CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS I

Church Without Walls I
BARRIERS AND BRIDGES
Sermon preached at Barclay Church, Edinburgh by Rev D. Graham Leitch
7 April 2002

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Over the past couple of years the phrase “church without walls” has found its way quickly into the vocabulary of the Church of Scotland rather in the same way as “doing a Delia” has established itself as part of the English language of the 21st Century.

But where does it come from? In 1999 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland appointed a special commission to look at the present life and future prospects of the Church of Scotland. Its report, presented to the General Assembly in 2001, is called CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS.

AN IMPORTANT REPORT
It is, in the estimate of many, the most important report to be considered by the General Assembly for fifty years - perhaps since 1929. But what’s it about?!! While most Church of Scotland members and most who worship in Church of Scotland congregations have heard the name, it’s fair to say that many - perhaps the majority - still have little idea of what it’s about.

Why is it so important and what’s the fuss??

The Commission (occasionally referred to as the Neilson Commission because it was chaired by Rev Peter Neilson) was asked to take a look at the Church - the Church of Scotland, our denomination - at the end of the 20th Century, and make recommendations concerning a number of things as the church enters a new millennium.

Here, for those who are interested in the precise detail, is exactly what it is and what it was asked to do:

Its official name was the “Special Commission anent Review and Reform in the Church” -even the name highlights one of the church’s weaknesses - its tendency to use cumbersome and archaic language! - anent simply means about/concerning!! And its official remit was:

“to re-examine in depth the primary purposes of the Church and the shape of the Church of Scotland as we enter into the next millennium; to formulate proposals for a process of continuing reform; to consult on such matters with other Scottish Churches and to report to the General Assembly of 2001”

THE PURPOSES AND PRIORITIES OF THE CHURCH
It was asked to look at the churches purposes and priorities. What is the church for? And what should the church be doing? There is, by the way, throughout the report, the clear and unambiguous message that “the Church” is neither the bureaucracy of “121”, the church headquarters, nor its ordained ministry, but “the people of God”- Christians in community. Christians in fellowship with one another - and of course in fellowship with God as well! Christians in community and Christians in communities. Not just in parishes but in varied networks of friendship and association - in clubs and pubs, in entertainment venues and work places, throughout the length and breadth of Scotland.

The report makes recommendations concerning a number of things:

First, its priorities and purposes. What’s the church about now and what’s the church meant to be about - what’s it meant to be DOING in the 21st Century?

THE SHAPE OF THE CHURCH
Second, its shape. Once we know the WHAT - what the church is for and what the church should be doing - the next issue is HOW! HOW can it best be doing it?

Some years ago now the Church of Scotland introduced, for its ordained ministry, a system of “medicals.” At the required interval every parish minister was invited to report for a medical; to undergo a medical examination by the Church’s Medical Advisor. No-one, it seems, had thought of checking out the health of the church’s ministers in this systematic manner before!!

The Neilson Commission was given the task of examining the National Church; of giving the Church of Scotland - not just its ordained ministers but the whole church - local (in parishes), regional (in Presbyteries) and national - a comprehensive “health check.”

Now, when I went for my first Church of Scotland medical, the doctors examined in turn the different systems in my body - the respiratory system, the cardio-vascular system, the nervous system - not just my lungs but my heart and blood pressure, and everything else as well.

The Neilson Commission was given the daunting task of doing the same for the National Church - examining every aspect of its life - its administration and structure, its ethos and activities, its mission and effectiveness, its money and its buildings.

THE REFORMATION AND SURVIVAL OF THE CHURCH
There is NO aspect of the church’s life that was excluded form its remit. It was not only invited but required by the General Assembly to be thorough - to conduct a “no holds barred” examination of the church as it is and of the challenges it faces now, and will face more urgently in the next 20 years especially.

And the Commission was asked to come up with suitable proposals for reform; for the re-formation or reformation of the Church of Scotland!

a “no holds barred” examination of the church

What should the future SHAPE of the Church be? What does the future shape of the Church NEED to be if it is to be effective in carrying out its God given tasks into the future? And, to be blunt and pragmatic - what changes does the church need to make if it’s to SURVIVE?

