Salvation and Church Renewal: Evaluating Church Practices to Foster Reflexivity and Experiences of Salvation

In this chapter we discuss our research into church renewal and the extent to which the current practices of several Dutch churches are deemed fit by congregants to experience salvation. In order for these churches to reflect upon their own locally situated practices, we introduced them to a framework of six fields of practice developed by the renewal movement Kerk2030 (Church2030) to inspire transformation. These 6 fields of practice serve as a mirror for these churches to come to a better understanding of themselves and the extent to which their own local practices (still) foster salvation. The research that we discuss in this chapter represents a first glance in the mirror of this framework. Eventually, by engaging in the church renewal process of Kerk2030, these churches are encouraged to build a local culture of reflexivity in which they constantly review and renew their own church practices to make these practices suitable for experiencing salvation.