Agree or disagree?

[Pastor Gary]

"The church is not a select circle of the immaculate, but a home where the outcast may come in. It is not a palace with gate attendants and challenging sentinels along the entrance-ways holding off at arm's-length the stranger, but rather a hospital where the broken-hearted may be healed, and where all the weary and troubled may find rest and take counsel together."

-- James H. Aughey

[paul]

agree

[forestwalker]

Agree. Chrysostom, much shorter: "The Church is a hospital."

[Poimen]

The context for the intended analogous groups is not clear enough for me to determine.

Is it about self perception and attitude? Or is about self justification?
I imagine the first, but not knowing cannot answer one way or the other.

Can you perhaps share a larger quote, for clarity?

[forestwalker]

The context

The word "hospital" suggests both an awareness of illness (sin) and the desire to be healed. But you're right that what follows after "hospital" in this particular quote weakens what was expressed by Chrysostom's original.

[RamboPreacher]

agree.

[JohnDB]

I agree that this is what it is supposed to be...it just usually isn't.

In the early church there would have been a line out the door to be allowed to do janitorial service to any building...there was for passing out food.

Paid nursury workers, janitors and caterers do the jobs these days that nobody wants.

[Pastorbps]

"The church is not a select circle of the immaculate"

True. The church welcomes the sinner so they can hear how to become a part of Christ's body but the church itself consists of Born Again believers whose attitude toward sin demonstrates the presence of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. Surely we all agree the church is not the people who gather at a meeting (Anyone can attend a meeting) but it consists of converts.

"but a home where the outcast may come in."

True. They are even welcomed and invited but to become members they must be Born Again

It is not a palace with gate attendants and challenging sentinels along the entrance-ways holding off at arm's-length the stranger,

True but we do keep at arms length those who attempt to call themselves "Brothers" but who refuse to abandon sin. My argument is not with the sinner. My argument is with those who claim Christ but refuse to abandon their sins and who teach others they don't have to abandon their sins.

but rather a hospital where the broken-hearted may be healed, and where all the weary and troubled may find rest

True
My argument has never been whether the church should be a hospital (as others have put it) for sinners. My argument has been with accepting sinners as members of the body of Christ. No one in their right mind (or heart) could argue with the mission of the church to bring healing to the brokenhearted, salvation to sinners, or rest to the weary. But how we get from that to "You shouldn't have behavior requirements for membership" I'll never know. Yet this is what many seemed to propose when the COGOP discussed "Membership Requirements" a few years ago. The spin by some was to imply if you had membership behavioral requirements then you were not a hospital and didn't want sinners around. That wasn't true and those who made it sound that way should check themselves for deception.

"and take counsel together."

I don't know what that part of the statement means.