Resourcing Renewal: Shaping Churches for the Emerging Future by Martyn Atkins
The Church in Great Britain is facing perhaps the greatest challenges in its history: how to accept the painful reality of failing attendance; members who are leaving an organization they feel is no longer 'their' Church; and, the fact that the Church is seen as largely irrelevant in an increasingly secular age. In the face of these issues the temptation is to despair and give up, but in "Resourcing Renewal", Martin Atkins argues that times of fatigue and loss in the Church are in fact times of transition that can lead to genuine renewal and greater opportunities for the work of the Holy Spirit. When a local church opens itself to such renewal, every part of its life is re-evaluated with a Spirit-led missionary lens. "Resourcing Renewal" offers snapshots of new innovative worship, evangelism and exciting new ministries. Martyn Atkins calls on clergy, laity and organizations to remember their calling, and to 'prepare for renewal as it if all depended on you and to know that it depends completely on God.