parked in front of the town's only bar one afternoon. She emphatically told George (and several others) that everyone seeing it there would know what he was doing. George, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just turned and walked away. He didn't explain, defend, or deny... he said nothing. Later that evening, George quietly parked his pickup in front of Mildred's house... walked home... and left it there all night. You gotta love George (e-mail from my friend Steve Gerich)