Urban mainline congregations often suffer from declining vitality in addition to declining membership. The challenge is to infuse such churches with spiritual energy. This spiritual energy may come from a variety of sources, including intentional Christian practices like testimony. When a congregation practices testimony it may come with an understanding of how personal Christian practice influences communal Christian practice that in turn positively affects the renewal of a congregation’s relationships and ministries. The stories of Scripture are a foundation for shaping and determining Christian the practice of testimony, offering recovery of a sense of our journey with God, thereby creating individual spiritual renewal and congregational vitality. God’s work and presence, exhibited through sacramental and spoken activity, is a model for this time of congregational renewal. Interventions in this project will attempt, through worship, study, writing a spiritual autobiography, making testimony and listening, to help the congregation raise its awareness of its current situation and begin to form a renewed identity as a Christian community.
