Hello Ren family!
As autumn settles upon us my heart is overflowing with joy. Since I started the church in 2003, I’ve never seen such a hunger and thirst for God within the church. There have been seasons of intensified pursuit and subsequent outpourings like the renewal of 2009 and the house of prayer season when we had daily prayer and about 30 at our weekly prayer gatherings. I also think of how much prayer went into our first art installation outreach. But what is happening lately is unique. There have been a lot of people sort of breaking down in the presence of God. The Spirit has been poured out upon hearts and has ignited prayer in extraordinary ways. It’s not happening just at Ren Church but is a regional work of the Spirit.
When the Lord stirs in this way it is always unto something. In other words, it’s for a purpose. It’s not just to give us a few powerful experiences and then return to normal living. The Spirit is calling us into a lifestyle of prayer as a church. He is calling us to posture ourselves in relentless pursuit of him. He desires to establish an environment of deep hunger and thirst, humility, and the fear of God. To say it more plainly, the Lord is pulling us out of our partial devotion into wholehearted devotion. He is raising up a people who give themselves fully to consecration, prayer, and fasting so that the church will be marked by God’s glory, the lost will come home, and Jesus will become famous in our time.
As I’ve encouraged recently, keep dialing up your devotion a notch each week. Being consistent is good, and sometimes consistency results in growth. But what can you do this week to carve more time to be with God? What can you give up this week for the pursuit of God? In what ways can you sacrifice for the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus? Is there anything in your life you can get rid of that is dulling your spiritual life? How can you orient your lifestyle around the pursuit of God more this week than last week? You get the point. The stirrings of God must lead to lifestyle changes. Scripture says, don’t receive the grace of God in vain. So let’s keep pressing in. Let’s increase our devotion more and more.
To help fuel your spiritual fire I’ll be doing a new series in October and November on the joyful book of Philippians that has so many wonderful revival themes. The first message will be this Sunday if you want to read through the first eleven verses.
We have passed the one month mark of our intensified prayer initiative at Ren. Daily prayer at the church space has exceeded my expectations. It’s always a nice thing to pray with others, but many of our times of prayer have been powerfully assisted by the Holy Spirit. Praying for an hour can feel long, but most of the prayer sessions have been carried by the Spirit in a way that made them fly by! The Spirit has been deepening our resolve to believe God for revival in our time. I’m so grateful for all the effort made by many to join these daily prayer times. I can testify that praying with others frequently (I try to attend all of them) has utterly revolutionized my own prayer fire. Here are the daily times for the next 10 days. Note that there are a couple days off over the holiday weekend.
Thursday, Oct 9 @ 6 pm
Friday, Oct 10 @ 9 am
Saturday, Oct 11 — Off
Sunday, Oct 12 @ 9 am
Monday, Oct 13 — Off (Holiday)
Tuesday, Oct 14 @ 1 pm
Wednesday, Oct 15 @ Noon
Thursday, Oct 16 @ - 6 pm
Friday, Oct 17 @ 9 am
Saturday, Oct 18 @ Noon
Vicky, who is now on staff in the role of Associate Minister, shared a good resource to foster prayer for revival in your private or family devotions. Here’s her note:
This is a useful resource to help you pray called the Lectio 365 prayer app. This week, they have begun a new four week series called 'Awakening' in which they are leading daily prayer for us as individuals, for the Church as a whole, and for the culture around us to wake up to the presence and invitation of God. A great way for us to join together in praying for revival wherever we are!
The app includes a morning prayer that takes around 10-12 minutes and which leads people in pausing to be still, rejoicing in a psalm, reflecting on Scripture, asking God to help us and others and yielding to his will in our lives come what may. It also includes a shorter evening prayer.
At Ren, we try to keep our menu simple. I was recently at Chomp in Warren and was so impressed by how clean and focused their menu was. It reminded me how easy it is for churches to offer so many things that it can end up overwhelming people (we’ve done this ourselves!).
In this season, the main “bread and butter” on our menu includes the Sunday gathering, small groups, and daily prayer. Since everyone’s schedule looks different, we offer these smaller church expressions at various times and locations. I listed the prayer times above, and the small group times and locations are available on our website: small groups page.
We are really passionate that every person in the church not only comes regularly to the main Sunday gathering but also has at least one smaller group or team that they are part of. A church should be like a family, a place where you are known, as opposed to a show that you merely attend as a spectator. Church is a place to both receive and give. The Lord designed the church to be profoundly interactive. It’s a place where we do life together and live out the 50+ “one another” passages in the New Testament.
One of the small groups for women meets a couple times a month on Saturday mornings. This month they meet October 11th and 25th at 10 am at the church space (in the cafe area). They just started exploring the book of Ephesians! All women, any age, any level, are welcome to join.
The final thing I want to remind you of is the Welcome Gathering happening on Sunday, October 19th from 2-3:30 pm in the sanctuary at the church. This special gathering is for those who are fairly new to the church and have not yet become formal members. It’s a way to learn about the Ren Church story and mission. You are free to bring whatever questions you might have. My wife (Tiffany) and I will be hosting this time and will share some of the wonderful stories that we’ve collected over the years that will help you understand the heart of the church.
These are exciting times! My prayer is that the exciting stirrings of the Holy Spirit would lead to a deep, sustained culture of day and night prayer so that the glory of God inhabits more and more. Selah
Pastor Scott A