Most of you will be familiar with and, if you’re like me, fond of the Church of Scotland badge. At its heart is the “burning bush” in which God revealed Himself to Moses, and the words “but it was not consumed” in Latin “nec tamen consumebatur” around its outside.

For many years churches have been subject to occasional acts of vandalism and its notice-boards have more than occasionally been targets of abuse. In one Scottish mining town I passed through once, paint was daubed over the church notice-board in such a way as to obscure the first two Latin words “nec tamen” - leaving the message “it was consumed” or, paraphrasing “it’s on the way out!!”

There are certainly many folk outside the National Church (there always have been for a long time) but now there are a growing number inside it, who really do believe that unless urgent action is taken and unless the church does change - it’s on the way out!!

THIS IS A REAL ISSUE
It’s not too much to say that in many parts of Scotland the matter of the SURVIVAL of the church is already a REAL ISSUE for congregations. The average age of the worshipping congregation in many of Scotland’s parishes is over 70 - there is no-one younger, I know of more than one congregation where no attender is under 80!! And, in practically every Church of Scotland congregation in the land, the number of younger people is diminishing rapidly. Add to this the decreasing number of candidates for the ministry and the urgent need to address these questions (and the urgent need to DO something about them!) becomes clear:

Papering over the cracks in its creaking structures will no longer do. At present there are 180 Church of Scotland congregations without a minister - many with little hope of finding one. In 5 years time 350 congregations - 25% of the parishes in Scotland - will have no minister.

The Commission summed up its verdict on the future of the Church by quoting Loren Mead of the Alban Institute’s words:
“The storm buffeting the churches is very serious indeed. Much more serious than we have admitted to ourselves, and much more serious than our leaders have yet comprehended ...The storm is so serious I believe it marks the end of “business as usual” for the churches and marks the need for us to begin again building the church from the ground up.”

ISSUES THAT ARE RELEVANT - QUESTIONS THAT MATTER
The CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS report is comprehensive in its analysis of our present state and future prospects. Some of the issues it deals with - issues like the size and function of Presbyteries, the way the church at the centre - in “121” - relates to the local ministries of the church in its individual congregations, the number of its buildings and the investment and use of its inherited and accumulated financial resources - are big issues, but unlikely to interest, let alone excite, the ordinary member. But other issues are different:

. They question things that matter deeply to some of us:
* things like our Presbyterian heritage and the historic traditions of our denomination
* things like the very Church of Scotland way we DO church!
* things like the way we see the ministry of the Church, our expectations of ordained
ministry, and the whole parish system.

. They address problems and challenges that presently confront us - not least the challenge of
winning an unchurched nation for God again. (because almost 90% of the population of Scotland
isn’t in church on Sundays),

At the core of the report is an invitation to OPENNESS - to others and above all to GOD and a call to FOLLOW - to hear the voice of Jesus saying “Come, follow me!” and to go with Him where HE leads.....

The storm is so serious I believe it marks the end of “business as usual” for the churches

RECOMMENDATIONS AND DELIVERANCES NOT ENOUGH
Altogether there are about 40 recommendations in the Report approved by the 2001 Assembly. As we visit different themes from the Report, we’ll be thinking about some of them. But, as the report itself says, the church isn't changed by recommendations or deliverances!! Change will come about only as we open ourselves - open our congregations and communities up to God.

“The heart of reform” the Report’s author says, “is the reform of the heart.” The first proposal for reform is a call to prayer. The report says this:

“A call to prayer is a call to praise, confession, repentance, meditation, intercession and to decisive redemptive action. A call to prayer is a call to live with God. A call to prayer begins with the leadership of the church, that those who lead may be open to being led by the Spirit.....A call to prayer rests upon every Christian person: in the privacy of the home, in the melee of the working day, in public worship or committed prayer groups. The ways are many. The call is one. LET US PRAY.
........We will not settle for reform that changes structures and leaves lives untouched by Christ.”

