Eddie Gibbs Quotations

It removes the preacher from the community, ... and I've got some problem with that. Ministry requires an ongoing dialogue with the community.

Old churches must not simply stand as monuments to the past but as spiritual grandparents that have invested in the future by passing on their life to others and releasing their offspring to form new congregations. Church planting needs to be given priority by old-line denominations.

The twentieth century saw the emergence of a Churchless Mission and a Missionless Church

In all my eleven years of itinerant ministry I cannot recall any growing church which does not encourage small groups

Probably after Vietnam and Watergate, there was an increasing distrust of institutions, so that Jesus was still in, but the institutional church was no longer an attraction. So, I think that the dropping of the denominational label is to become more generic, less of a threat, less of a reminder of negative stereotypes if you've walked away from church.

Emerging church leaders are not impressed by those who defend the Christian faith by promoting definitive answers to convince those who doubt the faith.

Christians can not truly evangelize unless they are prepared to be evangelized in the process. In sharing the good news, people are enriched by the spiritual insights, honest questions and depth of devotion demonstrated by those of other faiths. Including others involves listening to them, learning from them. Much of what exists in other faiths may not necessarily be hostile to the kingdom. Christians can learn a lot from other walks of life.

I think what we are seeing is the detribalizing of Protestantism, in that if you have a large external constituency, which would identify culturally or historically with a particular denomination, then obviously it's a plus factor to have that identification,

You've got to find ways of being heard within that context, ... But we shouldn't get angry or try to reclaim the past.

The idea that you are at the centre of society, you're a foundational institution, there's been a move away from that, ... I think the church is struggling to regain that, which in my personal view, ain't gonna happen.