Pope Benedict XVI Quotes

Church is the only place where someone speaks to me and I do not have to answer back.

Let me say that I consider myself a deep believer in the reality of God. I might define God quite differently from the way some people in the Christian faith would do so, but I do not doubt the reality of that experience.

I think there is a great deal of interest still in the Christian faith.

Our Christian identity is belonging to a people: the Church. Without the Church we are not Christians.

Faith is the door to the full inner life of the Church, a life which includes not only access to an authoritative teaching but above all to a deep personal experience which is at once unique and yet shared by the whole Body of Christ, in the Spirit of Christ.

More people have been brought into the church by the kindness of real Christian love than by all the theological arguments in the world.

We need to stop giving people excuses not to believe in God. You've probably heard the expression 'I believe in God, just not organized religion'. I don't think people would say that if the church truly lived like we are called to live.

I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.

Wouldn't you like to contribute to an event that is part of Christ's own prediction, "I will build my church"?

If you know Christ, you don't need to beg for the Holy Spirit to come into your life; He is already there- whether you "feel" His presence or not. Don't confuse the Holy Spirit with an emotional feeling or a particular type of spiritual experience.

An average Christian, in an average church, listen to an average Sunday sermon has achieved a level of arrogance simply unimaginable in scientific discourse -- and there have been some extraordinary arrogant scientists.

You may be poor yourselves in material ways, but you have an abundance of gifts to offer when you offer Christ and the community of his Church.

Were it not for the work of the Holy Spirit there would be no gospel, no faith, no church, no Christianity in the world at all.

At the heart of the Christian message is God Himself waiting for His redeemed children to push in to conscious awareness of His Presence.

Genuine Christian experience must always include an encounter with God Himself.

I felt very close to God.... My friends say that's because I was always on my knees.

I believe a visible church to be a congregation of those who make a credible profession of their faith in Christ, and obedience to him, joined by the bond of the covenant.

My friends, it is one thing to go to church or chapel; it is quite another thing to go to God.

I have been to non-denominational churches like National Community Church in Washington D.C., but I've also gone to Lake Placid Baptist and a slew of other churches. I got baptized with my fiancé (Nic Taylor) this last year at Saranac Lake Baptist Church (in New York), so maybe that makes us Baptist. But for me, it's really been about my relationship with Christ and not so much about a denomination or a label.

I go to church as an expression of my need for God and for God's family.

Every once in a while I check and I say, do I still believe in God? And the answer is absolutely yes. And then I think, I suppose I should go to church now. But after going to so many churches in my life and trying to go with the flow with so many denominations, Eastern and Western, I don't really feel I need to go to church at all.

My church is fifty percent millennials. There's a connectivity between millennials and I.

Having small group once a week gives me a lot of encouragement and accountability. Even though I go to church, I don't really know many people there, but my real community is my small group.

Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God and what came was the Church.

Love the church because Jesus loves it.