Pilgrim Soldier

I’ve been thinking about the word renewal recently and am trying to see what a renewed congregation would look like. My difficulty with the concept is that when a lot of people seem to speak about renewal, what they actually mean is a return of the old days. I’m not entirely sure that this is what we should be seeking. These models seem to use the verb ‘to renew’ as a analogy of ‘recreate’ or as in renewing a lease. In other words that the old system will continue but with a new injection of life.

However, when we look at the Bible, renewal actually seems to mean something more than this. When we look at the renewal of ourselves through the blood of Jesus we actually see a completely different person emerge from the process. It is the old person in nature, but with a totally new outlook. It is about being something different, not simply a recreation of the old.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is that if we embark on a path of renewal of our structures and people thinking we know what the end result will be, we are not really seeking renewal at all. We simply want to impose what we want God to do, rather than truly seeking God’s will.