When the word “renewal” is fully co-opted by those who advocate a very different theology from the “Witness for Biblical Morality” that bound so-called Renewalists together in mainline denominations for the past 40 years, what do renewal groups do?
If renewal were now possible, how would it be necessarily re-defined? As the Moderator of the Presbyterian Renewal Network, these are important questions for the ministry partners of the Lay Committee and they are important for those who have aligned themselves over time with the renewal movement. They have long cried, “don’t go there!” but their beloved denomination has gone there anyway. So, what now?
When Charles Dicken’s Scrooge was shown his future by the ghost of Christmas future, he repented and genuinely changed his ways. I find myself wondering: If we could see the abyss on the horizon of our organizational reality, would we have the humility and the courage to change course?
The path down which our present course leads has already been trod by the United Church of Canada. It is a denomination that is now all but dead.
Our international renewal partners in the United Church of Canada now organize themselves through the Church Alive network (www.churchalive.ca). Twice a year they publish an issue of the Theological Digest & Outlook. In the March 2010 issue, editor Paul Miller offered both a look back and a look forward in “The Road Ahead for Renewal.” I have reprinted it here with permission and I have highlighted portions that I find particularly salient to our present reality in the PCUSA. Your reflection and comments are heartily encouraged.
Carmen