The Signature of Jesus

""The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very act of existence is an act of rebellion." There is nothing more maddening to the world than a free man or woman in Christ Jesus. People must not look to the church to reinforce the values of their culture, or to dust off on Sunday morning the idols they have been living by during the week.

The early church was built on small groups of people who came together to support one another in a whole new way of life. These primitive communities were visable evidence of an alternative to the status quo of their culture. Today we need small bands of people who take the gospel at face value, who realize God is doing, and who are living proof of being in the world but not of the world. These "base" communities or neighborhood churches should be small enough for intimacy, kindred enough enough for acceptance, and gentle enough for criticism. Gathered in the name of Jesus, the community empowers us to incarnate in our lives what we believe in our hearts and proclaim with our lips."

-Brennan Manning The signature of Jesus