Renewal and the Death of the Mainline

Elisha’s ministry of life was, according to 1 Kings 19, a ministry of judgment. Elisha, after all, was a force of destabilization. By giving life and freedom to the faithful poor, the loyal sons of the prophets, he upset the “natural” hierarchy of the Northern Kingdom. By engaging in a ministry of life, he condemned to death those who refused to follow his word.

The same is true in the church today. Within many mainline churches, renewal movements are seeking to turn the denomination back to orthodoxy and faithfulness. Those are genuinely renewal movements, Israels within Israel, intended to renew the whole denomination. They are ministries of life.

But those renewal movements are also instruments of judgment against the whole church. When a renewal movement begins in the Methodist of Presbyterian church, for instance, that church becomes internally divided. Further, the resources, personnel, and energy required to keep the denomination running are depleted and redirected. Resources that would be devoted to denominational programs and plans are diverted to the programs and plans of the renewal movement. Renewal movements often drain a denomination of its best and brightest leaders, and its most vibrant churches.

What this means is that the renewal of the mainline follows the same process as all renewals: The path of renewal is not moral reformation, but slaughter and transfiguration, division and reunion, death and resurrection.