 Theologian says church renewal is not new By Robert P. Mills The Presbyterian Layman Volume 32, Number 5 Posted November 11, 1999
“Celebrating God’s Faithfulness” was the theme of the event, held in conjunction with the organization’s board meeting. The evening included a brief concert by The Singing Quakers of Wichita’s Friends University, praise and worship led by Eastminster Presbyterian Church’s praise team, reflections on the renewal group’s past and future and a keynote address by Eugene Peterson. Peterson, emeritus professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College, said that working for renewal in the church “is not a new thing. When the church came into being it went into decline almost immediately. The second law of thermodynamics is not just a physical law but an ecclesiastical fact.” Necessary New Testament work Those engaged in renewal work are not “a SWAT team. We’re more like janitors cleaning up the messes others make.” He called renewal “a necessary but perpetual New Testament work,” and cited the New Testament church at Ephesus as an example. Originally, said Peterson, the church at Ephesus was “the showcase church.” Yet when Paul wrote to Timothy some four or five years after he wrote Ephesians, he told him to straighten out the Ephesians. The Ephesians had become very religious, “but the cross was gone, prayer was gone. They just had a lot of meetings.” Sound teaching The phrase that occurs more than any other in Paul’s pastoral letters is “sound (meaning healthy, robust) teaching. That’s what Timothy is to do to renew the church in Ephesus – teach sound teaching.” “Words are in decline these days … We use words badly. They turn into slogans, propaganda. They don’t seem important enough to make things happen. [Yet] words are the way the world was made. Words create the reality of the world in which we live. “One of the most important things we’ll be doing in the years ahead is sound teaching. Right here Paul is not talking about right doctrine, which you have to have, but using words in such a way that they create health.” In the work of renewal, Peterson asserted, sound teaching is essential. “We are a people of the Word. Words are precious. We must use them artfully, devotedly, reverently. … We can’t be too careful with our language. It blunts our sensitivities if we are careless.” Learning from the past Introducing speakers who looked back at Presbyterians for Renewal’s first ten years, Betty Moore, Rightmyer’s predecessor, emphasized the importance of learning from the past and said that “God has honored us to be part of a movement.” Also reflecting on the organization’s inaugural decade were Clayton Bell, Matt Welde and Matt McGowan. Asked to look back at Presbyterians for Renewal’s first decade, Rightmyer told The Presbyterian Layman, “We find that God has been very faithful. Prayers for renewal have been and are being answered. And our discernment of the Spirit’s presence and voice right now for the future is that more work is to be done. We fully understand that renewal of the church in regard to the future has little to do with the programs of PFR and everything to do with the person of Jesus Christ.” He also noted that the organization’s directors “kept coming back to the concept that all our ministry needs is to flow out of worship and prayer. In that regard our board gave the green light to the development of the job description and funding for a new staff person who would interweave the ministry of issues and intercession. We anticipate sometime this next year being able to add a staff person to coordinate that effort.” The board’s goal, Rightmyer said, is “to seek to participate in the political issues in the church as led by the Spirit and not led by conventional wisdom and political strategy. That means the future is going to be full of surprises.” |
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