Church Without Walls (CWoW)
24th March 2007
NOTE: As I was writing this post, I surfed around a bit and found that, oh! joy! Messy Christian is back! And, she just post about Church too! Now, this is what you call colla-blog-aration at its best!
Of late, my church pastors have been talking a lot about this concept of Church Without Walls
Too many times, when we think of being a Christian, or being part of a Church, we think in terms of the organization or a group that has a particular structure or organizational framework.
Yet, when we think of the disciples of Jesus in the first century, they really got it when they went to out to engage people in the synagogues, the temple and in other public meeting places, even to other sacred or religious sites. They went back to each other homes for fellowship, prayer and more study and learning.
So, what does this mean to us modern day Christians then? What does Church Without Walls mean to you and me?
Last night I witnessed a Church Without Walls. I went down to L.A. Skid Row where a group of Christians meet every Friday night and read and preach from God’s Word at the Corner of Wall and Winston right in the heart of Skid Row.
A while back I was reflecting on some of the things the Steve Lopez, a Los Angeles Times columnist who wrote a series about goings-on in this area of the City (here, here and here). I had resonated with his stories and often think about what I can do to be involved in helping folks on the Row, and generally, of stepping out of my comfort zone of suburbia, and the cubicle work-a-life normality to reach out to my neighbors who live in abject poverty or on the streets.
So, when I heard that there is now a group of Christians who go on to the Row every Friday night, I went out there to check it out for myself as soon as possible. I had left my jacket at home as I drove out so I was getting quite chilly standing in the street corner and watching my brothers and sisters “do church” in the corner of Skid Row.
My heart warmed within me as the evening chilly winds started to blow and the temperature dropped. It encouraged me no end to see love in action as they handed out warm soup, food and drinks to anyone who came up, and as we gathered around individuals and families who asked for prayer. Others stopped by and told us their stories and just wanted to have a listening ear. I heard stories of men who had left the warmed of their homes and churches a long time ago, and now they are tentatively re-connecting back to another home, and another church.
It was a memorable experience for me. It reminds me that “doing church” does not need to happen exclusively on Sunday mornings, but in fact, more so, back into my own home, in my interactions with people around me, in my office and out in the marketplace of work and life, as well as online.
Church in the Bible, after all, never meant that building with that steeple and cross above it. Nor did it mean that thing people do within those buildings at that time each Sunday…
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April 2nd, 2007 at 9:43 am
A wholehearted AMEN! I’m glad people are rethinking church in such a unique and creative way. I wish there was a ministry like that in Malaysia … and I wonder, how do I do a cWow? (Nice monicker btw!) I’m clueless to be honest. I’ve been taught the old models and I’m not exactly sure how a cWow works. And who will join me in my adventure? I do itty bitty things like volunteer during the jumble sale to benefit Woman’s Aid Organisation (they shelter battered women), talk to my non-Christian friend frankly about Christianity … but I keep thinking that’s not enough. Is that the voice of guilt? Or the voice of God? Ah, that’s me, always living in perpetual confusion ..
April 21st, 2007 at 11:41 pm
I always imagined Jesus tiring from his labors as a carpenter and deciding to take a walk for a change. On his walk he encounters different people feeling different things as life passes by. The overall flow of the universe takes ahold of him and he finds himself becoming the sage we all know him as today. On his journey he talk and converses with his close followers about topics concerning life, the universe and the divine. These talks take place at seemingly random places and times as the flow of the universe calls.
The feeling of communion and faith are not bound by any walls, time, or place. The divine lives in everything and all of us. Any place will be our holy place. Any time will be our holy time.