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Have questions about ReNew Partnerships and TheNewCulture.org?  Here are some answers from Chad Brennan, the Director of ReNew Partnerships…

What is the purpose of ReNew Partnerships and TheNewCulture.org?

We help Christians to understand, build, and sustain Biblical, multi-ethnic community or what we call the “New Culture”.

What do you mean by the New Culture?

This can best be understood by reading the series: 7 Principles of the New Culture

What is the relationship between ReNew Partnerships and TheNewCulture.org?

TheNewCulture.org is the website of ReNew Partnerships.  It is one of the tools we use to accomplish our purpose.  Other ways include hosting on-site training forums, coaching and consulting ministries, and partnering with other organizations.

What are your on-site training forums like?

You can learn all about them at TheNewCulture.org/learn/onsite.

Do you only focus on ethnicity-related issues — what about gender, age, etc?

The primary focus of our efforts is breaking down the ethnicity-related divisions in the church and helping Christians of different ethnicities to share life and ministry together.  But, true biblical, Christian community is also about different socio-economic groups, gender groups, age groups, anything groups being connected with one another through the power of Christ.   It is about tearing down all the walls that divide one human being from another through Christ’s love and the power of the Holy Spirit.  We believe God has called us to focus our efforts on ethnicity-related aspects of building biblical community for many reasons — but, it is not because we believe it is the only, or even the most important, aspect.

Why do you have such a specific focus?

There are many reasons we believe God has called us to such a specific focus.  Here are a few of them…

  1. Multi-ethnic Christian communities bring special glory to God.
    As Dr. Wayne Grudem says in his Systematic Theology,  “If the Christian church is faithful to God’s wise plan, it will be always in the forefront in breaking down racial and social barriers in societies around the world, and will thus be a visible manifestation of God’s amazingly wise plan to bring great unity out of great diversity and thereby to cause all creation to honor him.”
  2. Jesus and the early Christians were very committed to breaking down ethnic barriers and forming multi-ethnic Christian communities.
    Visit the Bible passages section of our website to find dozens of examples of this.
  3. Ethnically-divided Christian fellowships dishonor God.
    If we walked into a school, a business, or a military unit that was still segregated by race we would probably be shocked and outraged. And yet, a tragically small percentage of Christian churches/organizations in America are truly ethnically “integrated”. Our ethnic divisions are contrary to the teachings of Christ, the writings of the apostles, and the example of the early Christians. Many Christian leaders want this to change but often lack the forums, resources, and training necessary to bring about real change — that is where we come in!
  4. We believe that one of the most “evangelistic” things we can do is help Christians to live like God has called them to.
    Before my wife and I started the ReNew Partnerships we spent nine years on staff with a large, evangelistic campus ministry.  We observed again and again how people’s negative perception of Christians prevented them from receiving Christ.  What a tragedy!  Too many people can relate to what Ghandi said when someone asked him why he didn’t want to be a Christian despite his love for Jesus, “I love your Jesus. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Jesus.”
  5. If the church were more ethnically unified it would be much more effective at addressing the spiritual and physical needs in our communities.
    There are over 250,000,000 people in America who claim to be a Christian — that is a LOT of prayer power, manpower, creativity, influence, and financial resources! With God’s help, we have the potential to address every physical and spiritual need in our communities — education, poverty, broken families, injustice, isolation/depression, etc. But, sadly, Christians often remain ineffective at addressing these areas. Why? One the most obvious reasons is that we are fragmented into various ethnically-homogenous groups that have little meaningful interaction with one another. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “If we do not learn to live together as friends, we will die apart as fools.” We could also add, “…we will continue to be ineffective at impacting our communities.”
  6. We want to help Christians experience the unique power and beauty of biblical, multi-ethnic community.
    A tragically small percentage of Christians are experiencing the amazing power and beauty that is present when we break down ethnic barriers to worship Christ as one – it can bring healing and incredible joy into our lives.

Where are Christians trying to build biblical, multi-ethnic community?

The most obvious place is in local churches– but, there are many other places as well… Bible studies, Christian universities, youth ministries, campus ministries, missions teams, denominations, etc.

So, you help organizations become more ethnically diverse?

Yes, and no.  Our emphasis is not so much on how to make organizations ethnically diverse.  Christian sociologists like Dr. Michael Emerson have done extensive studies which show that the majority of times when churches and organizations “become more diverse” there are still major divisions between the various ethnic groups — a good book to read on that is People of the Dream by Dr. Emerson.   On the surface the organization looks more diverse but it is only skin deep.  Anything short of a true, deep level of relational connectedness between those of different ethnic groups does not match the Biblical model.  That is why we focus our efforts on building biblical, multi-ethnic community within organizations rather than “increasing the diversity of an organization”.  It may not sound like a big difference — but, they are actually very different objectives and require completely different approaches.  Of course, as pockets of true biblical, multi-ethnic community develop within a church or organization its level of diversity will increase.

Do you work with a lot of different groups and organizations?

Yes, we do – churches, universities, parachurch organizations, etc. from a wide variety of denominational and ethnic backgrounds.

Are you affiliated with any church, denomination, or ministry?

No, we are an independent, 501(c)3 Christian non-profit organization.

When was ReNew started?

Its a little tricky to answer that because it depends on what you mean by “started”… Some other ministry leaders and I in Queens, NYC started working toward Biblical multi-ethnic unity back in February of 2001. At first, “ReNew” was just a monthly prayer/worship/fellowship event facilitated by local ministry leaders from a wide variety of ethnic and denominational backgrounds. As we worked toward multi-ethnic unity and partnership we learned about the joys and challenges involved. Overtime, my wife and I felt God’s call to help build multi-ethnic Christian community full-time. After much prayer and discussion with mature Christian leaders, we left the campus ministry we were a part of and launched “ReNew Partnerships” as a new Christian non-profit organization in 2006. We received our 501(c)3 status in June of 2006. To learn more about our history I recommend seeing the timeline on our website.

You didn’t answer my question…

My bad. Contact us and we’ll be glad to do so.