The church of Jesus Christ is where believers gather to worship God, fellowship with other Christians, and become equipped to go forth into the world and evangelize the lost. As Christians we should get excited every time we go to church because it’s the “in place” to be where we can meet with the Creator of the universe, learn of Him, pray to Him, and fall more in love with Him.
Below are many quotes that I pray give you a better understanding of why the church exists, how essential it is to our spiritual well-being, and its role in society.1
“The church has a double responsibility in relation to the world around us. On the one hand we are to live, serve and witness in the world. On the other hand we are to avoid becoming contaminated by the world. So we are neither to seek to preserve our holiness by escaping from the world nor to sacrifice our holiness by conforming to the world.” – John Stott
“The church is not a select circle of the immaculate, but a home where the outcast may come in. It is not a palace with gate attendants and challenging sentinels along the entrance-ways holding off at arm’s-length the stranger, but rather a hospital where the broken-hearted may be healed, and where all the weary and troubled may find rest and take counsel together.” – James H. Aughey
“The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.” – William Temple
“We do not want a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world.” – G.K. Chesterton
“The glory of the gospel is that when the church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones
“The church is a hospital for sinners, and not a museum for saints.” – Vance Havner
“Church attendance is as vital to a disciple as a transfusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man.” – Dwight L. Moody
“It takes more than a busy church, a friendly church, or even an evangelical church to impact a community for Christ. It must be a church ablaze, led by leaders who are ablaze for God.” – Wesley L. Duewel
“The church that is not jealously protected by mighty intercession and sacrificial labors will before long become the abode of every evil bird and the hiding place for unsuspected corruption. The creeping wilderness will soon take over that church that trusts in its own strength and forgets to watch and pray.” – A. W. Tozer
“Men are God’s method. The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.” – E.M. Bounds
“The church is not the way to heaven; the church is the sign that points to heaven.” — Adrian Rogers
“I don’t think the job of the church is to make people happy. I think it’s to make them holy.” — Chuck Colson
“The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity.” — Mike Stachura
“The Church is the one institution that exists for those outside it.” — William Tyndale
“The church changes the world not by making converts but by making disciples.” – John Wesley
“God’s church is not a stage for us to perform on but a garden for us to grow in.” – Michael Horton
“Church is what you do. Church is who you are. Church is the human outworking of the person of Jesus Christ. Let’s not go to Church, let’s be the Church.” – Bill Hybels
“He created the church to meet your five deepest needs: a purpose to live for, people to live with, principles to live by, a profession to live out, and power to live on. There is no other place on earth where you can find all five of these benefits in one place.” – Rick Warren
“I believe that one reason why the church of God at this present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the church.” – Charles Spurgeon
“The Church right now has more fashion than passion, is more pathetic than prophetic, is more superficial than supernatural.” – Leonard Ravenhill
“The True Church can never fail. For it is based upon a rock.” – T. S. Eliot
“Church is not an organization you join; it is a family where you belong, a home where you are loved and a hospital where you find healing.” – Nicky Gumbel
1 All of the following quotes are from the websites below:
121 Quotes About Church | ChristianQuotes.info
21 Great Quotes About Church (whatchristianswanttoknow.com)
20 Great Quotes about the Church • Evangelica Sola (jonathanhayashi.com)
TOP 25 CHURCH QUOTES (of 1000) | A-Z Quotes (azquotes.com)
John R.W. Stott Quotes (Author of The Cross of Christ) (page 2 of 9) (goodreads.com)