Our Story

In June 2007, the Breiner, Perry, and Segebartt families moved to the Twin Cities area to start a new Seventh-day Adventist Church in Shakopee.

Over the previous few years, they had been sensing a growing call from God toward team ministry in a church planting setting. Meanwhile, God had been leading the Minnesota Conference on a similar journey. He miraculously brought the two together, and the Minnesota Conference agreed to sponsor the new church.

During the summer of 2007, the team worked to get acquainted with the community and its needs, then formulate a ministry plan to meet those needs.

Beginning in October 2007, Renew Community Church held monthly preview services until its official launch in November 2008.

Core Beliefs

God is love. He is eternal, all-powerful, and all-knowing. He is the Creator of all things and the source of compassion, goodness and justice. He alone is able to renew all things to His original creation. The primary manifestations of God are the all-present Spirit and the beings of the Father and the Son (Jesus).
Revelation 1:8; Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-4, 14, 18; 1 John 4:8; Luke 18:19; Proverbs 29:26; John 4:24; Acts 2:17

The Bible is our principal source of knowledge about God and contains His divine words and plan of renewal. It is our ultimate authority for truth, our guidebook for life and the primary way God speaks to us. He inspired His word to be spoken and written by men and women, passed down through the ages for the salvation of all who will receive it.
John 17:17; Matthew 4:4; 2 Timothy 3:14-17

God created human beings in His likeness. But the first humans (Adam and Eve) chose to disobey Him and cut off the connection to Him and His goodness. As a result, all humanity is sinful and subject to death. However, God has a plan to renew our connection to Himself and renew His life and goodness in us. The Father God sent His Son Jesus into our world to be our Savior from sin.Genesis 1:27; Genesis 3; John 3:16; Romans 5, Romans 6:23

Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God who became human. He has existed for all eternity and through Him all things were made. At the very moment sin took us humans captive, Jesus was prophesied to enter into the world to set us free from this slavery, destroy the power of the devil, and renew our broken relationship with God. God’s people received symbols and prophecies again and again announcing who Jesus would be and what He would do. He was born to a virgin mother by the power of God, born into a place of poverty and raised as a laborer to experience the life that any of us could relate to. He lived a perfect life of unbroken connection with God the Father and showed us what God is really like.
John 1:1-3, 14-18; Genesis 3:15; Matthew 1:23; Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:13-15; Luke 2:1-7; Philippians 2:6-8; Hebrews 5:7-10 & 4:15

Jesus died on the cross to take away all our sins and forgive us of every wrong deed, thought and attitude. His death on the cross is the complete and final atonement for our sin, making us at one with God once more. Jesus carried His cross voluntarily, and it was His heart’s desire to die upon it to pay the awful price of sin–eternal death and separation from God. On the cross Jesus cried out to God the Father as the forsaken who look into deep darkness and see no light. His body was removed from the cross and buried in a tomb, sealed shut. Because He died this death for us, we are granted eternal life and reconnection with God that washes away all our sins. John 3:16; Matthew 17:22-23; Isaiah 53:4-12; Matthew 27:45-46, 57-66; Romans 6:1-7, 23

Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, where He ministers on our behalf as our High Priest. The eternal life that was in Jesus could not be defeated by death and He walked out of the tomb where He was laid. Still in His human body, with the wounds of the cross still upon His hands and side, Jesus ascended into heaven and now serves before the throne of God forever. He shows the blood of His sacrifice to prove that any time we repent and turn to God, we are accepted and renewed as God’s children. Matthew 28:1-10; John 20:19-20, 24-28; Acts 1:9-11; Hebrews 9:11-12, 24-28

Our great hope is the soon return of Jesus to earth, this time in all His glory, to rescue the redeemed and seal the victory over sin forever. This second coming, which will be literal, visible and experienced worldwide, will usher in the renewal of all things and the destruction of all sin that destroys life.
John 14:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 16:27; Revelation 1:7

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us to fill us and become the source of renewing power in our lives and relationships. By the Spirit we are constantly connected to God and affirmed as His children. Through the Spirit we pray and experience God’s response. The Holy Spirit enables us to renew our relationships by growing spiritual fruit in our lives. He grants us spiritual gifts to serve one another and leads us into the darkness of the world to shine the light of God’s salvation so more and more of us may believe and receive it. Matthew 3:11; John 3:3-8; John 14:15-19, 25-27; 1 John 3:24; Romans 8:9-27; Galatians 5:22-25; John 20:21-22

