Stephan Bauman > Quotes

“Commenting on these passages, Mark Gornik, a theologian, pastor, and community developer in the United States, says, “Here then from both James and Paul is a central witness drawn from all of Scripture: God has sovereignly chosen to work in the world by beginning with the weak who are on the ‘outside,’ not the powerful who are on the ‘inside.’”9 The claim here is not that the poor are inherently more righteous or sanctified than the rich. There is no place in the Bible that indicates that poverty is a desirable state or that material things are evil. In fact, wealth is viewed as a gift from God. The point is simply that, for His own glory, God has chosen to reveal His kingdom in the place where the world, in all of its pride, would least expect it, among the foolish, the weak, the lowly, and the despised.”
― Stephan Bauman, Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugees Crisis

“Building relationships helps us to avoid lumping all refugees into one category of our understanding.”
― Stephan Bauman, Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugees Crisis

“What a privilege! I don’t feel like we are in a crisis. God is giving us the chance to welcome people and it is blessing our church with a new spirit!”
― Stephan Bauman, Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugees Crisis

“When you know someone personally, writes psychologist Mary Pipher, “that person stops being a stereotype and becomes a complex human being like oneself.”1”
― Stephan Bauman, Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugees Crisis

“If we aggressively pursue truth, if we are willing to sacrifice, if we look for wisdom from those on the periphery, we have the potential to shock the world from its apathy.”
― Stephan Bauman

“Most people measure themselves against someone or something and then fight their inner doubts to believe they, too, have what it takes to do something meaningful with their lives. This inner tension creates a longing for some shard of shalom, some personal peace, some measure of rest. So we scurry to our faith communities in search of well-being, only to find the same pecking order, the same penchant for success, the same proclivity for performance from which we sought shelter.”
― Stephan Bauman, Break Open the Sky: Saving Our Faith from a Culture of Fear

“The global refugee crisis is indeed global. It isn’t a question of whether we should respond here (in the West) or there (at the crises’ points of origin), nor if we should address immediate needs or root causes. We can and must do all of the above.”
― Stephan Bauman, Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugees Crisis