Considerations on Church-Renewing Movements 2
Last week I began this short series on thinking through church renewal, using the first of six observations made by William Abraham in his book, “The Logic of Renewal” (see here ). There I addressed an initial area of church renewal that is often overlooked, and the questions that should rise to the surface when thinking through any revitalization “program.” What other aspects of church renewal plans should church planters and pastors work through or take note of? William Abraham speaks to the next concern by remarking, “2. Ignoring ecclesiological considerations in our thinking stems in large measure from casting renewal in purely personal terms. Thus, ( . . . ) we tend to think of renewal as fundamentally the renewal of the individual. ( . . . ) Insofar as we think of the church in this tradition, we think of the church as a collection of or voluntary association of suitably renewed or sanctified individuals. We need, however, to break loose from this sort of individualism and b...