Christianity is not some ideal toward which we ought always to strive even though the ideal is out of reach. Christianity is not a series of slogans that sum up our beliefs.
Stanley HauerwasRead
The church doesn’t have a social strategy, the church is a social strategy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The church's existence and function serve as a strategy for social engagement and community building.
This quote by Stanley Hauerwas emphasizes that the essence of the church transcends mere programs or strategies; rather, the church itself embodies a way of living and connecting within society. It suggests that the church’s presence and its communal aspects inherently create a strategy for social interaction and transformation, highlighting the fundamental role of faith communities in addressing social issues.
Themes
ChurchSocial StrategyCommunityFaithInteraction
In practice
Example use cases
During a sermon about community service, this quote can be used to emphasize the church's role in social engagement.
More from Stanley Hauerwas
All quotes →My way of putting it is that Christians are called to live nonviolently not because we believe nonviolence is a strategy to rid the world of war, but in a world of war as faithful followers of Christ, we cannot imagine being anything other than nonviolent.
Stanley HauerwasRead
Advent is patience it's how God has made us a people of promise, in a world of impatience.
Stanley HauerwasRead
War is America's central liturgical act necessary to renew our sense that we are a nation unlike other nations.
Stanley HauerwasRead
To kill, in war or in any circumstance, creates a silence. It is right that silence should surround the taking of life. After all, the life taken is not ours to take.
Stanley HauerwasRead
The most creative social strategy we have to offer is the church. Here we show the world a manner of life the world can never achieve through social coercion or governmental action. We serve the world by showing it something that it is not, namely, a place where God is forming a family out of strangers.
Stanley HauerwasRead
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