Water baptism by immersion publicly signifies our decision to die to our own ways and allow Jesus to renew God’s life within us (being born again). John 3:5-7; Matthew 3:13-17; Romans 6:3-6

Obedience to God is an indicator of sincere belief and love for Him. Christians aspire to reflect God’s character being renewed within and follow God’s will as expressed in the two great commandments—love God and love people. God’s ten commandments, found in Exodus 20, expand and clarify these two great commands, and Jesus exemplified a true commandment-keeping life. Because of our brokenness, God’s Spirit renews our obedience and enables our transformation.
John 14:15; Matthew 22:36-40; Exodus 20; Romans 2:29, Romans 7:6

As the world around us seems to spin faster and faster, we thoughtfully press pause each week and enjoy the renewing experience of Sabbath. Each Saturday (as Jesus, Paul, David, Moses and others in the Bible did before us), we celebrate and savor this day of grace. We rest, recharge, and re-experience the presence of God and His renewing life and words. We listen to and love the people who matter most to us. We explore God’s creation with our friends and family. We count our blessings and worship. We experience renewal in all our relationships, remembering that we can’t be God, being everything to everyone, everywhere. We can rest in His grace and care and sync our hearts and minds with His during this 24-hour period.
Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:4-8; Matthew 12:1-14; Isaiah 58:6-14; Luke 4:16; Acts 17:2

God’s design is for all Christians to be part of His body—the church. In a world where people are often misunderstood, criticize and harm each other, the church must stand, in contrast, as a people who protect, value and unconditionally love one another. Only in this environment of collective renewal can the church fulfill its twofold purpose: (1) to experience its identity as God’s people through worship; (2) to serve the disadvantaged and fulfill the Great Commission.
Romans 12:4-5, Ephesians 4:1-16; 2 Corinthians 5:17-19; Acts 2:42-47; Matthew 25; Matthew 28:16-20

The church exercises spiritual gifts to serve humanity and proclaim the gospel of renewal. The Holy Spirit designates who has what gifts, and He makes us effective in using our gifts. Since not one of us has all the gifts of the Spirit, we need each other to serve and complete God’s mission to save the world. There are many spiritual gifts and the miraculous and prophetic gifts are still to be manifested today, just as they were when the church was born. 1 Corinthians 12-14; Acts 1:4-5; Acts 2:1-21; Ephesians 4:1-16; Romans 12:3-8; Revelation 19:10 & 22:9-10

When a person dies, God receives her spirit and preserves it in an unconscious state until one of two resurrections. Solomon said, “The dust (body) returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” He also noted that “the dead know nothing.” Jesus consistently described death as a sleep. The redeemed are renewed to physical life when Jesus returns at the end of the world. The unsaved are resurrected at the end of a 1000 year period, when God puts a final end to the devil and all sin. They experience the eternal fulfillment of Romans 6:23, “. . . the wages of sin is death.” God then renews the earth to its original perfection, and it becomes the promised land of the redeemed forever.
John 11:11-13; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Ecclesiastes 9:5; John 5:28-29; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20-21

Sex is good. God invented it as an expression of love, for our enjoyment, and to enable us to participate in the miracle of human life. To protect this most wonderful gift and the people He created to enjoy it, God insists that sex be shared exclusively in the context of a loving marriage covenant. Sexual activity in any other relationship hurts and demeans people and relationships. God can renew His gift of sex in any relationship turned over to His loving redemptive power and authority. Marriage is intended by God to be a permanent, loving covenant between a man and a woman.
Revelation 19:6-8; Genesis 2:18, 21-24; Exodus 20:14; Matthew 5:27-28; Proverbs 6:32; Colossians 3:18-21

Our bodies and minds are God’s creation and the residence of His Spirit. Renewed in His image, we are to care for them so that we can effectively represent Him to others and carry out the important work He has given us.
Genesis 1:27; Ephesians 2:22; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20

To see a full statement of our beliefs according to doctrinal category, click here.