Divine Renovation Online Conference 2021

A report on the Divine Renovation Online Conference 2021

How can a parish be transformed into a community of missionary disciples? This was the question addressed by the approximately 1,200 participants of the Divine Renovation Online Conference on April 23, 2021. The keynote speaker was Father James Mallon, a Canadian priest and author of the book "Divine Renovation – When God Renovates His House. From a preserving to a missionary parish." Other speakers also shared their previous experiences in renewing parishes in the German-speaking region.

In his lecture, Fr. James Mallon first discusses the difference between system, mission, and vision. Systems are necessary and serve the mission. However, in any organization, it can happen that all effort is spent on maintaining the system. Fr. Mallon notes that this phenomenon also exists in the Church. For this reason, a clear vision is needed that takes priority over the system.

He then describes three images of how a community can look:

A large bowl: everyone is welcome A pipe: a message is conveyed that changes the world A large funnel: open to all & a call to repentance

Only the third image combines both functions of a community: accompaniment and conversion. The ultimate goal of a community is repentance that leads to life (cf. Acts 11:18). However, even before conversion, there needs to be an open place where all people are welcome. In our post-Christian era, the previous guiding principle "behave, believe, belong" no longer works, which is why we must reverse the order: today you must first belong, then you believe, and then you act correctly!

How mission can succeed

Mission is not so much what we do, but rather who we are. A missionary community needs an inner attitude that is directed outwards. When this attitude is lived for long enough, a habit, a culture, emerges. And it is precisely this culture of mission that we must strive for. For this, Fr. James Mallon presents three important factors:

"Power of the holy spirit:" We must be convinced that we cannot achieve this through our own strength. It requires a divine renovation. We must implore God to pour out His Spirit upon the community anew. "Prioritisation of evangelisation": If we use our energy for new evangelization and make the love of God experiential for people, we will change people's hearts (this happens, for example, in Alpha). "Best of leadership": Our systems are designed so that a few people "provide for" a large number of passive consumers. But as soon as a certain proportion of community members become active themselves, far more people are needed to accompany these developments. The question of leadership will therefore have to be re-evaluated.

Just as there are factors that promote the renewal of a community, there are also obstacles that can make such a process more difficult. In Canada, a community that is not missionary will not survive for long because it simply runs out of money. In the German-speaking region, there is no connection between the available means and fruitfulness; therefore, there are no major consequences to not being missionary. In short: the church tax is a problem!

So what is to be done? Fr. James Mallon gives us, above all, three things that help to make a parish a place where more and more people can experience the fascination of faith: We must formulate a new vision, rethink our leadership models, and ask for the power of the Holy Spirit, through whom this divine renewal happens.

Things that might also be of interest to you

In addition to the presentation by Fr. James Mallon, there were contributions from various people and parishes about concrete missionary changes in the German-speaking region since the Divine Renovation conference in Fulda in 2019. In the more than 20 workshops offered via Zoom afterwards, one could also learn details about various parish concepts and missionary initiatives that had newly developed in recent years.

You can watch the entire Divine Renovation Online Conference from April 23, 2021, on YouTube. In the future, Divine Renovation will also offer conferences organized by Alpha Germany. For example, there will soon be a training specifically for priests, and on June 19, 2021, a follow-up event for regional networking will take place. You can find all information on the Divine Renovation website.

(Author: Johannes Spranger, candidate for the Heiligenkreuz Monastery, theology student at the Benedict XVI. Philosophical-Theological College Heiligenkreuz)