Elie Kirk

Church Without Walls Logo

About the report

Church without Walls aims to provide a 'big vision' for the Church, relevant to every part of the Church and over many years.

At its heart, it is about changing mindsets:
From church focus to Christ focus - following Jesus to see what church forms round him.
From settled church to church as a movement - going where people are rather than waiting for people to come.
From a culture of guilt to a culture of grace - freeing people to love and be loved while not counting the cost.
From running congregations to building communities - working towards a relational reformation.
From isolation to interdependence - encouraging churches to work together.
From individualism to teamwork - seeing teamwork as essential to all ministry.
From top down church to upside down church - putting the local church at the centre of the agenda.
From centralised resources to development resources - releasing funds to encourage local vision.
From faith as security to faith as risk - looking for new courage to break out of old routines.

What's in the report?

The report restates the primary purpose of the Church is to follow Jesus Christ. We are his people, travelling where he leads us. We are invited to risk this way and break our addiction to security.

A church which hears this call will be shaped by:
The Gospel - a rediscovery of the grace of God
The locality - responding to the varieties of our changing contexts
Friendship - with fellow members, the next generation, the searcher, the community, other churches, rich and poor, the world church, God's creation
The gifts of God's people - growing the church around the gifts we have been given

Key proposals for change:

• Live with a Gospel for a year
• Review community, worship and leadership
• Integrate children and/or create new churches
• Develop paths for the journey of discipleship
• Plan strategically to develop leadership in congregations in worship, pastoral care and mission
• Work in teams and partnerships
• Recover the role of the evangelist
• Turn the church 'upside down'- priority to the local
• Renew prayer life
• Encourage sabbatical time from church activities
• Fund new initiatives through special funding
• Review overall financial strategy
• Dare to take risks