Chapter 1: Symbols of Dysfunction, Strategies for Renewal

The Direction of the Study This research seeks to understand the nature of renewal of church communities that were once in decline. When speaking of a church as declining stagnant or, in some sense dysfunctional, the implication is that the particular community functions in a manner that contradicts what the church could or should be as Christ’s sign that the New Creation has dawned. To use a more ‘secular’ parlance, some churches that the nature of the human interrelationships, the climate or culture of the particular group is distressing to its members and not conducive to human well-being and relational potential. These exhibit a lack of vitality and persist without sign of freshness, openness to change, flexibility and hope. Some go so far to describe this as a malaise that is a feature of churches in this current culture (Capps: 1990).