The church won't be changed by recommendations and deliverances of the General Assembly - it will be changed by the openness to God that comes with prayer!!

The Church won’t be changed by recommendations and deliverances. As another section of the report says:

“Change in the church will not be the result of people following through a long list of recommendations. Change will come where people take the time to discover the one area that might make a difference for them and then do it.”

We are not asked to change by ourselves - we are not EXPECTED to change by ourselves - but the church can and will change, it must change. And as Christians we can face CHANGE without fear - with hope and expectation, because we face it with a risen Lord!!

Barriers and Bridges - Part 2

What KINDS of changes is the Church being encouraged to pray about, to consider and have the courage to make?

NOT CHANGE FOR CHANGES SAKE
The first things to say about this is that no-one is advocating change for changes sake!! The changes we are being invited to consider are changes for the sake of the Gospel and the Kingdom; changes for the sake of the future of God’s people in our land; for the sake of our children, our grandchildren; for the sake of Scotland as a nation and, supremely, for the glory of God!!

“Our sole purpose,” the Commission declares “is the glorification of God” It is ultimately and supremely for HIM, not merely for ourselves or for others, that we must allow God to change the Church, to change us - to re-form and re-new His people for His purposes and priorities and for Himself.

As the present Professor of Sociology at Aberdeen University perceptively wrote, in an unpublished letter to the Commission:

“the only area of life where the church can compete with any secular institution or social practice and win is in the glorification of God.”

NOT SUPERFICIAL CHANGE
The second thing to say is that what we are being asked to reflect upon, pray about and embrace isn’t superficial - it isn’t just re-arranging the deck chairs on the “Titanic” while its hull’s filling with water - it’s not just tinkering on the surface of things!!

not just tinkering on the surface of things.

The changes being proposed are radical, deep and revolutionary. They involve embracing a completely new mindset concerning what it means to “BE” church and to “DO” church in the way of Jesus in the 21st Century.

To embrace change will take courage, it will take faith - and faith always means risk, And it will involve sacrifice - rejecting the comfortable option - and pain, being willing to forsake what we cherish for the greater good of others and the Gospel’s sake.

“We cannot save and be safe at the same time” is how the Report puts it. “The love of security is addictive. It will take courage and commitment (and, I would add, a strong reliance on the Holy Spirit - on the help of God) to break that addiction.”

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS

One way of summing up the changes that we’ll be looking at - in mindset and method, in money and mission, in worshipping God and serving Him - in the next few weeks is to think of it in terms of the title of the Commission’s Report - A CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS.

It is the task of identifying, acknowledging and - where they are ours - owning the BARRIERS (walls) that prevent people from discovering the ways of Christ and the life of God. Some of these barriers are external, to do with contemporary society and culture. Others are internal. As the report says:

“In the “Friends” generation young people are finding new places of community and ‘belonging’. The church culture of formality, regulations, expectations and conformity sends out a ‘vibe’ that makes today’s generation instinctively uncomfortable.”

It’s about identifying the walls that shut people out - the barriers that stand in the way of faith, on the one hand, especially the ones that we are responsible for, demolishing the walls that shut folk out, and building bridges instead.

Not making discipleship EASY but making it enticing. Not watering down Christian Truth but proving that Christian truth works. Not renouncing our belief in God but making it plausible. Stopping running congregations and starting building communities of faith. Offering people many pathways to the One Supreme Way, the way of Jesus Christ.

“We cannot save and be safe at the same time”

BUILDING BRIDGES

Dismantling walls - the BARRIERS that hinder people in their spiritual quest and building in their place BRIDGES:
* by understanding contemporary culture and both relating to it constructively and responding
to it critically with the integrity the Gospel requires.
* by abandoning a fortress mentality of isolation and becoming missionary congregations.
* by living faith out with integrity and forging compassionate and powerful links with the
community in Christ’s name.
* by developing networks of relationships and friendship with one another and with the
community so that faith is deepened inside the fellowship and, overflowing, spreads
outside it.

It is to the task of responding to Christ’s “Come, follow me!”that the CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS report invites us. Not one day, or some day - but NOW!!

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