Alexander Strauch > Quotes

“Braggarts build themselves up, jealous people tear others down, but only loving people build others up.”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading With Love

“Jesus taught that "the great and first commandment is to love God completely, totally, and unreservedly -- with all one's heart, with all one's soul, and with all one's mind (Matt. 22:37-38; Mark 12:28-34). The sum of all God's commandments and all religious service is love for God. It is the believer's first priority. It is the reason we were created. Nothing in life is more right, more fulfilling, and more rewarding than loving God our Creator and Savior.”
― Alexander Strauch, Love or Die: Christ's Wake-up Call to the Church

“Instructing people to obey Christ’s commands is part of the Great Commission. It’s not enough to teach the facts about Christ, we are to teach, exhort, and train disciples to obey and live according to the commands of Christ.”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading with Love

“We must understand that the local church isn’t a country club or a casual self-help group. It is God’s holy temple, a congregation of redeemed saints and priests who are consecrated to God. It is God’s lighthouse in a dark world. It is “the pillar and support of the truth.”
― Alexander Strauch, The New Testament Deacon: The Church's Minister of Mercy

“Since the local church is “the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15b), its leaders must be rock-solid pillars of biblical doctrine or the house will crumble. Since the local church is also a small flock traveling over treacherous terrain that is infested with “savage wolves,” only those shepherds who know the way and see the wolves can lead the flock to its safe destination. An elder, then, must be characterized by doctrinal integrity.”
― Alexander Strauch, Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership

“When we would consider the love of God in Christ, we are as one approaching the ocean: he casts a glance on the surface, but the depths he cannot sound.” — R. C. C.”
― Alexander Strauch, Agape Leadership: Lessons in Spiritual Leadership from the Life of R.C. Chapman

“Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission (now called the Overseas Missionary Fellowship) believed that if money could motivate the merchants of England to cross life-threatening oceans and enter the interior of China at great personal risk of loss of life, could not the love of Christ motivate missionaries to do the same for the sake of the gospel?”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading With Love

“If money could motivate the merchants of England to cross death-defying oceans and enter the interior of China at great personal risk of the loss of life, could not the love of Christ motivate the missionaries to do the same for the sake of the gospel?”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading With Love

“Knowledge without love inflates the ego and deceives the mind.”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading With Love

“The nature of Christian love is to do the will of God. Obeying the Father was a delight for Jesus because he loved his Father:”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading with Love

“The eldership must clarify direction and beliefs for the flock. It must set goals, make decisions, give direction, correct failures, affect change, and motivate people. It must evaluate, plan, and govern. Elders, then, must be problem solvers, managers of people, planners, and thinkers.”
― Alexander Strauch, Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership

“A cold, unwelcoming church contradicts the gospel message.”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading with Love

“How are Bible-believing Christians who are indwelt by God’s Spirit and in possession of the guidance of God’s Word to handle their disagreements?” No group of people should be as well equipped to handle conflict as Bible-believing Christians. The Bible provides detailed instructions for handling conflict constructively. Christ provides the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to obey God’s Word and to control our sinful passions.”
― Alexander Strauch, If You Bite & Devour One Another: Biblical Principles for Handling Conflict

“This does not mean, however, that we must accept them passively, any more than we must accept death passively. The atonement of Christ gives us the warrant to fight against these penal effects of sin in whatever ways we can.”17”
― Alexander Strauch, Men and Women: Equal Yet Different

“Power is like saltwater; the more you drink the thirstier you get. The lure of power can separate the most resolute of Christians from the true nature of Christian leadership, which is service to others. It’s difficult to stand on a pedestal and wash the feet of those below.”
― Alexander Strauch, Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership

“And during times of persecution, hospitality can even be dangerous. Hospitality, therefore, is a concrete, down-to-earth test of our fervent love for God and His people. Love can be an abstract, indistinct idea; hospitality is specific and tangible. We seldom complain about loving others too much, but we do complain about the inconveniences of hospitality. Hospitality is love in action. Hospitality is the flesh and muscle on the bones of love. Through caring acts of hospitality, the reality of our love is tested.”
― Alexander Strauch, The Hospitality Commands: Building Loving Christian Community; Building Bridges to Friends & Neighbors

“New Testament, Christianized elders are not mere representatives of the people; they are, as the passages above show, spiritually qualified shepherds who protect, lead, and teach the people. They provide spiritual care for the entire flock. They are the official shepherds of the church.”
― Alexander Strauch, Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership

“Amy Carmichael once said, "Those who think too much of themselves don't think enough.”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading With Love

