Ur en intervju av Justin Welby, Archbishop of Cantebury, från maj 2013.
"But I think the key-thing was, in terms of what I was praying, that it wasn't all about me. Because it's actually all about Jesus. Cause the whole point of the thing is that it is all about Jesus. That's what matters." (2:30)
How did you come to faith in Jesus Christ? (6:55) "And then we went and had some supper together. And he explained the cross and what Jesus had done for me on the cross. I think that's just one of the key things for people. That christians… that the moment you understand what God did for us, not what he calls us to do for him. The key moment is what he did for us. Cause that's the transformative point. And at the end of it, we finished talking about this, and he said 'well, so what do you think?' And I said 'well, I think I ought to pray.' So we prayed together and asked Jesus to be Lord of my life. That's how it started anyway." (8:48)
"We were trying to work out what was going on and what God was calling us to. And we all come with particular models in our minds of what a church looks like. But God shapes those models. He takes us, and with great love he shapes us. I think one of the things I find so amazing about Jesus is he never says 'get into the right place and I'll meet you there.' He says 'I am here with you and I'm gonna take you to the right place.' And I think, looking back, the experience of leading a pastorate, I mean what a responsibility it is. I remember forty-fifty people meeting every fortnight and in home-groups the other fortnight, and seeing more and more people coming, seeing people come to Christ, seeing just… [...] I mean there were some pretty tricky times and it was very hard work and we had a young family. But God was at work and the church was growing. And I think that's where I learned that church-growth is natural and what we can expect. And we should be optimistic about the power of the Spirit to bring people to Christ. But it's also very hard work. If anyone thinks that it just comes to you on a plate you're kidding yourself. It's about 'take up your cross and follow me.'" (18:28)
"Again, we just learned and learned and learned and learned and it's the basic disciplines of prayer, of making sure that evangelism is always at the top of your list. But of doing the stuff that you do in the community in love, persistently and without giving up. So, you know, the normal things of two or three funerals a week, of weddings and baptisms, of seeing people of pastoral care. And at the same time of seeking to transform the church." (25:00)
"One of my collegues, one of the churchwarden, said to me on one occasion 'If Jesus isn't at the center of the church we are simply Rotary with a pointy roof.' Rotary is a great organisation, which I support, but it isn't the church and we are not Rotary. Because we are centered on Christ." (26:26)
"The vision was very simple, it came to me again when I was running one morning and praying, and it was summed up in a short phrase, which is 'the cathedral should be a safe place to do risky things in Christ's service.' And I thinks it's… that was a sort of given and we worked with that and the vision was a clear proclamation of who Christ is and a deep commitment to transformation of society. And then you work out the machinery of that, which is the bigger the organisation the more and more complicated it is. I think in Durham, again, the vision was about taking risks. We need to be a risk-taking church. There is no safety in Christ. There is absolute security but there is no safety. And we have to make a big difference between knowing that we're in his arms and knowing that he calls us to do risky things. So the vision is about being a risk-taking church and finding ways of liberating people to be risk-takers in the service of Christ." (30:22)
"We cannot live for our cause to win. We have to live for his cause to win." (34:10)
"I am more optimistic about the church now than I have ever been in my life. Not only here but globally. I think we are seeing a moment where the proclamation of Christ, flexibility and a determination to win people to Christ meets the needs of the world in a way that people realise they have or haven't done for seventy years. And the opportunities are endless and for myself it's just the freedom to be able to talk about Jesus on all kinds of occasions and all kinds of places." (39:50)
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