Marlene Evans

“He values the structure of the “assembly” or “gathering,” as the word church literally means (Deuteronomy 4:10; 9:10; 31:30; Matthew 18:17; Acts 5:11; Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 1:22; 3:10; Hebrews 12:23). The visible church is, therefore, the gathering of the people of God. Whether there are two or three believers meeting or five thousand, Christ is there: “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20). There’s something special, valuable, about the gathering of believers, as opposed to simply the individual operating alone. Some of the other ways this gathering of believers, the church, is described in Scripture are the body, the family, the household, the bride, the building, the flock, the temple. The fact that Scripture reaches for so many descriptive terms to describe the church shows us its importance. God wants us to treasure the visible church. We will examine the first three—the body, the family, and the household.”
― Barbara Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Woman

“What does our life guide, the Bible, say? First Corinthians 7:40 declares that it is better to be single than married. Better! Shake yourself loose from the ideas of the world around you and look to God’s Word to see the single life described as an assignment, a calling, and a gift.”
― Barbara Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Woman

“THE BODY Because the church is “the gathering of God’s people,” the church is about relationships. This is especially clear in the comparison of the church to a body. Just as a physical body is intricately interconnected, the church too depends upon the proper function of each individual part. When one part fails, the entire body is affected.”
― Barbara Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Woman

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.”
― Barbara Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Woman