Just Sharing a few thoughts from some of my past and current readings
Years ago I read a book that went by the name,
Gentle Persuasion, by Joe Aldrich
In that book Joe asked;
What would you think of a church that pictured itself as a Spirit-filled department store, a place where all the sanitized employees show up at 7:30 a.m., march in, lock the doors, and sell Christian Merchandise to each other all day?
While Joe might have been exaggerating a bit there, nevertheless there is a bit of truth in that statement.
Then Joe made this statement which I like
The church is no haven until Heaven, no refuge until the Rapture. Nor is it a fortress to be defended, or the National Guard. It's an army focused outward whose soliders are deployed into barber shops, gas stations, businesses, and neighborhoods where the lost live, serve, and work.
The reason I posted that was because of a few thoughts I have today when I read the following quote which I found
"The holiest moment of the church service is the moment when God’s people—strengthened by preaching and sacrament—go out of the church door into the world to be the church. We don’t go to church; we are the church." - Ernest Southcott