Hugh Halter > Quotes

“Jesus shows us that there’s never a change of mind unless there’s a change of heart, and there will never be a change of heart without a conversation between trusted friends.

Halter, Hugh (2014-02-01). Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth (p. 167). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.”
― Hugh Halter

“If you want a safe faith, you will never really know God because He doesn’t hang out in the shallow end much.”
― Hugh Halter, Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth

“Do you ever wonder why a battered wife stays with her husband? Why people continue to spend money they don’t have even though they know they are deeply in debt? Why some keep jamming food in their mouths when they’re already overweight? Why do people stay in bad relationships? Why are some people still racist? Why do people still drink and drive? You’d think the response to all these things would be obvious and cause them to scream, “Duh, of course I need to change this.” Why do we keep doing church the same way even when we know it’s in critical decline? Why do paid church leaders spend so much time preparing for a 90-minute service for Christians who have heard it all before? Why do we still call our message the good news when it clearly seems to be bad news or no news to Sojourners? Why do we think Pharisees are only found in the Bible? Why is returning to a simpler form of ancient church so hard to grasp?”
― Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

“Jesus is not saying, “Make sure you pray a prayer of repentance, start going to church, and wait for Me to come back.” He is saying, “You can live a radically different life because there’s a new world order that just broke in, so stop walking in the direction you’re going, turn 180 degrees, and walk toward Me and life in the kingdom of God.”

Halter, Hugh (2014-02-01). Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth (p. 53). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.”
― Hugh Halter

“In God’s kingdom we are not just people He saves but fellow heirs of all that the King has.”
― Hugh Halter, Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth

“Christianity has lost its place at the center of American life. Christians must learn how to live the gospel as a distinct people who no longer occupy the center of society. We must learn to build relational bridges that win a hearing.”7”
― Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

“A documentary about Ernest Shackleton’s early twentieth-century exposition to the South Pole shows the classified ad Shackleton put in a London newspaper:   “Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.” Ernest Shackleton.2 Men responded to Shackleton’s advertisement in droves. Why? Because the mission was clear. The cost and potential loss both drew the right men and made sure the wrong men didn’t sign up. God’s mission, similarly, is not for the faint of heart. Even becoming a Christian, according to Jesus, should be weighed heavily. Luke says, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish”’ (Luke 14:28-30).”
― Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

“The second essential incarnational habit we hope to cultivate is simply listening. Listening is watching and sensitively responding to the unspoken and spoken needs of Sojourners in ways that demonstrate sincere interest.”
― Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

“Jesus’s gospel is not about a cosmic religious apocalypse upon rebellious pagans. His gospel is about a new messianic kingdom where He rules in the spirit of His Father, a kingdom full of joy, grace, freedom, and release from all that ails humanity.”
― Hugh Halter, Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth

“In other words, how “missional” you are is largely determined by the extent to which your people model the life, activities, and words of Jesus.”
― Hugh Halter, AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church

“The convictions we need to rally around should be about life giving, community transformation, holistic personal growth, sacrifice, beauty, blessing, and world renewal. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of a people committed to something that brings personal meaning and makes the world a better place?”
― Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

“We may not always feel it when building a deck for someone, shoveling snow, helping out financially, watching a neighbor’s kids, opening our home, or giving gifts, but these habits and activities do create a well that people will eventually gravitate toward.”
― Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

“Here is a truism. What you say about yourself matters very little, but what others say of you means the world.”
― Hugh Halter, Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth

“And the day is coming fast when the gospel will again pass through the lives and ministries of normal people who have a full calling to ministry but also have a trade.”
― Hugh Halter, Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth

“People can’t see God clearly because we keep creating fog banks of failed legalism, self-focused religion, definitions of holiness that extract us from the real world, and fear of our new neighbors because they are not like us. We are not friends of the world, which makes us very unlike Jesus—the one we purport to follow.”
― Hugh Halter, Brimstone: The Art and Act of Holy Nonjudgment

