Main Message

A sequel to Disappearing Church, in this second book, Australian pastor and cultural commentator, Mark Sayers, argues that the crisis of our secular post-Christian world provides an opportunity for renewal and revival. He challenges us to prepare for this and it that it begins with individuals and small groups, like the biblical remnants, who are hungry for such renewal. Part of the preparation is to understand what is happening in our culture and how it is affecting the church. The secular deception is to seek progress without the presence of God. It is vital, therefore, that Christians learn to live in and extend the presence of God into the world. That this is God’s purpose is revealed in Scripture through the imagery of the temple. But we should realise that it is possible to produce false, religious versions of the temple instead of those marked by the true presence of God. We then end up with either dead orthodoxy and legalism on the one hand, or heresy and license on the other. Renewal, therefore, must start with personal holiness as we each remove the idols from the temples of our lives. We refuse to give in to the individualism and consumerism of our age. Instead, with deep commitment and alongside others, we contend for renewal and revival. Such ‘cells of renewal’ must not make the mistake of trying to manufacture it. We commit to both ‘fire and form’. To the fire of God’s presence in us, and to the proven formational patterns of life that shape us personally and corporately