Top 45 Congregation Quotes

I am humbled and deeply honored to have been asked to serve the congregants of Shearith Israel, a congregation with an incomparable history, where some of America’s most distinguished rabbis have pastored and preached.

Ay, rail at gaming – ’tis a rich topic, and affords noble declamation. Go, preach against it in the city – you’ll find a congregation in every tavern.

Any musical person who has never heard a Negro congregation under the spell of religious fervor sing these old songs has missed one of the most thrilling emotions which the human heart may experience.

I am also actively involved in my church and its community activities. We have programs to improve the lives of our congregation and programs of outreach in the community.

One positive command he gave us: You shall love and honor your emperor. In every congregation a prayer must be said for the czar’s health, or the chief of police would close the synagogue.

I am a youth minister, ordained by the Riverside Church in upper New York. But to declare myself a minister and begin to preach from the pulpit, from the Bible, to a congregation and to build a church, so to speak – I don’t have a desire for that.

The really funny thing is that most all of my friends who are priests have seen me perform, and they say, ‘I wish I could talk the way you do on stage. I wish I could reveal truth to my congregation the way you do.’

Personally, I am a church-going Christian. I love my church, my congregation; it’s my favorite place to be.

When the congregation becomes the norm by which sermons are measured, a minister has put a mortgage on his soul.

Before I was elected to Congress, I had the honor of serving as the president of the Congregation Ner Tamid in Henderson, the largest Reform Synagogue in Southern Nevada. During my tenure, I witnessed firsthand the beauty in our country’s religious diversity and how community engagement strengthens America.

I don’t think we should discriminate against an organization or congregation because they’re religious, if they’re doing good work. But government can’t subsidize proselytizing or worship or religious activity. It can’t.

I cannot fail to call the congregation to worship God, to listen to his Word, to offer themselves to God.

Usually in church, when the congregation is overcome by the Holy Spirit for a moment, the people will interrupt the sermon to yell their praises, and dance for joy.

As a preacher, my charge is to proclaim the message of the Scriptures. To help the people in my congregation become a people of the book. I love getting to do this.

I think a pastor used to be viewed as the one-stop ministry shop. The pastor served on every committee, volunteered at every event, and made all the hospital visits. I think that is changing and I think that is healthy. Both for the pastor and the congregation.

I am a pastor, and I teach and preach the Bible to my congregation every week. But the Bible is not a manufacturer’s handbook. Neither is it a science textbook nor a guidebook for public policy.

My grandfather once ventured upon publishing a volume of hymns. I never heard anyone speak in their favour or argue that they ought to have been sung in the congregation. In that volume, he promised a second if the first should prove acceptable. We forgive him the first collection because he did not inflict another.

If it came to saving the life of one priest or sacrificing the life of an entire congregation, the church would save the life of the priest. Which is backwards, of course.

Many old music hall fans were present at the funeral today of Fred ‘Chuckles’ Jenkins, Britain’s oldest and unfunniest comedian. In tribute, the vicar read out one of Fred’s jokes, and the congregation had two minutes silence.

I am a follower of Jesus Christ. The Bible is my primary way of knowing Him and what it means to follow Him. And I am a pastor, and I teach and preach the Bible to my congregation every week. But the Bible is not a manufacturer’s handbook. Neither is it a science textbook nor a guidebook for public policy.

In the context of Quaker worship, it is perfectly appropriate for any person in the congregation to speak a timely word from the Lord.

In the John Paul II days, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had the advantage of staying in his cupboard – the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – exchanging views only with the Pope, and speaking publicly only through carefully written missives on doctrinal issues.

The church is not made up of one person but a whole congregation, and they should be able to interact with art without being told what to think.

I was born and raised in the Westboro Baptist Church, an infamous congregation started by my grandfather, and consisting almost entirely of my extended family.

There are congressmen in our congregation, judges, federal reserve governors. And there are also people who are homeless and some who are mentally ill. To be able to talk to each of those people is something that I’ve had to learn how to do over the years.

My third day playing saxophone, I was in front of a congregation. I still didn’t know the names of all the notes. I was playing by ear, following along, but it was such an encouraging environment, I couldn’t fail. It was all, ‘Yeah baby, you sound real good’ no matter what you play. It was a great way to learn.

Our calling is not just within the walls of the congregation, but we are part of the life and community in which our condition resides.

Washington is a great international city and in the congregation we have people who are rich and poor, black and white, and from every part of the world.

The decision to allow clergy to perform same-sex marriages at the discretion of the congregation poses challenges for seminaries training new pastors who come from denominations fundamentally opposed on biblical grounds to same-sex marriage.

I think there’s definitely a potential there for a congregation to survive without the Crystal Cathedral. The congregation is the people. It’s not the building.

Jesus gives his life for the congregation, not the other way around.

I feel a part of the congregation. I’ve never had to do special music. The kids sing in the choir. It’s just normal. We’re treated like everybody else.

George Washington participated as a vestryman in his local congregation, but that didn’t really imply any particular kind of religious belief. This was necessary in order to participate in the society.

A group is as healthy as its ‘social contract’ is clear; a congregation as faithful as its covenant is mutually understood; a pastor as effective as the pastor’s and people’s commitment to trust and integrity is honored, guarded, and fulfilled.

The earlier practice of the Church had been more or less to employ in worship under the presidency of the pastor or pastors, the gifts of the congregation.

I’ve never gotten up in front of a Muslim congregation and played the role of a religious leader, and I decline those invitations because that’s not what I am.

I want a state funeral with bells ringing across the land! Then I’d love the congregation to do the hokey cokey and for can-can girls to dance down the aisle. I’ve already bought the plot in Worcestershire next to my parents.

The false black preacher is only too happy to reinforce the idea of the white man as scapegoat. His sermons make the congregation angrier and more bitter. And the angrier they become, the easier it is for the minister to control them.

The joining of the whole congregation in prayer has something exceedingly solemn and affecting in it.

When I was growing up there, North Gulfport was referred to as ‘Little Vietnam’ because of the perception of crime and depravity within its borders – as if its denizens were simply a congregation of the downtrodden.

My wife and I are affiliated with a temple here in Los Angeles. We feel very close to the congregation and to the rabbi, who happens to be my wife’s cousin and who I admire greatly. I talk to him regularly but I consider myself more spiritual than religious.

When I was just writing books and giving lectures, if people disagreed, they just didn’t buy your book or attend your lectures. But, if you’re leading a congregation, people feel they have the right to tell you what you should or shouldn’t talk about. And that hasn’t always been easy for me.

But I think it’s up to a local congregation to determine whether or not a marriage should be blessed of God. And it shouldn’t be up to the government.

I’ve traveled all over the country for years speaking in churches, teaching the Ten Commandments. It’s amazing if 2 percent of any congregation knows the Ten Commandments.

When I was young, I was dedicated to become a minister – my brothers and I were formally brought in front of the congregation in a dedication ceremony, where we were dedicated to the future service of God.