People Spots
Online
Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
Understanding Renewal
by James W. Moss, Sr.
Renewing the church is a popular subject today. The reason is simple: it is so obvious that so many churches need to be renewed. How does that happen?
Renewal is a spiritual issue. I believe that the Holy Spirit longs to breathe new life into old churches. People can’t generate spiritual renewal in a local church. The Holy Spirit reserves that task for himself. Individual spiritual growth is a key for corporate spiritual growth. Churches need to encourage their people to do things that foster the spiritual growth of individuals.
The pastor is the key person in a renewal movement of a local church. The pastor must experience spiritual renewal before the church will. The Holy Spirit will work through this key person.
Here are several key thoughts learned through years of experience.
First, you must understand that renewing the church is a spiritual journey. The guide for this journey is the Holy Spirit. The manual is the Bible. The cornerstone for this effort is prayer.
Second, there are no quick fixes. Please turn away from anybody who tries to sell you a package that offers a quick way to renew the church. I always say to someone going to pastor a renewal project, “Please plan to stay ten years.” It takes prayer, time, effort, and energy to see one local church renewed. The Holy Spirit seldom moves at our speed. Some of the best renewal projects that I know showed little movement in the first five years. Then it seems that there is a spark and "Wow-ee—instant success." The success is the product of years of preparation. The seeds are sown. The Spirit brings the increase and then we gather the harvest.
There is no magic formula to introduce spiritual renewal across a body of churches such as a conference or district or all of the churches in one community. Spiritual renewal occurs one church at a time. It is true that the fire may spread from one church to another, but it still occurs one church at a time.
Third, a church that experiences renewal will need to be renewed periodically as the fires on the spiritual hearth burn low. A church has never arrived. There are no perfect churches. Why? Churches are made up of imperfect people. Anytime a church thinks it is the ideal community, it is probably in a need of renewal again. It has been my observation that a church will be in need of a fresh dose of spiritual renewal before the people of the congregation are aware of that need. The spiritual climate will have changed at a very slow pace. The changes will be almost imperceptible to the participants. But one day they will awaken with a shock. Either spiritual renewal will happen again or the church will grow cold and sterile.
Fourth, a church that experiences spiritual renewal will fall in love with the Great Commission. That church will begin to see the fields are white with harvest. They will do what they can to win new people to Christ and the church. Churches that truly experience spiritual renewal will grow numerically. Any spirituality that ignores the Great Commission is castrated.
Fifth, a church that experiences spiritual renewal will love people. We give our love to God and he takes that love and reflects it to those around us. “If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:19-21).
Sixth, a church that experiences spiritual renewal will be confronted with spiritual warfare. The enemy only attacks churches that have the potential to make a difference in the lives of people. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).
We must always remember this: “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).
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Also see:
 | Personal Renewal |
| Other People Spots articles on church renewal. |
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Read about Jim's seminars and books.
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April 12, 2007. Volume
10, Issue
2.
People Spots Online
is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life
Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org.
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