Daylight Savings Reminder: Don’t forget to turn your clocks forward this Saturday night for Sunday!

At Renew we continue searching for a meeting space within Lansdale Borough. (We prefer staying within the borough’s boundaries but if an ideal location showed up nearby…) We invite you to let us know if you think a facility might meet our needs, and we have created a facilities search form for your convenience. Please feel free to complete as much or as little of the form as you wish and return it to Kelley Royce at lark78@verizon.net. We have also provided a list of facilities or properties we have already checked out,
so we won’t duplicate our efforts! Thanks for your help!

Join us for Doubt Night on Monday, March 1, 2010 from 7:30pm to 9:30pm.

Global team is planning a short term mission trip to Daughters in Cambodia from May 8th-22nd.  This is coming quick!  Please be praying about your involvement in this, and if you are interested in being a part of the trip from planning to going please contact Jess Rodrigues at jrodriguesrd@gmail.com.

As Renew continues to raise the value of building into our families and our kids, we have recognized the need to create a part-time Renew Kids Coordinator position.  We are looking to hire an enthusiastic person for 40 hours a month to carry out various roles and responsibilities to keep our kids ministry running well.

If you are interested please contact Becca Derstine at renewkidsbecca@hotmail.com or Tracy Commons at tracycommons@gmail.com for more information.

Covenant Partnership Process

Why membership?

Nowhere in Scripture do we see membership described the same way church membership is most often lived out in our context today. The New Testament says that we are “members of God’s household.”

So what is the purpose of membership? If used and lived out appropriately membership can and should be about one thing: spiritual formation.

It is grace-filled accountability to remain faithful and committed to loving God and loving others.

It can be a tool to help us grow in our journey with Jesus.

Language: Covenant Partnership

There can be a lot of cultural baggage around the word “membership.”

Language creates culture. Therefore, at Renew we desire to call this communal process of spiritual formation Covenant Partnership. We partner with each other, but more importantly, with God, in seeing renewal happen in the world. We covenant together (the Old Testament understanding of “cutting a deal” with others) by vowing to God to keep a commitment to another person. Covenant Partnership at Renew is a two-way street.

What is expected of me if I am to be a Covenant Partner?

Above all else, we want Covenant Partners to desire to grow to love God and love others more through committed involvement in our faith community (i.e. live out the mission, vision and values of Renew).

Specifically this is expressed in various ways such as involvement in a Renew house church, serving in a specific area or team, developing a spiritual formation plan, being intentional with your oikos (sphere of influence) and living a life of generosity.

If I am a Covenant Partner, what can I expect of the pastors and elders of Renew?

Pastors and elders are committed to, by God’s grace, leading, serving, praying for, shepherding, caring, teaching, training and being accessible to live life with Covenant Partners so as to see them grow in their journey with Jesus.

What is the process to become a Covenant Partner?

[1] Observe: Observe, listen, learn and join with us in our rhythms for 3-6 months. Ask questions and experience who we are and what we care about. Learn people’s names and stories. Worship with us. Join a house church. Eat meals in people’s homes. Ask specific questions and seek to understand what the values, rhythms and mission of Renew.

[2] Attend a Covenant Partnership Retreat: These weekend retreats are held once a quarter for everyone interested in the CP process. These weekends are heavily relational (in order to meet and get to know other people desiring to enter into the partnership process) and educational (in order to communicate the mission, vision, values, priorities and expressions of Renew).

[3] Create a spiritual formation plan: Those interested in pursuing CP will develop a grace-filled spiritual formation plan listing the specific steps and rhythms commit to participate in over the next twelve months. Covenant Partners will seek out an accountability partner (friend, another Covenant Partner, pastor, elder, etc), give them their spiritual formation plan and give them permission to speak into their life regarding their growth. Accountability partners should meet at least once every two months for discussion, reflection and prayer.

[4] Meet with an elder or pastor: After a spiritual formation plan is developed each potential CP will meet with an elder and/or pastor to discuss the reasons they desire to partner with Renew, to review their spiritual formation plan and to spend time in prayer.