“I think the reason this was so important to Jesus was that He wanted people to know that God is relational—truly relational without any impure or selfish motives. He wanted His Father to be trusted, and therefore He needed men and women who represented this. The psychology of agendas is that they make relationships transactional, which means that people are used for a purpose. People become a means to someone else’s end, and this erodes a person’s belief that he or she is valued regardless of any production.”
― Hugh Halter, Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth

“This is a deeply sacrilegious book, and I expect that many will find it offensive. But I think that they will be offended in the right way; that is, the same way that Jesus offended people. Part of the mission of Jesus (and by extension his church) is to relieve us of the intolerable burden of our neo-pharisaic religion. I call it neo-pharisaic because it is just a new manifestation of a disease that has always plagued people of faith—religion! Religion is comprised of laying burdens on people’s shoulders, hypocrisy and double standards, gracelessness toward “sinners,” high-minded judgmentalism, straining at gnats and swallowing camels, externalization of faith in religious ritual, and not being pure in heart, among other things.”
― Hugh Halter, Sacrilege (Shapevine): Finding Life in the Unorthodox Ways of Jesus

“Unity can happen only when we shrink down the number of hills we will die on. And according to Paul it’s a very small list. For him, it’s one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God who’s got all the other stuff under control because He’s over all, through all, and in all.”
― Hugh Halter, Brimstone: The Art and Act of Holy Nonjudgment

“The gospel is not about trying to wedge a little Jesus into our crazy lives. The gospel is about letting God bring redemption and the way of his crazy kingdom into our frantically dysfunctional patterns of living.”
― Hugh Halter, BiVO: A Modern-Day Guide for Bi-Vocational Saints

“our problem is not judgment itself. It’s the lack of right discernment, the absence of perfect knowledge, the void of righteous reasoning that creates the buzz saw of trite, dehumanizing black-and-white lines.”
― Hugh Halter, Brimstone: The Art and Act of Holy Nonjudgment

“We have to remember that the ancient faith communities that set a course to change the history of the world did so without church programs, without paid staff, without Web sites, and without brochures, blogs, or buildings. They were lean! The point of going without all the stuff is simple but profound. When you don’t have all the “stuff,” you’re left with a lot of time to spend with people.”
― Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

“I just want you to know that we’re not a church, we’re a mission to Denver. I don’t feel any compulsion to feed you spiritually, but I will look after your spiritual formation. I believe you won’t grow unless you live like Jesus lived and try to do what he did with people. This mission probably has nothing to offer you. However, I’m interested in finding out if God brought you to us, and what your part in serving this city might be.” I go on to suggest that they won’t fit with us unless they are willing to open up their homes and lives to Sojourners and participate in a missional community within the city.”
― Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

“our “gathering”—or what people used to call “church”—is an aspect of what we do, but not the only thing. The gathering is where we . . . gather. That’s it. It’s a place that anyone can come to and not feel any pressure at any level.”
― Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

“Church is God’s people intentionally committing to die together so that others can find his kingdom.”
― Hugh Halter, AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church

“Whimsy is the ability to laugh, make light of, or downplay the words, behaviors, and worldview of Sojourners that might offend.”
― Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

“Did you know that we’re all created with a built-in desire to love the world, to bless people? It’s the main job description of a Christian. Way back when the term emerging church meant that the church was really emerging, God set up a deal with humanity.”
― Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

“We love Jesus as a baby on Christmas, and Jesus risen from the grave on Easter, but somehow we miss Jesus the man, the teacher, the sage, the rebel, the subversive King, the local hero, the neighborhood friend.”
― Hugh Halter, Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth

“The more we do “together,” the less individualistic we’ll be. The more we become “one” with Christ, the less consumer oriented we’ll be. The more we do for “others,” the less materialistic we’ll be.”
― Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

“I believe you won’t grow unless you live like Jesus lived and try to do what he did with people.”
― Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

“Have you ever stopped to ponder how Jesus lived his first thirty years without drawing any attention to his divine nature? I don’t know about you, but if I knew I was going to change the course of history, I’m sure it would have slipped out on occasion. I doubt I could have just lived a normal life. But Jesus did. He lived among people for three decades, developing the relational respect and trust of people in his community.”
― Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community