Renewal Theology Conference

Saturday, November 1, 2025

The Renewal of Faith

“…contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3, ESV)

This year is the 1700-year anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, where the confessional Nicene creed, summarizing the faith of the Church, was formulized. The theme of this year’s Conference for Renewal Theology is on the renewal of the faith “once for all delivered into the saints” (Jude 3, ESV).   Dr. Corné Bekker, dean of the Regent University School of Divinity, comments, “creedal clarity, deeply rooted in the eternal witness of the holy scriptures, is desperately needed today to cut through the cacophony of heretical noise and to stem the tide of theological drift. In many ways, we find ourselves in a similar place of the fourth-century Church. May the Holy Spirit turn our hearts and minds to the glory of Christ and may His Church be renewed back to Biblical faith.” Dr. John-Paul-Lotz, one of the plenary speakers of the conference remarks, “Today, more than ever, the global Church faces threats which seek to unbind our hearts to the ancient faith once confessed at Nicaea 1700 years ago. This year, evangelicals and renewal Christians gather to remember the words, and the spirit, of that ancient bond of unity declared, and believed, at the first gathering of the global church.” Come, Holy Spirit, and renew Your Church!

Doctrinal Statement

Renewal Theology is the exploration, formulation, and proclamation of the renewal of the Church through the loving-kindness and holiness of God, the eternal Father, in the death and resurrection of the Son, Jesus Christ, and the renewing power of the Holy Spirit.

The Conference for Renewal Theology affirms the Nicene Creed, grounded in the belief that the Holy Bible is the inspired, infallible, and authoritative source of Christian doctrine and precept.

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

– Titus 3:4-7, ESV

“The concern of Renewal Theology in every area of study is truth. This is not an attempt to advance a particular cause but to understand in totality what the Christian faith proclaims. It is not only a matter of individual doctrines but also of the full round of Christian truth.”

– J. Rodman Williams (1918-2008), Renewal Theology.

Conference Speakers

MATTHEW BARRETT (PHD, THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY)

Matthew Barrett is the author and editor of the award-winning books, Simply Trinity and On Classical Trinitarianism. He is also the author of The Reformation as Renewal. Currently, he is writing a Systematic Theology for Baker Academic. He is the editor-in-chief of Credo, host of the Credo podcast, and director of the Center for Classical Theology. He is professor of Christian theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. 

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JOHN-PAUL LOTZ (PHD, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY)

Dr. John-Paul Lotz serves as an associate professor at the Regent University School of Divinity and chair of the Theological Studies committee.

Lotz grew up in Zurich, Switzerland, as the son of missionary parents. He went on to study at the Universities of Richmond, Muenster, Samford, Vienna, and Cambridge. He has lived and taught in Europe for almost 20 years. In addition, he has served as both a pastor and a professor in Europe and the United States for the last 15 years.

Lotz specializes in the field of patristics—which is the branch of Christian theology centered around the lives, writings, and doctrines of early Christian theologians. His continued areas of interest include New Testament Apocrypha and the history of ideas as they pertain to Biblical and historical theology. Lotz teaches the breadth of Church History from the ancient to the modern church.

He is married, and he and his wife home-educate their six children.