More personally, though, what has spiritual renewal looked like in your life? Can you think of a time when you experienced God in a particular way? Have you ever shared that experience?

One wonderful addition to the recent Lift Up Our Hearts services has been the stories of grace told by lay people from across our diocese. Each person has shared how God has guided, comforted or challenged them. We heard how a young woman was first led to come to church, how two sisters were given hope during their mother’s deadly illness, how a new Canadian felt God’s guiding hand over his early years in our country, and how a leader of a global non-profit was shaped by his relationship with Jesus.

For the last few years, my research and writing has delved into biblical stories of spiritual renewal. These stories have been a key catalyst in my own spiritual renewal. One story that I keep coming back to is the story of Cornelius, recorded in Acts 10. Since it is a story about Cornelius’s conversion, you could argue that it isn’t really a story of spiritual renewal as much as a story of an initial transformation. I’d love to present a case for seeing conversion as the primary form of spiritual renewal. But for now, let’s leave that question aside and focus on the spiritual renewal of the other key character in that story: Peter.

Peter had learned from Jesus over the entire course of his public ministry. He had witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. Peter had experienced both spiritual defeat and spiritual elation and had emerged as a key leader in the new movement that was Christianity. But God was not finished with Peter.

God used the conversion of a Roman Centurian to bring about spiritual renewal in Peter’s life too. Peter would have his view of how God’s Holy Spirit worked, and what the Church was to be, blown wide open. Peter witnessed Cornelius, a Gentile, being filled with the Holy Spirit, just as Peter and other Jewish Christians had experienced. The calling of Gentiles into the early Church would cause such controversy that it would result in the first Council of Jerusalem.

In the home of Cornelius, Peter experienced God moving in a new and shocking way. Both he and the other Jewish believers present were irrevocably changed that day. In truth, though, Peter’s experience of spiritual renewal had started a couple of days before, when he was given a strange vision through which God broadened Peter’s view of who was invited into God’s reign. The invitation was apparently open to both Jewish and Gentile believers alike! The vision from God showed Peter that he should not view anyone, Gentile or otherwise, as profane or unclean. The importance of Peter’s spiritual renewal for the trajectory of the early Church, and the early Church’s own spiritual renewal, cannot be overstated. It seems that even the first apostles needed ongoing renewal.

So, what about us? What does this story, written down almost 2,000 years ago, have to teach us today about spiritual renewal? I think there are at least three takeaways. The first is that God loves us too much to leave us where we are spiritually, even when we’re leaders in the Church.

Whether a new or longtime Christian, whether a lay or ordained leader, spiritual renewal is for everyone. It is an ongoing process in the Church across the ages. Charles Wesley (c.1707-1788) was instrumental in a global movement of spiritual renewal. Yet that movement began with his own spiritual renewal, beautifully expressed in one of his prayers included in our Prayers Through the Ages resource:

O thou who camest from above
The pure celestial fire to impart,
Kindle a flame of sacred love
On the mean altar of my heart.
There, let it for thy glory burn
With inextinguishable blaze,
And trembling to its source return
In humble prayer and fervent praise.

This brings us to a second takeaway from Peter’s spiritual renewal: prayer is foundational to all renewal. Prayers of confession. Prayers of repentance. Prayers of gratitude. Prayers of adoration and praise. Prayers of humble request. As Peter and Cornelius’s story shows us, both speaking and listening are key to prayer. In so many of the stories of spiritual renewal found in the Bible, the renewal begins with someone praying.

A final takeaway from this story: attending to what God is up to, often in silence and solitude, is also key to our spiritual renewal and that of the Church. What if Peter had written off his vision of “unclean animals” as a hunger-related delusion? What if he had refused to go to a Gentile house? What if he had ignored that the Holy Spirit had fallen on the Gentiles? God, in his love, would no doubt have used someone else to bring about the extension of the Gospel, but Peter would have missed out on his own spiritual renewal, and on one of the most pivotal and historic shifts within the early Church.

Whether we are new or seasoned Christians, God invites each of us to attend with expectation to what God wants to do in and through our lives. Don’t miss out on the renewal God offers you, and offers his Church, for the sake of the world He loves.

The post Who needs spiritual renewal? appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

Ultimately, spiritual renewal is a mysterious and life-giving work of the Holy Spirit. It isn’t something we can manage or produce ourselves. However, we know that renewal has strong links to several key correlates: widespread prayer for renewal, a robust grounding in scripture, a strong commitment to worship, and a love for sharing the faith. In other words, worship is inextricably linked to spiritual renewal. It is both a factor in and a symptom of us being renewed in our love for Christ.

To this end, excitement is building for people of all ages, and from right across our diocese, to come together to worship God through wonderful music, inspiring preaching and joyful lay-witness talks at five distinct Eucharistic services. These services will also include an opportunity for people to receive the ancient ministry of prayer and anointing. Our worship will be followed by receptions that will offer both delicious food and plenty of time to reconnect with friends from other parishes. Churches across the diocese are already planning carpooling and bussing to enable everyone to participate in one or more of these gatherings.

