Peter DeHaan > Quotes

“Spreading the gospel message requires going out to encounter people where they are, not expecting them to come to us and our church services (Acts 8:4, Acts 8:40, Romans 10:14–15, and 2 Corinthians 10:16). And”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“people go to a church building to experience God. The implication is that we can’t connect with him at other locations or through different situations.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“In recent years I haven’t gone to church for the music or the message. I show up for the chance to experience meaningful community before or after the service.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“Jesus wants disciples. He wants followers who go all in for him.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“New Testament commands and examples to use the money God blesses us with to do three things. First is to cover our needs—not our wants (Hebrews 13:5). Next is to help others (1 Corinthians 10:24). And third is to advance God’s kingdom (1 Peter 4:10).”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“Instead of staying in Jerusalem—something they’re used to and comfortable with—their mission is to go into the world and make disciples (Matthew 28:19–20).”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“So why do we persist in going to church to seek God, having a minister serve us, and tithing when Jesus died to give us something new, something much better?”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“It simply means pursuing intentional spiritual community. Though Sunday church may be one way to accomplish this, it’s not necessarily the best way.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“Whenever the New Testament mentions tithing, it always refers to the Old Testament practice. Nowhere do New Testament writers tell us to give 10 percent to God.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“As you meet, be sure to keep your focus on Jesus and his Holy Spirit.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“If we are truly priests through what Jesus did for us, then we don’t need ministers to point us to God, explain him to us, or help us know him. God wants us to do that for ourselves as his holy priests.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“The Almighty is now approachable for everyone. God ceases living in the temple and begins living in us. Our bodies become the temple of God. No longer do we need a physical building. We are his temple.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“People expect a church—their local church—to last forever. They forget that a congregation, comprised of people, is a living, breathing, and changing entity. It’s organic.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“This is not what Jesus had in mind. Through his sacrificial death, in one single action, Jesus does away with the need to go to a building, hire staff, and take an offering. We should do the same.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“Every church should make a positive impact on their community. They do this best by entering it. Yet so few do.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“We need to stop thinking of church for the things it will provide for us and instead consider the things we can do for it, that is, for the people who go there and the community surrounding it.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“Instead, his mission is to bring the Old Testament into fruition, according to God’s plan, set in place from the beginning. Jesus makes this clear. He says, “I have not come to abolish the Law and the prophets but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“We go to church. We connect with God. Then we head home. Once we leave the parking lot, we revert to non-church mode and resume our everyday life.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“Today’s church falls short of being a witness and making disciples. To do so requires an outward perspective, yet most churches have an inward focus.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“We must view the kingdom of God as both a present reality and a future promise.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“The triple aim of most churches—attendance, offerings, and facility—doesn’t matter as much as most people think. Said more bluntly, most church leaders today focus on the three Bs: butts (in the chairs), bucks (in the offering), and buildings. The congregation buys into this without hesitation. These measures of success become the focus. But this focus is off, even looking in the wrong direction.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“pursue spiritual community.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“If we leave church discouraged or fail to encourage others while we’re there, then we’ve missed the point of meeting together. While some people make a big deal out of going to church, they forget that the reason is to provide encouragement. If we’re not doing that, then we might as well stay home.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“The idea of all those present taking part suggests an egalitarian community gathering, where everyone contributes, and everyone ministers to each other. This removes the divide between leader and follower, which happens in today’s church services.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“We should look for a church that provides opportunities for us to serve, according to how God has wired us, in ways that make us come alive.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“They”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“We expect to meet in our own dedicated worship space. And we hire staff to serve as our liaison between us and God. These things carry a price tag, and our church budget reflects it.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“Are we staying put in our church where we’re comfortable, or are we looking outside of our Christian community to do what Jesus said to do?”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“Church membership is not biblical. We made it up.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective

“We shouldn’t shop for a church that provides the services we want. Instead, we should look for a faith community we can help.”
― Peter DeHaan, Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective