IDOLATRY

'Everyday church will expose our idols. You never really know what drives you until you live in an community. Other people threaten or thwart our sinful desires. Suddenly our idols keep popping up all over the place. They sit comfortably on the mantlepiece of our heart until somebody knocks them off. Then we cry out in protest or dive to catch them. But let them fall!'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Everyday Church, p.188.  

IDENTITY

'...it comes back to identity. We build our lives around how we see ourselves. If you see yourself first and foremost as a businessman or housewife or professional then you will build you life around this with your church as part of an orbiting fringe of activities. But if you see yourself first and foremost as a member of God's missional people then you will build your life around this identity. Jobs, houses, incomes are made to fit around your core identiaty.'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Everyday Church, p.169.

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

'Are we living a life that makes no sense without the gospel?'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Everyday Church, p.160.

GOD'S LOVE

'We know him to be a good, wise, loving, merciful God because he has shown himself to be that by giving his Son on the cross. That one act interprets all of God's other actions, functioning as a lens through which we should view life in all of its complexity.'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Everday Church, p.156.

EVANGELISM

'Many people today do not feel a big sense of guilt. And the guilt of falling short of God's law is not a feature of their thinking. There may be moments when they feel the need of forgiveness but generally they do not have a strong sense of being sinners. But they do feel trapped, unable to be the people they want to be. And the Bible has a compelling and persuasive explanantion for this - and good news of a way out.'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Everyday Church, p.141.

CHRISTIANITY

'In our culture Christianity is a bit like a bad dream, the details of which you cannot quite remember, but which has left you with a sesne of unease you want to be rid of.'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Everyday Church, p.111.

SIN

'Sin is always the result of misplaced affections. Sin makes promises. When we believe those promises, we think sin offers more than God. This lie warps our affections. Our love, our delight, our fear, our hope become misplaced.'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Everyday Church, p.87.

PASTORAL CARE

'...everyday pastoral care is not the same as spontaneous pastoral care. Do not idolize the spontaneous over the scheduled. People can have rather romantic notions of "community" as a spontaneous activity in which people hang out without that much planning. Somehow community does not count uless it is spontaneous. But there is nothing especially virtuous about spontaneity. When people have busy work lives, community can only happen if people plan to do everyday pastoral care. We all have different personalities and life patterns. Some may need to plan to meet with others or send a regular text or stick a reminder in their schedule. Others will do the hanging out more. We should not value one abouve the other or assume our way of relating is normative. Let us celebrate diversity within community.'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Everyday Church, p.78.

PASTORAL CARE

'...the context for pastoral care and discipleship is everyday life. Community takes place as we do the chores, watch TV, got to work, eat meals and do a dozen other things. It is about asking someone about their walk with the Lord while you do the dishes together, sharing a car ride to the shops and talking about how the Spirit has spoken to you through God's Word. It is about having people in your home and them seeing how you parent your children. It is about walking the dog together and discovering a pastoral need as you chat. It is about pausing in the supermarket to pray when you learn of a need. It is about having people live with you in your home.

Of course this does not mean anything as crass as saying, "Come over and watch us parent our children." Rather, as you share your life, people will see Christian living modelled - or alternatively see Christian grace modelled when you fail to live as you should! We have a generation of young people from dysfunctional homes who need to experience Christain families in action before they themselves become husbands, wives and parents.'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Everday Church, p.75.

THE BIBLE

'...we do not read the Bible simply to fill our minds, but to change our hearts, not simply to be informed, but to be conformed to the image of Jesus. We read the Bible to stir our affections: our fear, our hope, our love, our desire, our confidence. We read it until our hearts cry out, "The Lord is good!"'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Everday Church, p.71.

THE CHURCH

'...the Christian community demonstrates the effectiveness of the gospel. We are the living proof that the gospel is not an empty word, but a powerful Word that takes men and women who are lovers of self and transforms them by grace through the Spirit into people who love God and love others. We are the living proof that the death of Jesus was not just a vain expression of God's love, but an effective death that achieved the salvation of a people who now love one another sincerely from a pure heart...

The Church may never outperform TV shows and music videos, but there is nothing like the community life of the church, nowhere else where diverse diverse people come together in the same way, nowhere else where broken people find a home, nowhere else where grace is experienced and God is present by his Spirit.'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Everyday Church, p.65.

PREACHING

'If you prepare Bible teaching in a coffee shop...you are more likely to find yourself developing your teaching as a dialogue with the culture. But if you simply prepare in your study surrounded by your books, then you will naturally speak into this context, addressing the concerns of professional exegetes.'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis,  Everyday Church: mission by being good neighbours, p.50.

LEADERSHIP

'The primary mistake that I have made in bringing people into leadership has been a failure to recognize that character is revealed in the details of [a] person's life. It is too easy to be blinded by gifts. Simply because someone is an able Bible teacher, for example, does not mean that he will be a godly leader. We need to look for integrity. Does he keep his promises? Is he committed to people? Does he care for his family?'

Tim Chester & Steve Timmis, Total Church, p.192.

LEADERSHIP

'One of the reasons we have middle-class churches that are failing to reach working-class people is that we have middle-class leaders. And we have middle-class leaders because our expectations of what constitutes leadership and our training methods are middle-class. Indeed working-class people only really get into leadership by effectively becoming middle-classs.'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church, p.117.

EVANGELISM

'People want a form of evangelism they can stick in their schedule, switch off and go home from. Jesus calls us to a lifestyle of love.'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church, p.55.

IDENTITY

'An identity that I construct for myself is far removed from an identity I receive by grace. Churches are full of people trying to earn their identity or prove their worth. As a result we lack assurance or contentment, or put others down to bolster our own self-perception, or are dependent on the approval of others, or are self-righteous or vulnerable to any circumstance that prevents us from fulfilling our ministry. But the key defining relationship for Christians is our relationship with God. Who am I? I am a child of God, the bride of his Son and the dwelling place of his Spirit. And that identity is given to me by grace.'

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church, p.38.

APOLOGETICS

'What will commend the gospel are lives lived in obedience to the gospel and a community life that reflects God's triune community of love. People will not believe until they are genuinely open to exploring the truth about God. They become open as they see that it is good to know God. And they see that it is good to know God as they see the love of the Christian community.'

Tim Chester & Steve Timmis, Total Church, p.170.