James Knowles writes: Few of us can predict with any certainty what the future holds for the Church of England…
That’s why the 2023 ReNew Conference, of Church of England evangelicals, held in Leeds, focused on what is certain. The theme was ‘How Great a Salvation’, with the aim of reminding evangelicals to delight in the great salvation our Lord Jesus has won for us and, motivated by this great love, to reach out in our local contexts with the same unchanging glorious gospel. The unchanging gospel of Jesus Christ.
We were encouraged to marvel and be in awe by the surprise of Salvation, that it would even save someone like the people in Luke 18 and 19, a tax collector, a rich person, a marginalised person, Zacchaeus, you and me. People who are all ‘in Adam’ and sin-sick, and in need of a Saviour. It was heart-warming to hear of real lives being changed by someone sharing the good news of Jesus as churches door-knocked, receiving many rejections, but also finding the most unlikely people responding to Jesus and receiving this great salvation. Personal stories shared from the platform were followed up in seminars to encourage people to pray, think and speak, as they reached out to people in their local context. The conference finished with the question – what will we do with this great salvation while we wait for the King to return?
