Deus Misereatur

The end is near! Well, actually, the end of this series has finally arrived. We have thought about the assumed ecclesiology and sacramentology of renewal movements, the story of disease and diagnosis that renewal movements tell with regard to the church, and the pitfalls they stumble into. We come now to Abraham’s final concern in “ The Logic of Renewal ” that raises a sober-minded caution. “6. As a final, and as a first exercise of judgment, we should note that there is no necessity for renewal at all times in the history of the church. To put the matter bluntly, there are times when it is foolish and dangerous to call for ecclesial renewal.      We all know that some Christians very easily develop a kind of listless foot-and-mouth disease. They are always on the run to hear some new grand scheme for the renewal of the church. They run from this speaker to that speaker, from this conference to that conference, from this book to that book, from this set of tapes to th...

As William Abraham continues to tackle renewal movements in his book " The Logic of Renewal " (see my previous posts to get up to speed if you’re just joining in), he turns to the area of discernment; “5. This leads naturally to a fifth point. Like it or not, there is no firm calculus for making good judgments in this arena. Perhaps this is why some people stay clear of the whole business of renewal. They are acutely aware that, in thinking about renewal, what is ultimately needed is a very rich gift of ecclesial and spiritual discernment. It is easy to go astray; more specifically, it is easy to fall prey to a kind of utopianism. ( . . . ) On the one hand, people who crave for radical and substantial change often feel very incompetent and helpless. In such circumstances, they are liable to follow any leader who is confident enough to lead them to revival. On the other hand, there are leaders who are only too keen to become spiritual dictators. They can easily develop spu...

Over the past few weeks we have been pondering movements and programs that promise to renew the church. We have been using William J. Abraham’s book, “The Logic of Renewal”, to think in a deeper way on this subject, especially his list of six concerns. If you are just now joining us, it will be good for you to look back over the three previous posts, “ Considerations on Church-Renewing Movements 1 ” and “ 2 ” and “ 3 ”. Abraham takes the medical analogy mentioned in the last post and goes a step further, “4. Our extended use of the medical analogy prompts a fourth consideration. Renewal can go wrong in all sorts of ways. It can go wrong because of original misdirection, because of misdiagnosis, or because the doctor has prescribed the wrong medicine. In all these cases, the quest for renewal can be disastrous ( . . . ). ( . . . ) but we must surely acknowledge the possibility of unintended side effects in proposals for renewal. Again and again, leading personalities or major ...

Analogies can be helpful tools for teaching new concepts, transferring perceptions from one person to the next, or opening up a new awareness to ideas not seen before. William Abraham (“ The Logic of Renewal ”), in trying to pierce into the heart of renewal movements and their unexamined assumptions, moves to a medical analogy. “3. Proposals about renewal invariably follow a simple pattern. They propose a description of the life of the church that depicts what is flawed in one way or another – we are told that the church is diseased or sick in some crucial respect. This leads to a diagnosis as to why the flaw or set of flaws has developed – we are given an account of the etiology of the sickness of the church. Finally, there is a prescription as to how to put things right – we are offered an account of the medicine that we need to take if the church is to be cured” (p. 3-4). This medical analogy is helpful in thinking about how renewal movements view an existing church structure...

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...

There are lots of programs, systems, paradigms and “movements” surging through the American Church scene that are promoting themselves as ways to revitalize your church, making it more “missional” and faithful to Jesus and Jesus’ cause. For those who have a rich love for Jesus’ Church, and desire be part of the Word of God increasing and multiplying (Acts 12.24), then this kind of talk will rouse their hearts and draw their attention. Because this subject resonates with me, I would like to take several weeks to think through some issues related to it. The way I plan to address these concerns, hopes and anticipations is by ruminating over six considerations brought up by William J.Abraham in the first chapter of his book, “ The Logic of Renewal ” (p.3-6). Though I read this book in 2004, I have found his observations perceptive, and an indispensable aid to discernment in this area throughout the past several years. To begin with Abraham points out what I think is a serious bl...

Tuesday morning (14 August 2012), while out running by Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City, this scene caught up my attention and started my imagination racing: The first place my thoughts flew to was a scene in Flannery O’Connor’s “The Displaced Person.” You would have to have read the whole story to catch the multifaceted point she was making through the peacocks, but the scene is as follows:      “The priest let his eyes wander toward the birds. They had reached the middle of the lawn. The cock stopped suddenly and curving his neck backwards, he raised his tail and spread it with a shimmering timbrous noise. Tiers of small pregnant suns floated in a green-gold haze over his head. The priest stood transfixed, his jaw slack. Mrs. McIntyre wondered where she had ever seen such an idiotic old man. “Christ will come like that!” he said in a loud gay voice and wiped his hand over his mouth and stood, gaping.      Mrs. McIntyre’s face assumed a set purita...