Among others, Renvall participated in the reform of the Church Act and was a member of the January Committee of 1862.

As Finland was then an autonomous Grand Duchy under Russian rule, it was politically impossible to obtain a foreign bishop for consecrations.

Hence, the oldest theological professor, Axel Fredrik Granfelt, was commissioned to consecrate the new archbishop.

The apostolic succession was reinstated in the Finnish church in 1934 through the consecration of Aleksi Lehtonen who was co-consecrated by the Archbishop of Uppsala Erling Eidem.

Renvall's married Emilia Maria Lovisa Bergenstråle, in 1843 and secondly in 1865 to Amanda Sofia Limnell.