Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
the German theologian, operated an underground seminary during the Nazi years.
Here is some of the advice to his students, published in the book Life Together.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
the German theologian, operated an underground seminary during the Nazi years.
Here is some of the advice to his students, published in the book Life Together.
On preaching: "The preacher will not ask how to preach or teach on the text, but what it is saying quite directly to him (or her)." (82)
On prayer: "Intercession means no more than to bring another into the presence of God." (86)
On listening: "The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. … One who can no longer listen to another will soon be no longer listening to God either; and will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God." (97, 98)
On agendas: "We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and cancelling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions. … We must not spare our hand where it can perform a service and not assume that our schedule is our own to manage, but allow it to be arranged by God." (99)
On challenging: "Where Christians live together the time must inevitably come when in some crisis one person will have to declare God's Word and will to another. It is inconceivable that the things that are of utmost importance to each individual should not be spoken by one to another." (105)
On life together: "Many people seek fellowship because they are afraid to be alone. Let one who cannot be alone beware of community. … The reverse is also true: Let one who is not in community beware of being alone. … Only in the fellowship do we learn to be rightly alone and only in aloneness do we learn to live rightly in fellowship." (77)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together. HarperSanFrancisco, 1954.
Congregational Life Newsletter Vol. 9 No. 2 April 2003