The Enduring Community
by Brian Habig & Les Newsom

“If you do not want to go to church, you may be in good company. ...What is striking about all this is that it does not reveal disappointment on the part of those outside the Christian community, but rather, of those within. Professing Christians are often—at best—confused about what the local church means for their spiritual growth, or they are—at worst—altogether frustrated or disillusioned with it, even to the point of abandonment. … Are you frustrated with the local church? You may be in good company, and it may be that you are asking just the right questions.”

“Today’s Church (and here we are speaking in the sense of all the people everywhere who constitute it) is like an insecure teenager. A teen struggling with self-image has no idea who he or she is and ends up morphing into a different person with each passing crowd, becoming like whoever happens to be closest at the time.”

“Without the mirror of objective truth, people are increasingly incapable of measuring themselves anymore. The ancient Greeks admonished their students to “know thyself,” albeit for pagan ends. But the heroes of today wear their shaky sense of self as a badge. Singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow wonders “why I’m a stranger in my own life.” The Latin root from which the word “identity” is derived is idem. The word is a pronoun meaning same. To say that you “identify” with someone is to say that in some sense you see a similarity between yourselves. There is wonderful news: (1) God, by His grace, identifies with His people; (2) God’s people, by His grace, identify with Him; (3) God’s people, by His grace, identify with each other in fellowship; and, finally, (4) God’s people, because of His grace, identify with those outside the Church.”

“In the beginning, God gathered a Church. Throughout the Old Testament, He matured her and chastened her. He atoned for her sin through His Son, Jesus Christ. His angels now roam throughout the four corners of the Earth, gathering His elect, His Church. One day, He will present her as a spotless Bride to His Son, where they will commune for eternity. God has always been about the business of His Church. It is our heritage, our home, and our hope. It is the Enduring Community.”