One November afternoon, on the Green in the middle of our estate, I was wondering what on earth this work of mission was all about as I grabbed a pole of our prayer tent (or more accurately, rickety gazebo) in the wind and rain, tried to stop all our electronic candles and scratchcard crosses blowing away, and hoped and prayed that it wouldn’t all fall on our 80-year old prayer warrior taking part in a day of prayer in the neighbourhood.
Spirituality, like our gazebo, can feel fragile and rickety at times and our church strength, like the weather, can sometimes seem more changeable than we might like. Should we then always and only seek the shelter of our church buildings or ‘sacred’ spaces to nurture or seek God’s presence in a way that is a little calmer, easier, dare we say it more under our control? Or what if God could be encountered on our streets as much as in our buildings. What if people could share in spiritual, Jesus-centred experiences when they didn’t have the courage, space or readiness to step foot inside? What if God is already at work ‘out there’ and we were able to join in?
As a new local church without our own building, we have sought to be a ‘church without walls;’ imagining the streets, parks, homes and tower blocks of our neighbourhood as our church building and always asking what things do we normally keep for those who make it into church and how can we reimagine them in, with, for our estate and our neighbourhood? Here’s a few things that have helped as we’ve done this.
Being with and for the neighbourhood
We’re not talking about drop-in style street evangelism, but in growing, loving, being with a neighbourhood over time, loving widely and sharing in the life of our community. One key tool we use in this is the community cart I built to trundle round the neighbourhood and serve drinks from. A large bright box on wheels, we fill the cart with hot chocolate, other drinks and refreshments, cups, and more and trundle it down the street to the corner of the High Street or the local park. Here it’s emptied and converts into our outdoor hot chocolate bar where countless hot chocolates and refreshments are served and connections made. In fact, we have made sure numerous parties were thrown and conversations had before our first prayer tent day in the neighbourhood – so that the spirituality we seek to share is born out of relationship and a certainty that the church is with and for this place. I wonder, what tools do you have to show the church is present and for the neighbourhood? Beautifully for us, the community cart now also serves as our communion table on days in our prayer tent.
“The church is quietly, lovingly,
persistently present and praying.”
Public prayer
Every Wednesday at 9:15am we pray in public – on the Green at the heart of our estate. A simple liturgy of prayer, readings and reflection, and a simple sign that says ‘Morning Prayer – we are praying for you.’ Normally 1-6 of us share in this, but every week the same neighbours (our ‘wider congregation!’) pass and wave – seeing that the church is quietly, lovingly, persistently present and praying.
Spiritual openings
I believe everyone prays in some way – everyone has something they want to see changed, they long for, they’re open to. So we built a community board with 3 sections, covered it in blackboard paint and started putting it up at community parties and events, with a bunch of chalk pens and 3 questions like ‘what are you THANKFUL for?’ ‘who do you LOVE?’ ‘what do you long to see CHANGED?’ At times without prompting we have seen an incredible response to this – which we call prayer. We build on these offerings to God by having prayer cards nearby or promising to pray for what people write.
Small is significant
But sometimes the prayer board is almost empty at the end of the event, sometimes I’ve prayed Morning Prayer alone, sometimes we’ve put up a prayer tent for 12 hours and had one passer by stop in. But when we’re here for the long haul, when we believe Jesus literally seeks the one over the ninety-nine, when we take seriously that the kingdom is like a mustard seed, we see the value in each of these and we persist, celebrating each one prayer or person and wondering what God might do next.
“This work calls us to let go of control,
to really believe God is at work.”
Letting go – trusting God
Last Easter, 10 of our church family drew, wrote or created ‘stations of the cross’ – telling the story of Jesus from Pilate’s seat to the tomb. We printed them and put them up round the estate, leaving a trail for people to follow. Next to them we left scripture, reflections and ways that people could interact; writing what was unjust on our ‘chains of injustice,’ leaving messages of appreciation at our ‘wall of love’ or prayers on plastic eggs at the tomb.
We were overwhelmed by the response but a bit of me felt, if only we could follow up with these people, if only we could get them in church and really tell them the whole message of Easter! This work calls us to let go of control, to really believe God is at work, that prayer works, that the story of our neighbourhood is being rewritten by God’s power and love and that we get to play a part in opening space for the kingdom of heaven here, in this place and with our community.
Being a church without walls isn’t easy, and now we have a meeting space on Sunday it can be tempting to withdraw and make that the main thing. But when we continue to step out and emphasise being the church in and with the neighbourhood, we find God shows up in the ways we least expect, encouraging us to see God’s work beyond the boundaries we often create. Being a church without walls isn’t always easy, and we can’t control the outcomes, but it is certainly rewarding and exciting to see God at word beyond the boundaries we often create. Is there one thing you could do to open a space in your neighbourhood, to invite people to engage spiritually beyond themselves, to trust God to be at work beyond our control?
Prayer
God thank you that the Spirit, like the wind, blows where she wills
Thank you that you are at work in our neighbourhood and we get to join in
Give us your creativity and courage to reimagine our spirituality in, with, for our streets and parks, our tower blocks and homes
And would the work of God’s kingdom surprise us as we seek to be church without walls
Amen