The Story and Vision of Renewal
Our Story
Renewal began as a dream in the hearts of Derrick and Kaley Puckett. Born and raised just near Chicago, Derrick grew up witnessing first hand how one of the greatest cities in the world can remain a broken place without the gospel bringing people together. People in our city come together for our city’s fantastic sports events, her celebratory traditions, and world renown festivals and shows. Yet we struggle to unite over the biggest problems facing Chicago—crumbling families, rampant violence, and racial disharmony within our neighborhoods. Chicago needs a movement of churches convinced that the gospel can renew lives, rebuild them through life-on-life discipleship, and release them to win this city for the glory and honor of God. Renewal is answering the call to join this movement of fellow churches to see this dream come true.
Dozens of people around the country and many believers who call Chicago home have rallied behind this vision. Lives are being changed and hearts are being compelled to love Chicago with Christ’s compassion and spirit. The only thing we’re missing is you!
Our Vision
-
The gospel is the story of Jesus who stepped out of heaven into a fallen world to redeem and reconcile broken people to Himself and also to one another. This is the gospel—Jesus renews all things. The call to Renew is a call to live out this gospel in everything we do—bring renewal to our marriages and families, our neighborhoods and communities, our classrooms and careers, and our celebrations and pastimes. We live to bring the renewing power of the gospel to every area of our lives. The gospel is not rocket science though it’s often made out to be that way. That said, the call to renew is not a call to a strategy or a new system, it’s a call back to the gospel itself as the only hope for this world.
-
The renewal that Jesus Christ calls us to is accomplished in discipleship—we pour our lives into other faithful people for the purpose of pointing them towards the reconciling power of the gospel. We live in a fallen world where even those of us who’ve been redeemed struggle to shift back to former defaults in our approach to life. How do we counter this? Through being rebuilt—through being discipled by walking in community with others who love Jesus. Rebuilding is hard. Rebuilding takes time. However, when it is done, rebuilding is enjoying what the disciples must have enjoyed during their three years with Jesus—sharing life together, eating together, meeting together, and serving together all to the glory of God and His fame among the nations.
-
After Jesus renewed and rebuilt His disciples with the transforming power of the gospel, He then released them to do the same in the lives of others they might encounter along the way. At Renewal Church, our hope is that every one of us will see themselves as a missionary—Jesus has released us to be missionaries in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, and in our places of work. Jesus’ message of the gospel didn’t make an impact until His disciples were released into the world. Therefore our prayer is that we will equip our people so well that there might be a feeling of sentness among us as we release our people not only to Chicago, but the world—and not with human schemes, but with the all-encompassing power of the gospel.