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THE RENEWAL PROCESS

Understanding these key concepts, we can now get an overview of the renewal pattern. As we examine the history of revivals, the biblical basis, and the literature on renewal, we begin to see an essential design. At the heart of this process is God’s desire to renew us and our life systems, to use His presence to align us with His purposes, and to release us into our God-given mandate for which He created us. The renewal pattern is composed of four stages through which we progress: Holy Discontent, which leads into Preparation, which then sets us up for the posture of Contending, which then moves into the formation of Patterns that center our lives around God’s presence. A group of people gathered around this process then finds each other, forming a Remnant. The process looks like this, moving in a clockwise direction. 

PHASE 1: HOLY DISCONTENT

Deep dissatisfaction with the low state of our faith, the church, and the culture.

The first phase of renewal is Holy Discontent. Here, the dismay between the hunger for something better and the reality in which we are living coalesces from frustration or lament into a holy discontent. Our desires begin to align with God’s desire to renew the world. In the phase of Holy Discontent, we become discontent with the state of the world, perceiving its injustices, sinfulness, brokenness, and lostness. Its failings become painfully real to us. Often this is facilitated by a personal or corporate crisis, which brings our lives into a new light.

We become discontent with the state of the church, but not in a critical nitpicking sense. Instead, we experience a genuine hunger for the church to be released into its full potential and power in our broken world. These discontents then ferment into a deep dissatisfaction with the state of our own lives and the level of our own faith. No longer pointing fingers of accusation outward, we realize our own inadequacy. Grasping that change must begin with us; instead of falling into self-condemnation or paralysis, we cry out to God to change us, to start His renewal in our hearts.

PHASE 2: PREPARATION

The deep work of preparation that God undertakes in the hearts of those He wishes to fill with His presence.

Our Holy Discontent then becomes so powerful that we cannot go on any longer, we cannot tolerate the state of our lives, of the church, or of our culture. The next step forward is not a program of renewal, nor a campaign for change. Instead, it is lived in the hidden places, in obscurity, often drenched with tears. Built on late nights or early mornings, quiet spaces with His Spirit and His Word. Calling out for God to first begin with us. Renewal must begin with the preparation of our hearts. We experience the stages of this phase as God renews and realigns our hearts. God brings conviction—how we fall short of His standards is revealed. We be- gin to compare ourselves, not sideways against peers or culture, but to God’s eternal holiness. Not only do the things we do wrong come into focus, but also the good things we are not doing.

We then move into a fight against the flesh, in which we begin to remove the obstacles to renewal that exist in our hearts, allowing God to change our habits, desires, and attitudes. This primarily occurs through the process of confession and repentance. By following Scripture’s command to confess to our fellow believers, making right relationally what was wrong. Examining our life and our kingdom walk through the King’s standards, and repenting of the way that we have fallen short. For the heart of repentance is metanoia, the decision to turn around the direction of our lives and walk in step with His voice.

PHASE 3: CONTENDING

The act of moving from a life posture of consumption and passivity to one of contending for God’s presence to come with power.

With prepared hearts, we now step into the phase of contending. Contending means to stretch, or fight for something. We come to the point where we realize that our lives, our faith, our churches, and our culture cannot be changed by anything else but the presence of God. We wish for nothing but His presence, and so we position and posture ourselves as contenders for His presence. Following the words of God in Ezekiel, we choose to stand in the gap for our culture, crying out for God’s mercy, asking Him to come again.

This occurs through the shift of contending prayer, which is common in all moves of God. Individuals or small groups of people cry out for God to move, seeking God’s will on earth as it is in heaven. This kind of prayer is almost always persistent, as God uses the passage of time to shape us, realigning us to His timescale, teaching His people the value of persistence, a vital element of those He wishes to use in renewal.

PHASE 4: HOLY PATTERNS

Reorienting our life around patterns that enable us to live and operate in God’s presence.  

Patterns of formation begin to take shape. Practices and habits that help us live vital Christian lives, focusing on the power of God’s presence, become essential. These patterns become an alternative to the world’s great models of formation. These patterns center the rhythms of our lives around God’s presence. These are spiritual disciplines that have shaped the church throughout the millennia—prayer, the reading of Scripture, the contours of communal Christian faith.

PHASE 5: THE REMNANT

A group of individuals being renewed by God come together to contend for God to move powerfully.

Individuals come together to contend. Small groups of contending prayers begin to emerge into a remnant of renewed believers, hungry for God to move, discovering forgotten habits and practices that have nourished and nurtured the people of God through the church’s history. These practices and habits are infused with a new vibrancy and power as the presence moves amongst those seeking Him. The foundations for a move of God are established.

PHASE 6: RENEWAL

As God moves, new life flows into the person or people of God. New vitality breaks out; the person or people walk with God in His presence, empowered by Him. His presence comes with power. Ministry is quickened and empowered. What was excruciatingly slow and challenging before is now accelerated, as ministry is powered not by human effort but by His presence. The individual, church, culture, or movement, centered around God, now moves into a time of growth and advance as the kingdom moves forward, refreshing His people and those around them. Refreshment flows outward as the church becomes the ambassador of His presence in the world.

PHASE 7: REVIVAL

Renewal goes viral, spreading across churches, regions, cities, denominations, and countries. The church is significantly advanced, ground is taken for the gospel, and positive change builds a new foundation of health and kingdom fruit.

You've been reading excerpts from Mark Sayers' book "Reappearing Church." If you want to read more about the hope of renewal in a post-Christian culture, you can pick up the book at moodypublishers.com.