You cannot understand International Renewal Ministries without understanding the question that drives us. That question is: ‘What would it take to see a move of God initiated and sustained in a geographic area?’ We are not simply about doing prayer summits or conferences. These have been and are wonderful channels to help us get there. These are the primary medium we use to get where we are going. But they are the pathway, not the destination.
We are about seeing God impact an area through His church so that more and more people give Him His rightful place in their lives. As Habakkuk would put it, we are about seeing God’s glory cover the earth as the water covers the sea. Or, as the Moravians would put it, we are about seeing the Lamb who was slain receiving the reward of His suffering. We are about seeing the Great Commission accomplished. We chose our motto, ‘Building the church to impact the community,’ to communicate this.
We want to see the church of Jesus Christ be built to the point where it has a great impact upon the community around it. We believe this will bring great glory to our God.
We have helped facilitate approximately 1,000 prayer summits since 1989 with more than 38,000 total participants in attendance. The outcome has been many marvelous testimonies. Countless stories have been told of God bringing renewal to individuals, marriages, families, congregations, and communities. We are greatly blessed to be part of what God is doing in the earth today!
But we have not arrived yet! There are still more pastors He wants to refresh, more people He wants to draw to Himself, more congregations He wants to enliven, and more communities He wants to touch through His church. As long as these needs exist, we want to keep pressing ahead. We want to keep asking and answering the question, ‘What would it take to see a move of God initiated and sustained in a geographic area?’
Click here to learn about the history of IRM
MISSION
IRM’S MISSION STATEMENT
Vision
The International Renewal Ministries team seeks individually greater intimacy with Christ, and corporately a visitation by the Spirit of God upon His people. We want to see a move of God initiated and sustained in as many communities as possible.
Mission
Our mission is to serve as a catalyst for unity in the body of Christ, through enriching and equipping activities for the leadership of the church that will lead to spiritual renewal, an increased spiritual harvest, and a change in society.
Explanation of the mission statement:
Serve
We will approach all ministry endeavors with an attitude marked by a servant spirit. While intentional in seeking to fulfill the mission, we will not initiate strategies and plans for the church. Rather, we will always seek to encourage and enrich church leaders while not expecting anything in return.
Catalyst
While maintaining the role of a servant, we will be precipitators of change or ‘change agents’ within the body of Christ.
Unity
We will call the church, characterized by disunity and division, to return to a state of oneness in obedience to the Word of God (John 17; Ephesians 4; 1 Corinthians 12; Psalm 133). That oneness is an organic unity growing from our family relationship as members of the one body of Christ, and a behavioral unity based upon our shared mission as the church. It is not organizational nor is it uniformity, rather a spirit of unity.
In
We will serve within as a part of, not working outside of or apart from.
Body of Christ
We will serve among those who are true believers in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, members of the family of God by faith alone in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We will serve the leaders of the church as active participants in the church.
Enriching
We will offer a ministry of encouragement, nourishment, restoration, renewal, increased significance or meaning, quality-enhancement, and building up church leaders within the body of Christ.
Equipping
We will assist in providing personal and ministry tools, upgrade methods, in-service instruction, and encouragement for those already in ministry leadership.
Leadership
We will serve those who already have been acknowledged as leaders of the church.
Church
We will serve the one body of Christ in a community.
Will lead to
We will endeavor to influence the church to come to a place of organic unity and a degree of health and vitality that enables them to enjoy the byproducts of spiritual renewal, increased spiritual harvest, and a change in society.
Spiritual renewal
We will seek to see an increased passion for, devotion to, and submission to Christ that results in personal, family, congregational, and corporate spiritual restoration and revitalization.
Spiritual harvest
We will seek to see a significant harvest of individual recommitments and rededications to Christ, and a gathering in of thousands experiencing personal salvation through Jesus Christ.
Change
We will seek to bring about a transformation to godly values and morals so that people think and act differently, understanding that the ultimate positive change is God’s presence!
In society
We will target the cultural, economic, and social environment affecting human conditions in a community.
VALUES
International Renewal Ministries is characterized by great diversity with the glue of our values holding the ministry together. The values we share as a part of the IRM movement include:
Above all, we value an ongoing, growing, personal, loving relationship with Jesus Christ.
We value the Bible as the Word of God, our final authority of faith and practice
We value a move of God initiated and sustained in as many geographic areas as possible.
We value Christlike leadership characterized by humility, brokenness, and a servant’s spirit and evidenced by transparency, openness, and vulnerability.
We value the unity (not the uniformity) and health of the whole body of Christ.
We value the ministry of local pastors and congregations.
We value all members of the body of Christ regardless of their culture, class, race, gender, generation, or spiritual gifting.
We value the importance of repentance and reconciliation being evident among church leaders and the entire body of Christ.
We value relationships that transcend organizational structure.
We value remaining totally submissive to the Holy Spirit at all times and in all decision making, respecting at all times the uniqueness and validity of what God is doing from place to place, culture to culture, and people to people.
We value giving God all the glory with no self-promotion or self-seeking.
We value a long-term, sustainable movement over isolated events.
We value healthy relationships with other ministries that are seeking to see a greater move of God initiated and sustained.
We value the relational nature of prayer (with whom, for whom, and to whom we pray), not only the functional nature of prayer.
We value the identification, establishment, and development of a local leadership team to carry the responsibilities of stewarding the vision and shepherding the prayer movement in a local community.
We value personal and corporate renewal (revival), evangelism, and ultimately the transformation of society.
SIX FOUNDATION STONES
The following six statements provide a foundation for our perspective on Prayer Summits:
1. We deeply desire to see a move of God initiated and sustained in as many communities as possible.
2. We are convinced that a significant, sustained prayer movement is essential for this to take place. This prayer movement will greatly impact our relationship with God and with one another and our ability to fulfill our Scriptural responsibilities.
3. We believe that this prayer movement will lead to and launch other Spirit-directed, united, strategic activities.
4. We believe that quality Prayer Summits are catalysts to initiate and sustain this significant prayer movement.
5. Therefore we deeply desire to see as many quality Prayer Summits take place in as many communities as possible.
6. However, even if a move of God does not result from our prayer efforts, or it does not happen in the manner or time frame we expect, we believe that the value of a Prayer Summit is not diminished, because we have spent time in His presence doing the ‘one thing’ He deeply desires of us.