As we enter into this discussion, it might be good to consider that each of us has old things we prefer as well as new. I don't know of anyone who is bent for only the old or only the new. So drop the assumption that we are ever only interested in one of these positions.
Having said that, it is clear the Word calls us to a newness that is perpetually new. And, there is a steady dying of the body when it refuses to move into the new. The New Testament speaks of the New Birth as well as the New Creation. One of Jesus' stark teachings is the warning of pouring new wine into old wine skins.
Bryn Jones points to a word we like; restoration. He comments, Restoration is only restoration if it continues to restore. Religious externalism is a terminal practice; its forms, methods, and practices are merely the death throes of that which was once vibrant life.
No congregation is dying that is hungry to see Jesus show his new ways of growth for the moment. No congregation is growing that perpetually stares at the past and tries to keep the present bound to it.
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