“Yes, I believe that the kingdoms of this world, American, Venezuelan, and Chinese, will become the kingdom of our God and Christ, and I believe this new kingdom is already among us. That is why I’m a pastor, to introduce people to the real world and train them to live in it. I learned early that the methods of my work must correspond to the realities of the kingdom. The methods that make the kingdom of America strong — economic, military, technological, informational — are not suited to making the kingdom of God strong. I have had to learn a new methodology: truth-telling and love-making, prayer and parable. These are not methods very well adapted to raising the standard of living in suburbia or massaging the ego into a fashionable shape.”
Eugene Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction. Dallas, TX: Word Publishing, 1989, page 38.
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 