I have heard many Christians quote the following by St. Francis of Assisi "Preach the gospel and if necessary use words." I like Michael Horton's take;
"Like many Emergent Church leaders, Kimball invokes a famous line from Francis of Assisi that I also heard growing up in conservative evangelicalism: 'Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary use words.' Kimball goes on to say, 'Our lives will preach better than anything we can say.' If so, then this is just more bad news, not only because of the statistics we have already seen, which evidences no real difference between Christians and non-Christians, but because despite my best intentions, I am not an exemplary creature. . . Find me on my best day--especially if you have access to my hidden motives, thoughts, and attitudes--and I will always provide fodder for the hypocrisy charge and will let down those who would become Christians because they think I and my fellow Christians are the gospel. I am a Christian not because I think I can walk in Jesus's footsteps but because he is the only one who can carry me. I am not the gospel. Jesus Christ alone is the gospel. His story saves me, not only by bringing me justification, but by baptizing me into his resurrection life . . . The good news--not only for ourselves, but for a world [and church] in desperate need of good news--is that what we say preaches better than our lives, at least if what we are saying is Christ's person and work rather than our own. The more we talk about Christ as the Bible's unfolding mystery and less about our own transformation, the more likely we are actually to be transformed rather than either self-righteous or despairing." [Michael Horton; Christless Christianity p. 118]
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