Eight handy ways to spoil the renewal of the church - Part 1

This is the first part of a series about renewal in the church. The series has four parts in total and is posted once a week, on consecutive Tuesdays.

What if we did not want to reach to new people?

What to do if we want to avoid the renewal in our church?

Or even spoil it?

Here are eight handy ways to do it:

1. Organize different kind of services on every Sunday

There is a good organized way to offer services in the church.

And then there are the everything-goes-services.

When everything is organized and people can know what kind of service to expect this Sunday, it is easy to come.

And even to bring friends with you.

Other way to do the Sunday services is to surprise people, never let them know what to expect and what exactly will happen the next Sunday.

This is a good way to even lose the people who used to be loyal members of a church.

2. Do not give a role to the youth

It is good to have young people in the church on Sundays.

But as everyone knows, if you really want to spoil your renewal, you should see a young person, not hear them.

This is why they should leave the service as fast as possible, maybe to a different room.

They can have a youth service of their own, completely apart from the rest of the church.

When they do come to the Sunday service, make it very explicit that they are expected to behave, be quiet and accept everything exactly as it is done by the people who are older, and wiser, than they are.

It is even better if the young people are not given any kind of chance to participate in the organization and the program of the Sunday service.

Young people might otherwise have a fresh view of things and bring new ideas to the church.

Or even get other people infected with new ways of thinking, which could, in the long run, lead to a renewal.