Covenant Partnership Installation:

After this process is completed Covenant Partners are introduced to the entire community during one of our gatherings. Each person will state where they are committing to be a missionary in their context (i.e. in their neighborhood, at their place of work, where they volunteer and serve, etc) and will be prayed over publicly by the elders and pastors.

Is Covenant Partnership a once-and-done thing?

No. Covenant Partnership lasts for one year. Each Covenant Partner who wishes to remain committed must renew their partnership each twelve months. If a Covenant Partner wishes to re-commit to Renew they are to create a new spiritual formation plan for the coming year and meet with an elder and/or pastor to talk through the past year and why they wish to be a partner for another year.

Renew seems to take membership seriously. Why is that?

Because Jesus gave us our commissioning orders: to make committed followers of him. Jesus makes it clear that if we are not moving people into greater love and commitment to God and others we are not fulfilling our role as a faith community. It is our litmus test of obedience. Covenant Partnership raised the bar on discipleship. It is an important tool that challenges us to make sure committed Jesus followers are encouraged, cultivated and made within Renew.

If you have further questions about entering into Covenant Partnership at Renew please contact us.

www.renewcommunity.org

renewcommunity@gmail.com

215.833.4424

Biblical Seminary presents “Theology & The Arts” a two-part event on Monday, February 1, 2010.  This event is free of charge but registration is required.  For more information, please click here.

From Ecclesia Board Member, JR Woodward…

We have all been touched by the tragedy in Haiti and most of us feel drawn to be of help somehow. But what is the best way to help in this situation? Michelle Singletary in an article for the Washington Post says Haiti earthquake brings out generosity, and scam artists. So true. Which is why it is good to be networked with my friend Bruce Hopler who pastors Cornerstone Community Church in Columbia, Maryland. Bruce and his congregation have been working in the Dominican Republic for many years. The congregation Bruce serves is a part of the Ecclesia Network and their organization, the Del Comino Connection, is in a unique position (sharing the island with Haiti) to help people in Haiti in wise ways.

I received an email from Bruce on Friday on how Dominican Republic organizations, in an effort facilitated by Esperanze Intl. and including Compassion International, Food for the Hungry, World Vision, Healing Waters and the Red del Camino Network churches developed a two phase action plan.

Here is what his partners in Dominican Republic wrote him:

Phase one involves funneling locally purchased relief supplies through churches, ministry partners and community-based organizations connected to the coalition in Haiti. The immediate request from our partners is cash donations so that we can purchase supplies in Dominican cities along the border with Haiti. From previous experience, we have learned that containers sent from abroad take up precious time in transport, customs processing, and transport to the emergency site.

Phase two of the plan will draw from the assessment and mapping currently happening in Haiti. Once emergency processes are met and conditions are stabilized, we will be requesting in-kind contributions.

Please go to their site to download a pdf file with more details as well as giving donations to the Haiti Disaster Relief Fund, knowing that it is going to meet needs wisely.

Ever wonder if there was a safe place to ask dangerous but important questions about life, faith, God, Jesus, the church?

What if we could openly talk about our questions, concerns, and doubts with others who are searching and seeking on this journey of life and faith?

We can.

Join us for doubt :: night on Tuesday night January 19th at 7:30 pm in the meeting room at Third and Walnut Bar and Grill (corner of Third Street and Walnut Street near the Lansdale Train Station) for a laid-back, yet intentional discussion about faith and doubt and a chance for you to air out your doubts.

Why is Renew hosting something like this?
Because regardless of who we are, we all have doubts.
And if we can’t wrestle with and process and discuss our doubts at Renew then where can we?

And sometimes its better to question the answers than it is to answer the questions.
The opposite of faith is not doubt, but fear.
And we don’t want to fear the questions.

This is open to anyone and everyone* regardless of your religious background.
Hope to see you there!

*By PA law, no one under the age of 18 is allowed in Third and Walnut.