All five worship services will be held on Saturday afternoons at 2 p.m. to enable as many people as possible to join in lifting up our hearts together to the Living God. The first gathering will take place at St. James Cathedral on March 22, and the second will be held at Trinity Church, Streetsville on March 29. These two Lenten services will have a focus on repentance as we humble ourselves before God in worship, seeking to know and love him more deeply.

The other three services will take place on May 31 at All Saints, Whitby, Sept. 27 at St. James, Orillia, and Oct. 25 at St. Paul, Bloor Street in Toronto. The service at All Saints, Whitby, taking place near Pentecost, will have a joyous focus on the Holy Spirit at work in God’s people. The two fall services, taking place during the season of reconciliation, will have a celebratory focus on God’s reconciliation of the world through God’s Son. I can’t wait to see what God does across our diocese as we come together in these various seasons to offer ourselves and our churches in worship.

Please pray for the members of the planning group who have been busy preparing for these diocese-wide services. This group is led by Major the Rev. Dr. Michael Peterson and includes the Rev. Canon Greg Carpenter and Ian Koiter. By February this group will include two more members who will oversee technology and hospitality requirements for the services.

And by all means, plan now to come and join in as many of these gatherings as possible. My prayer is that God’s rich blessing will be poured out on all gathered and that, as missiologist and Bishop Lesslie Newbigin (Church of South India) once said, the Church will be a sign, foretaste and instrument of God’s Kingdom.

Finally, let’s call to mind John 4:23. This verse reminds us that God loves it when his people gather to worship him “in spirit and in truth,” and that he “is seeking such people to worship him.” So, let’s put our normal schedules aside for just five Saturdays and plan to join in these wonderful services. Let’s come together to lift up our hearts as we worship the God who has and is reconciling the world to himself through our Lord, Jesus Christ.

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The four foci of this endeavor include: widespread prayer for spiritual renewal; a richer knowledge of and engagement with Holy Scripture; a deeper commitment to worshipping God together; and a joy-inspired sharing of faith with the people around us.

As coordinator of this Season of Spiritual Renewal, here is a brief update on what has been happening during the first few months of this season.

Invites issued for steering committee

Bishop Asbil has been personally inviting a small group of leaders to serve on a committee that will support this season of renewal through their prayers, creative planning, guidance and wisdom. Our hope is that this group of ordained and lay leaders will form a team rich in a shared love for God and drawing from a variety of Anglican expressions, including different ethnic and liturgical backgrounds.

Potential resources researched

As coordinator, my primary work in this preliminary period has been to research a variety of prayer, scripture and discipleship resources, compiling them into a collection that parishes can choose from as they participate in this diocesan-wide initiative. Such resources include beautiful prayers from across the centuries, bible-reading plans for various ages, online and print resources to help us know the big-picture story of scripture, and resources that will help us use ancient practices of prayer, meditation and journaling as we delve into scriptures focused specifically on drawing closer to God.

Variety of workshops explored

One of the most encouraging aspects of these first few months has been talking with potential workshop leaders who are excited to share their experience in using various resources, from discipleship programs to ways to engage with and serve the communities around them. We hope to offer many one-hour online workshops that will help all our churches learn about how to use various resources on prayer and the study of scripture, how to enrich their worship, and some simple and winsome ways to share their faith with the people in their everyday lives.

Later, we plan to assist churches that want to start their own discipleship programs, by providing some leadership training. And for smaller churches that can’t offer these programs themselves, we’ll be offering some of these programs on-line and led by skilled leaders.

Communications platforms planned

As the research and development phase of this season of renewal progresses, we’ve also been considering how to best share resources with everyone in our diocese, and how to brand all this material so that it is clearly identifiable. To that end, we’re working with a graphic artist and have also created a holding space on the diocesan website especially for the Season of Spiritual Renewal. This is where information and many of our resources will be available to everyone with the simple click of a cursor.

We’re also exploring what platforms will work best for the scheduling and delivery of the many workshops we plan to offer over the next two years. Stay tuned for more information about this.

Administrative supports now in place

As someone once wisely said, “Every good idea results in work for someone,” and this season of renewal is no different. We have been seeking just the right person to take on the key role of providing administrative support for this initiative. We’re thrilled to announce that Jacqui Hance, who formerly worked in an administrative role for the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office, has agreed to take on this part-time role. Together with a great heart for the gospel, Jacqui brings a wealth of experience in resource sharing, event planning, and workshop and webinar logistics. As coordinator, I am very excited to be working with her!

Spreading the word

Finally, the first meetings were held to introduce this season of renewal, and I’m thrilled to say the responses have been so encouraging. Our diocese seems hungry for a deeper walk with God, and I’ve had several conversations with clergy who have told me God seems to be bringing new life back into their churches.

