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Episcopal Spiritual Life Renewal

RenewalWorks (formerly "Episcopal Spiritual Life Renewal" or "ESLR") is an Episcopal planning tool that provides a process for:

Assessesing the spiritual vitality of a congregation by surveying the beliefs and spiritual practices of its members.
Training a task force from the congregation to interpret the survey results.
Examining the life of the congregation in light of the survey results to discern how the congregation is and is not inspiring and supporting people in their spiritual journeys.
Challenging the congregation to better support the spiritual lives of its members through spiritual practices that are key predictors of a vital congregation such as regular worship, Bible reading, personal prayer, and service to people in need.

RenewalWorks is based on the Reveal Process that was developed at Willow Creek Church in South Barrington, Illinois in 2005. With help from a grant from the Lilly Endowment, leaders from Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest, Illinois and the Diocese of Chicago have rewritten the Willow Creek survey and supporting materials to make them more accessible to people in the Episcopal Church. A group of parishes in Chicago piloted this revised survey just before Lent 2012 and the results were highly provocative and fruitful. The survey is now available to the wider church through an exciting partnership with Forward Movement.

Further information about the process and samples of RenewalWorks materials can be found at left. Or visit the Forward Movement RenewalWorks page.

Diocese of Chicago congregations interested in engaging the RenewalWorks process should email renewal@episcopalchicago.org to learn how to enroll in the next cohort (Fall 2013). All other congregations should contact Martha Fairbanks with Forward Movement, mfairbanks@forwardmovement.org.