Church renewal is a term widely used by church leaders to express hope for revitalization of the
Church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
(as well as
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
in general) in light of the decline of Christianity in many western countries. The idea of a
post-Christian
Postchristianity is the situation in which Christianity is no longer the dominant civil religion of a society but has gradually assumed values, culture, and world view, worldviews that are not necessarily Christians, Christian. Post-Christian ten ...
era has made church renewal a popular topic of study among many commentators. Various philosophical, theological, sociological, and practical reasons have been given for the decline of Christianity and the waning influence of the church, and various ideas have been proposed to halt the decline. This has led to the rise of a number of church renewal movements, such as the
emerging church movement
The emerging church is a Christian Protestant movement of the late 20th and early 21st centuries that crosses a number of theological boundaries: participants are variously described as Protestant, post-Protestant, evangelical, post-evangelical, ...
, the
missional church movement, the
confessing movement
The Confessing Movement is a largely lay-led theologically conservative Christian movement that opposes the influence of theological liberalism and theological progressivism within several mainline Protestant denominations and seeks to ret ...
, the
simple church movement,
New Calvinism
New Calvinism, also known as the Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement, is a new religious movement within conservative Evangelicalism that reinterprets 16th-century Calvinism under contemporary values and ideologies.
History
The movement star ...
, and
New Monasticism New Monasticism is a diverse movement, not limited to a specific religious denomination or church and including varying expressions of contemplative life. These include evangelical Christian communities such as " Simple Way Community" and Jonathan ...
, among others.
History
While the church has experienced trials throughout church history, the modern church renewal movements have arisen in response to the decline of the church in recent history. For example, between 1948 and 2008 the percentage of Americans who identified themselves with some form of Christianity has dropped from 91% to 77%. Even more troubling for church leaders is that of the 59% of Americans who are not affiliated with a church, six out of ten still consider themselves Christians and do not feel a need to be associated with a church congregation.
Cognate terms
Other phrases that may be synonymous with church renewal include congregational transformation, congregational renewal, revitalization, and restoration. An older term that tends to focus on the renewal of spiritual or sacramental vitality is
revival. While some advocates for church renewal spend a great deal of time discussing etymological differences between these terms, the terms are highly similar at the conceptual level. Alternatively, they use these terms because they believe the church is in decline or decay in one way or another and that action must be taken so that the church will flourish once again.
Church renewal and Christianity in the modern West
Theologians and other scholars often deploy the concept of church renewal in close connection with a wider concern about the state of Christianity in the modern West. Generally speaking, there is widespread concern that Christianity in the modern West is in serious trouble. Among other factors, low church attendance in Western Europe and the decline of mainline Protestantism in North America often motivate this concern. In both Western Europe and North America, a wide range of church renewal movements have sprung up with the primary objective of determining the causes of the decline of Christianity in the modern West and to develop strategies for reversing that trend. For example, dozens of renewal movements have emerged within mainline Protestant denominations in the United States.
Church renewal and Christianity in the Global South
Many theologians and scholars of religion have begun to look to Christianity in the
Global South for hints and suggestions concerning the renewal of the church in the modern West. There is a growing awareness that Christianity is flourishing in many countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Thus clergy and scholars alike are increasingly looking to churches in places like Africa and South America for advice about the renewal of Christianity in the Northern hemisphere, most notably in the North Atlantic.
Church renewal and Pentecostalism
While many clergy and scholars are turning to the Global South for assistance and ideas, some clergy and scholars have begun to take seriously the worldwide
Pentecostal movement
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement .
[See especially the work of Harvey Cox, Douglas Jacobsen, and David Martin.] At this stage, it is difficult to determine the extent to which leaders of mainline Protestant churches are prepared to turn to the Pentecostal and
Charismatic movement
The charismatic movement in Christianity is a movement within established or mainstream Christian denominations to adopt beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity with an emphasis on baptism with the Holy Spirit, and the use of spirit ...
s for help. By contrast, the charismatic movement has already possibly made
significant inroads within the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
Notable theologians dealing with church renewal
*
Alan Hirsch
Alan Hirsch (born 24 October 1959) is an Australian author, serial entrepreneur, thought leader in the missional church movement, key missions strategist for churches around the world, and founder of numerous global organizations.
Life
Earl ...
*
Thomas C. Oden
Thomas Clark Oden (1931–2016) was an American Methodist theologian and religious author. He is often regarded as the father of the paleo-orthodox theological movement and is considered to be one of the most influential theologians of the 20th c ...
*
Michael Frost
*
Ed Stetzer
Edward John Stetzer (born 1966) is an American author, speaker, researcher, pastor, church planter, and Christian missiologist. Stetzer is Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College and Executive Direc ...
*
Brian McLaren
Brian D. McLaren (born 1956) is an American pastor, author, speaker, and leading figure in the emerging church movement. McLaren is also associated with postmodern Christianity.
Education and career
Raised in Rockville, Maryland in the conservat ...
*
William Abraham
*
Harvey Cox
Harvey Gallagher Cox Jr. (born May 19, 1929) is an American theologian who served as the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, until his retirement in October 2009. Cox's research and teaching focus on theological developments in ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Association for Church RenewalThe Institute on Religion & Democracy Practical theology
Christian terminology