A preliminary meeting with the diocesan archdeacons and regional deans was held in early March. These leaders of our diocese were invited to share the information presented at that meeting with colleagues throughout their deaneries. One regional dean reflected, “This feels new,” and asked if the slides could also be shared with the lay leaders in his parish. Another mentioned that they loved having a choice of resources to explore with their church, while several others mentioned resources that they had used that could be shared with other churches.

It was also a real pleasure to meet with the priests and deacons of the Peterborough deanery in mid-April, and more of these deanery-based meetings will happen going forward. A presentation followed by a Q&A introduced the Season of Spiritual Renewal to Synod Council on April 18.

Together with articles in The Anglican, we hope all of these communication strategies will spark curiosity and engagement in the season of renewal and help cultivate in everyone across our diocese a deeper love for God, and a passionate desire to serve him in the world he is reconciling to himself.

The post Growing deeper in our love for God appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

The boy became one of the great prophets of Israel. The woman at the well became an evangelist to her entire village. The fisherman became a preacher to thousands. The scholar and the businesswoman became church planters. In short, these people experienced a spiritual renewal so profound that it changed their sense of identity and vocation.

Across the pages of history, God has touched the lives of ordinary people in this same way. But could this sort of renewal be something that God wants to bring about in each of us today? And if so, what might lead to such a thing?

It’s an interesting question, because we know that spiritual renewal is something God alone can do. As human beings, we love to predict and manage things, don’t we? However, when we look through the pages of scripture, we see that the Spirit is unpredictable and will not be managed. Instead, the Spirit blows where it chooses, often stirring up new possibilities that human beings never dreamed of, and growing our vision of how God works.

God grew Abraham’s vision by promising that he would make him a blessing to all nations. God grew Peter’s vision by pouring out his Spirit on Gentile believers. The first apostles would have been astonished that 2,000 years later there would be over 3 billion followers of Jesus Christ spread around the globe. God is clearly a god of surprises!

God wants to bring renewal

Although we humans can’t make spiritual renewal happen, here is why I’m hopeful for such renewal in our own time: God has told us in the scriptures that he wants to breathe new life into his people, for the sake of the world he loves. Stretching right back to the period of the exile, God has promised to renew his people. One such promise is found in Jeremiah’s message to the exiles, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:11-13) Across the ages, God has continued to breathe new life into his people, and in the wake of such renewal we’ve learned about some of the tools God has used.

Tools of renewal

Data on church renewal tells us that there are at least four disciplines associated with renewal. These include widespread prayer, a deeper engagement with Holy Scripture, a commitment to worship, and the practice of sharing the faith through word and deed. Again, these four disciplines are not themselves what makes renewal happen. Think of them, instead, as what we offer up to God with the hope that he will use them to help us know and love him more deeply.

On the ground

So, what will this Season of Spiritual Renewal look like across our diocese, and who will guide it? At Bishop Asbil’s invitation, in January I began to serve as the coordinator for this season. In February, an administrative assistant was hired, and Bishop Asbil invited a representative group of people to serve on the steering committee. This faithful, generous and creative group of people will be working together with Bishop Asbil and I to pray, dream and equip all our churches more deeply through prayer, scripture, worship, and sharing the faith.

Churches will receive resources and training in each of these four areas of Christian life, with the hope that we will all come to know and love God more deeply.

Prayer

Our plan is to send churches prayers related to spiritual renewal that they can incorporate into their weekly liturgies and use at a wide variety of meetings in their parishes. We’d love to see every single meeting taking place across our diocese during the next two years include prayers for spiritual renewal. We’d also love to see churches writing their own simple prayers for spiritual renewal, some of which we’ll share across the diocese. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to engage our children and youth in writing some of these prayers!

Scripture

We hope to point churches to a variety of resources that they can choose from to help their members all engage more deeply with the scriptures. Whether in the form of online or in-person study groups, individual reading plans, or video introductions to the various books of the Bible, we will also be offering some leadership training so that churches can establish their own reading, study, and discussion groups.

Worship

We plan to provide churches with resources and training related to such things as including children in worship, including stories of God’s grace in the life of your church, enhancing the music of small churches, enriching the spiritual focus of choirs and worship bands, and how to introduce a ministry of anointing for healing. Our plan also includes holding several wonderful large worship gatherings across our diocese. Our goal is that these large events will allow all of us to experience the rich diversity of worship that exists within our diocese.

Sharing the Faith

This area focuses on equipping churches to use a variety of discipleship tools, including online and on-site courses, film series and print materials, that will help introduce people to the Christian faith and refresh our own knowledge of the basics. Our goal will be to help all Anglicans across our diocese share their faith in a natural and welcoming manner. We plan to also include resources and training in some creative ways to engage with people in our neighbourhoods, towns and cities, drawing on and sharing ideas that some parishes are already implementing.

So, where will this Season of Spiritual Renewal take us? Ultimately, we don’t know exactly how God will use it, and so much will depend on all our churches engaging together in this endeavour. But based on who God is, we’re very hopeful that we will grow in our love and service to him, so that we can join in the Holy Spirit’s work of reconciling the world through and in Christ Jesus.

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