“If Paul did not love the Corinthians, he would walk away from them and let them flounder in their own cesspool of sin. Instead, he is proactive. He confronts, warns, writes, visits, and even humbles himself before them (2 Cor. 2:5-10; 12:21).”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading with Love

“Our Lord’s complaint against the church at Ephesus is “you have abandoned the love you had at first.” Literally translated, the text reads: “You have abandoned your love, the first.” Emphasis is placed on the adjective first, so the love they abandoned refers to their love as it was first expressed at the beginning of their life together as a church body. Jesus doesn’t say, ‘You have no love.” He says, “You have abandoned the love you had at first.” Their love was not what it used to be. While they still had some measure of love because they were, for the most part, true Christians and enduring hardship for his “name’s sake” (Rev. 2:3), they no longer possessed the kind of love they had in their early years as a church. They still loved the Lord, but not like they did at first. They still loved one another, but not like before. Their love for Christ and for one another had once motivated all they did. It brought joy, creativity, freshness, spontaneity, and energy to their life and work. But now their energy source was depleted. Their work had become mundane, mechanical, and routine, and their lives the picture of self-satisfaction. Instead of their love abounding, it had been lacking. Instead of being motivated by love from the heart, their works had become perfunctory. Even certain “works,” which sprang from their former love, vanished. For this, Jesus rebukes them and calls them to do those works again (Rev. 2:5). The object of their lost love is not stated. The text does not say love for Christ or love for fellow believers. It is best, then, to understand Jesus to mean Christian love in general, which would include love for God, love for one another in the church, and love for the lost. According to our Lord, love for God and neighbor are inseparable companions (Mark 12:29-31; Luke 10:27). It is impossible to love God and not love his people or to love his people and not love God (1 John 4:7-5:3). Jesus uses strong words in his complaint against the Ephesians. Jesus squarely places the responsibility at their feet when he says, “you have abandoned” or “given up”3 the love they once had. They can’t blame anyone else for this loss. They have had every advantage provided by years of good teaching, access to almost all of the New Testament Scriptures, and the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. No wonder Christ expresses extreme displeasure with the situation in Ephesus. Their loss of love is their fault. They have failed to “keep” themselves in the love of God (Jude 21). They must now face this fact and respond to Christ’s criticism and counsel.”
― Alexander Strauch, Love or Die: Christ's Wake-up Call to the Church

“the pagan Caecilius criticized the Christians because “hardly have they met when they love each other.... Indiscriminately they call each other brother and sister.”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading with Love

“You don’t have to be a preacher or have years of training to use your home to love and serve people.”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading with Love

“The work of feeding and tending sheep is hard work, arduous work, and love for the sheep alone will not do it; you must have a consuming love for the Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading with Love

“If you are going to bore people, don’t bore them with the Gospel. Bore them with calculus, bore them with earth science, bore them with world history. But it is a sin to bore people with the Gospel.”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading with Love

“Christianity, the humblest of all faiths, degenerated into the most power-hungry and hierarchical religion on the face of the earth. After the emperor Constantine elevated Christianity to the status of a state religion in A.D. 312, the once-persecuted faith became a fierce persecutor of all its opposition.”
― Alexander Strauch, Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership

“First, the Bible says that an elder must be of irreproachable moral character and capable in the use of Scripture because he is “God’s steward,” that is, God’s household manager (Titus 1:7). An elder is entrusted with God’s dearest and most costly possessions, His children. He thus holds a position of solemn authority and trust. He acts on behalf of God’s interests. No earthly monarch would dare think of hiring an immoral or incapable person to manage his estate. Nor would parents think of entrusting their children or family finances to an untrustworthy or incompetent person. So, too, the High and Holy One will not have an unfit, unqualified steward caring for His precious children.”
― Alexander Strauch, Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership

“If the men are supposed to be the heads of the family, they must also be the heads of the community. The community must be structured in a way that supports the pattern of the family, and the family must be structured in a way that supports the pattern of the community”
― Alexander Strauch, Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership

“Good shepherds love their sheep and spare no effort when leading them to green pastures and clear water.”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading with Love

“In every congregation, spiritual problems and physical needs exist for which the only solution is believing, persistent prayer.”
― Alexander Strauch, Leading with Love

“In his remarkably penetrating booklet, The Mark of the Christian, Francis Schaeffer reminds us that the real issue to be dealt with in most of our conflicts is not the issue at hand but our lack of Christlike love toward our fellow Christians:”
― Alexander Strauch, Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership