Why The Future Of Church Renewal Looks Ancient

The church world loves the question “What’s next?” but that question can hide a deeper problem: we have forgotten what came before. After seasons of division, disaffiliation, and strained relationships, we can rush to build a new identity, a new structure, or a new brand. We push back on that impulse and make a different claim for the Global Methodist Church and for any renewal movement that wants to last: the church doesn’t need a new thing, it needs a return.

We talk honestly about cultural Christianity and what happens when cultural momentum disappears. When being Christian stops being assumed, respected, or expected, it can feel like unfamiliar territory. But the early church lived as a misunderstood minority from the start, and their power did not come from influence or innovation. It came from their Lord. That’s why we challenge language that sounds like we’re starting Christianity over. Biblical authority, holiness, orthodoxy, discipleship, and evangelism were not discovered by us, and that is good news because our confidence is rooted in Christ’s faithfulness, not our originality.

We also dig into a danger every reform movement faces: getting stuck as a people defined by what we left. Lines sometimes need to be drawn, but a church cannot stay healthy if it only knows what it is against. We look to John Wesley’s humility, his attention to the Church Fathers, and the wisdom of the saints as an antidote to chronological arrogance. Then we land on the uncomfortable center: the church’s biggest problem isn’t a lack of strategy, it’s a lack of holiness. Revival has always looked ordinary at its core, anchored in prayer, Scripture, repentance, worship, and the Spirit of God.

If you’re hungry for church renewal, historic Christianity, and practical clarity about what faithfulness looks like right now, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review telling us what you think the church needs to return to first.

Transcript

Welcome And The Big Question

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Hello and welcome back to Uncomfortable Grace, where truth and mercy lie. Today I want to talk to my little promise. This episode is forever and find myself wondering what comes next for the trip.

After Division, Who Are We Now

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Walk through difficult days. We've experienced division. We've seen churches disaffiliate. We've watched friends strained relationships, and in some cases the relationships were broken. We've wrestled with questions of doctrine, authority, faithfulness and identity. And now that many of us find ourselves on the other side of those battles, there's a new question emerging. What are we now? What is the GMC supposed to become? What is her future and what does it look like? What kind of movement are we building? And I want to suggest something that may sound strange, but I don't think our greatest need is figuring out what comes next. I think our greatest need is remembering what came before.

The Church Needs A Return

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Because the church doesn't need a new thing. The church needs a return. Not a return to nostalgia, not a return to a denomination, not a return to a decade, but a return to the ancient faith that has sustained God's people for two thousand years. One of the greatest temptations of our generation, or of every generation, actually, is believing that its struggles are unique in some kind of way, or it's it's exclusive only to this generation. We look at our culture and we see moral confusion, we see biblical illiteracy, we see declining church attendance, we see hostility toward Christian conviction, we see denominational chaos, we see Christians deconstructing their faith. And because we are living through it, it feels unique. It feels like nobody has ever faced what we are facing. Brothers and sisters, I have to say, history says otherwise.

Strength In Christ, Not Culture

SPEAKER_01 4:17

The power of the church has always been found in her Lord. Did you catch that? The power of the church has always been found in her Lord. In many ways, I believe our moment resembles the first three centuries of Christianity more than it resembles that last century. For generations, many churches operated with a certain amount of cultural momentum, if you will. Being a Christian was normal. Being a Christian was respected. Being a Christian was expected. In some communities, being a Christian was almost assumed. And that environment right there created both strengths and weaknesses. The strength, I would say, was that Christianity had influence. The weakness was that Christianity often became cultural. A lot of people knew church language, a lot of people identified as Christian, but discipleship often ran shallow. Then culture shifted, the assumption disappeared, the respect disappeared, the influence diminished, and suddenly Christians found themselves in unfamiliar territory. Except it really isn't unfamiliar. It is actually quite familiar. Track with me. The early church knew exactly what it meant to be a minority. The early church knew exactly what it meant to be misunderstood. The early church knew exactly what it meant to hold um convictions that were unpopular. And instead of panicking, they remained faithful. Maybe that is what we need right now. Not panic, don't hear that. Not um innovation, not reinvention, but faithfulness and a deep remembering of these mighty acts that our Lord has done. One thing I occasionally hear in conversation about the GMC, since that's the tradition I'm in, is

We Are Not Starting Over

SPEAKER_01 7:00

language that makes it sound like we're starting Christianity over. As if we finally figured out what nobody else could, as if we are creating something entirely new. My brothers and sisters, I have to tell you something. We are not. The GMC, they did not discover biblical authority. The GMC did not discover holiness. The GMC did not discover discipleship. The GMC did not discover evangelism. The GMC did not discover orthodoxy. The GMC did not even discover Methodism. And that is actually good news because our confidence should never be rooted in our originality. Our confidence should be rooted in Christ's faithfulness. The church does not stand because of our creativity. The church stands because Jesus said, Listen, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Notice who's doing the building. Not us, not Cody, not First Church, not any church. Christ is doing the building. Our task is not to invent the church. Our task is to be faithful to the church we have received.

Beyond What We Oppose

SPEAKER_01 8:33

I think one of the dangers facing every reform movement is that eventually it becomes defined by what it opposes. At first, that can be necessary. Sometimes lines have to be drawn. Sometimes truth has to be defended. Sometimes difficult decisions have to be made. I believe that happened in many places amongst many denominations. I believe many churches acted as faithful as they could. And I believe many people paid a high price, a very high price for those convictions. But eventually, you reach a point where your identity can no longer be built around what you left. Because if your entire identity is what you're against, you will eventually lose sight of what you are for. The church was never meant to be united primarily around its enemies. The church was meant to be united around Jesus. And if we're not careful, we can spend the next 20 years talking about what happened rather than becoming what God is calling us to be now. The goal is not simply to leave error. The goal is to pursue Christ.

Wesley And Learning From Saints

SPEAKER_01 10:00

One of the things I appreciate about John Wesley is that he had a profound humility about his place in church history. Wesley never thought he was um inventing Christianity. He never viewed himself as the beginning of the story. In fact, he constantly looked backwards. He read The Church Fathers, he studied Augustine, he learned from many, many great believers, great saints in the faith. He learned from the saints who came before him. Wesley believed that if the Holy Spirit had been guiding the church for centuries, then Christians should pay attention to what faithful believers had already discovered. That's a perspective that we desperately need today. Because modern Christianity often suffers from chronological arrogance. We assume newer means better. We assume older means outdated. We assume our generation sees things more clearer than everyone before us. Yet the saints who came before us prayed more, they suffered more, they sacrificed more, and often, often they understood discipleship at a far deeper level than many of us today. Maybe instead of assuming we have something to teach the historic church, we should sit at her feet for a while.

God’s New Work Uses Old Ways

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Now, here's where I think many Christians get confused, though. We often quote passages about God doing a new thing. And that's true. Not gonna argue with that. God does do new things. God brings revival, God awakens hearts, God raises up leaders, God pours out his spirit, God reforms his church, God creates new opportunities, God does the new thing. But notice something the people God uses are usually doing very old things. They are praying, they are preaching, they are repenting, they are worshiping, they are studying scripture, they are making disciples, they are loving their neighbors, they are walking in obedience, the method may change, the technology may change, the culture may change, but the fundamentals never change. Every major revival, look it up, make sure I'm not making anything up on you. Every major revival in Christian history looked remarkably ordinary at its center. Prayer, preaching, repentance, holiness, the word of God, the Spirit of God, the people of God, and that's it. That's it, friends. Look it up. I can't I'm not making this up.

Strategy Cannot Replace Holiness

SPEAKER_01 13:28

So can I say something that may be uncomfortable? I don't think the church's biggest problem is a lack of strategy. I think it's a lack of holiness. We spend enormous amounts of time discussing structures, policies, budgets, programs, marketing, vision statements, branding, and those things have their place. But none of them can substitute for holiness. The early Methodists changed the world because they took sanctification seriously. They expected transformation. They believed Christians could grow in grace. They believed the Spirit can make people holy. Not perfect in the absolute sense, but genuinely transformed. Imagine, imagine if we became known for that again. Not our arguments, not our politics, not our conferences, but our holiness. What if people looked at our churches and saw men and women whose lives genuinely reflected Christ? Boy, that would change everything.

Return To Scripture And Means Of Grace

SPEAKER_01 15:04

You see, the irony is that the future of the church may actually be older than we think. The answers we're searching for may already exist. Not because the past was perfect, friends. That's not what I'm saying, but because God has been faithfully leading his people for centuries. We don't need to reinvent discipleship. We need to practice it. We don't need to reinvent prayer. We just need to pray. We don't need to reinvent holiness. We just need to pursue it. We don't need to reinvent evangelism. We need to share Christ. The future is not found in novelty. The future, the future is found in faithfulness. So if someone asks me, little old Cody, what I want for the GMC, my answer is simple. Return. Return. Bishops, hear me. Return. Return to Scripture. Return to Christ. Return to prayer. Return to holiness. Return to evangelism. Return to discipleship. Return to the wisdom of the saints. Return to the faith once delivered to the saints. Return to the ordinary means of grace. Return to lives that are fully surrendered to Jesus. Not because the past was perfect. The past was not perfect. But because Christ is the same yesterday, he's the same today, and he's the same forever. The church doesn't need a new gospel. The church doesn't need a new Christ. The church doesn't need a new mission. The church doesn't need a new spirit. The church simply needs to remember who she is.

Resist Novelty And Stay Faithful

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Let me bring this cast to an end. Brothers and sisters, God is still building his church. He was building it before we arrived, and he will be building it long after we're gone. The question isn't whether God is faithful. The question is whether we will be. So let us resist the temptation to chase novelty. Let us resist the temptation to define ourselves by what we left. Let us resist the temptation to think our generation is the center of the story. Instead, instead, friends, let us take our place among the great cloud of witnesses. Let us walk the old paths. Let us trust the ancient gospel. Let us turn and learn from the saints who have gone before us. Let us believe that the same Holy Spirit who sustained the apostles, strengthened the martyrs, guided the fathers, inspired Wesley, and preserved the church through every age is more than capable of leading us today. The church doesn't need a new thing. The church needs a return. And if we return to Christ, we will discover that He has been faithful and He has been there all along. I hope it taught you to do a deep looking back.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Friends, I have to say this as less than what.