J.R. Briggs

Thoughts on the feature article on Renew in today’s paper

February 27, 2009

The local paper published a feature article on The Renew Community in today’s paper. Several people said they thought it was a great article and asked me for my thoughts on the article.

Overall, I, too, think it was a great article. I was very pleased, honored and thankful for the story. I’m very grateful for writer Brian Bingaman and photographer Geoff Patton, who came to one of our launch team meetings and a house church meeting in order to get a feel as to what we are doing. They were thorough, asked great questions and, for the most part, told our story and communicated an accurate picture of the ethos of The Renew Community.

In addition, we were pleasantly surprised that it was a feature article. We knew it would be in the paper some time soon, but we didn’t expect it to be a feature with several color pictures. Many thanks to Brian and Geoff for their hard work.

A few people asked me if I would change anything in the story. There are a few minor details that could have been a bit more accurate (such as our website being listed as www.renewcommunity.org and not www.renew-community.org and the fact that we haven’t had a ‘launch’ yet even though one of the picture captions seemed to imply that we have).

But there are two things I would have liked to have had communicated a bit differently from a broader perspective.

1. While house churches make up an important part of what we are doing, they are not the only strategic element of Renew’s vision. We are planning on having a large public communal gathering regularly, starting this spring. We have felt it is most strategic to start these smaller Jesus communities first and then our public gatherings later.

The article in the (Doylestown) Intelligencer a few months ago communicated Renew’s house church concept, but left out that we do in fact plan on having a regular gathering of all house churches coming together for a regular gathering. I wished this morning’s article in the Reporter had mentioned that we believe that house churches and regular communal gatherings are what we call a “dual expression of church” – house churches and our regular communal gatherings. We strongly believe that one without the other is incomplete. Again, it’s not the end of the world, but I would have loved to have seen some mention of our plans for our future public gatherings.

2. I also wished the headline was different. The headline in the print edition said, “The Anti-Church Church.” While we desire to connect with those intrigued by Jesus, but turned off by organized religion, we certainly don’t want to be seen as being “anti.”

As I was quoted in the article,  “the church is known more for what it’s against than what it’s about” and that is Renew’s desire: to change the perception. To do something different in order to change that mindset. It certainly wasn’t a reactionary decision to step out and start Renew. Instead of being “anti-church” we desire to be “pro-fresh expressions and fresh-extension of what church could look like.” We see it not as a reactionary approach, but as a way of saying “What are the possibilities of how we engage with our community and our culture in a way that is good news to these people?” Our vision is hope-filled and exciting, not condescending or combative.

We also don’t want anyone to believe that ‘church’ is bad nor do we want to imply that all other churches have missed it and we are the only ones to ‘get it.” Certainly not. As I was quoted, there are a lot of good churches in the area. In fact, I connect with pastors and other church leaders in our area every week and the more I connect and pray with and for them, the more excited I get about creating partnerships, linking arms and working together. One church in Lansdale/ the North Penn region cannot see long-lasting engagement and transformation happen. It must be a strategic and inclusive effort of many churches coming together to serve the region humbly and strategically in the name of Jesus.

Maybe nobody took it that way, but we certainly want to be sensitive to how things are understood. We want to communicate that this is a faith community for those who are de-churched and unchurched, a place for people who want to experience healing from their brokenness and to feel the feedom to drop the religiosity at the door in order to experience real life with God and others in the context of community. In other words, to be renewed so that we can join God in helping to renew his world.

We’re certainly not defending ourselves or trying to correct inaccuracies. But if I had to answer the question what would you want to change? those two things would be it. We are grateful for the tone of the article and the opportunity to have our story told as we try to communicate and live out the story of the gospel in the region, among people we love and desire to be transformed by the gospel message.

Thanks again to Brian, Geoff and the rest of the staff at The Reporter for telling our story.

Posted in: Uncategorized