Turnaround Churches - Step 2 - Spiritual Renewal

After a rehumbling take place (step 1), revival begins with worship, preaching (Bible-based), and prayer. Everything flows from there.

Many churches make the mistake of thinking that the revival comes through “getting of their duffs” and doing more or “getting out into the community.” In reality, most church calendars are too full already. Doing less might actually help Christians become more…and the more Christians become like Christ, the more they are capable of acting like Christ as God’s power pours forth from their lives. Asking people who are spiritually dried up or dead to give more, be more evangelistic, serve the community or get more involved is futile. Church renewal begins with spiritual renewal. This precedes missional renewal. They can rise together, but mission cannot be discovered or instituted before spiritual renewal.

Worship. Preaching. Prayer. It’s important that these things are priorities, and given the best of the church’s energy and resources. All churches are, at some level, already worship, preach and pray. But, they often engage in these life-giving practices in a way that leaves one wondering if the church believes God really exists. In many declining environments, Worship is a haphazard and half-hearted affair, preaching is relatively passionless and underprepared, and prayer is somewhat rote and almost exclusively intercessory.

If worship is God-focused and awe-inspiring in it’s witness to His greatness and love; if preaching is a passionate, Spirit-imbued, Word-based declaration of God’s reign; if prayer is faith-filled and oriented primarily toward God and His Kingdom, the church will pulsate with God’s presence. The rest will begin to fall into place.

All of the good things we’d like to see the church do are part and parcel of the worshipful life. When considering what the church should do, God is both the means and the end, not simply the means to an end. The spiritual practices of worship, preaching and prayer center us. They place us in God’s presence in unique ways. From there, C.S. Lewis was right to say, “We only learn to behave ourselves in the presence of God.” All of the tasks of ministry will come from the overflow. And, when they do, they will happen faster, stronger, and more abundantly than they would have if attempted before seeking God’s face.

Strong, vibrant churches find that worship, preaching, and prayer don’t just get the ball rolling—they sustain the church long-term. Why? Because the things that need doing in the world take power that we do not possess apart from the risen Lord living us among us in power.

Comments

[Robin]

Just curious: what do you mean by saying that the declining church's prayer is "rote and almost entirely intercessory" when it should be "faith-filed and oriented primarily toward God and His Kingdom"? In terms of the specific content of our prayers, what do you think we should be doing differently to attain spiritual renewal?

[Tim Spivey]

Robin, It's obviously a wonderful thing to intercede for a Sister or Brother. But, when prayer is only offered for that purpose--or if formulaic prayers devoid of formulaic meaning are repeated week after week...something could be wrong.

In terms of spiritual renewal - I would recommend people read Richard Foster's book on prayer (and many others), but even better--a biblical study of prayer...and some nights of prayer with a "no intercession" rule for at least one of those nights :)

One thing I've tried is to allow a few minutes for silent prayer at the end of the message asking people to reflect and offer prayers in the thought-stream of the message.

It's a big topic, and I have a lot of growing to do in this area as well.