Church without Walls Conference Aviemore 2007
just spent the last few days at the MacDonald Highland Resort. I think it must be the best place in Scotland if you want to hold hold a residential event for 400 or 500 people. Church without Walls is the Church of Scotland's flagship project when it comes to talking about renewal of the church. I guess its the equivalent of the Church of England's "Fresh Expressions" This was an opportunity for church leaders to feel valued and supported. they had come to be re-energised, to chill out, and share their stories with each other. Church leaders all over Scotland are beginning to realise that renewal starts and finishes with their personal commitment to change. Liz Henderson minister in Craigmillar near Edinburgh told her inspiring story about Richmond Hope Children's Bereavement Project
The amazing thing is that there is a growing number of congregations within the Church making connections with the idea. Since March 2006 our Planning Group has connected with around 420 congregations. Our aim is to connect with 60% of the Church in order to create a tipping point effect. We've connected with around one third of the congregations in the past year. We'll hit the tipping point before long. We are also inviting every congregation to initiate a prayer partner scheme. We now have well over 200 congregations across the land who have hooked up specifically to support each other in prayer, and the numbers are growing every week. We lifted an offering for the work that the Moderator is going to visit in India
next week and also for the work that is being carried out in the Urban priority Areas. We raised over £5,400
Church without Walls has four great themes. A church Shaped by the Gospel, a church Shaped by the Gifts of God's People, a church Shaped by Locality and a church Shaped by Friendship. We believe that these are four key ideas that can bring about a dramatic revolution in the Church. It was amazing to see the prayer buzz happening all around the auditorium. Something is going to break in Scotland. I don't mean in a bad way I mean in an exciting way - an expression of God's love to us all. Lets not give up ceasing to believe that God can still do great things in our nation even when they appear to be very insignificant.
Posted By: Raj On: 16 Mar 2007 At: 11:26am
Hi Pastor,
Enjoying your thought provoking
Blog. Especially the blankverse.
Congrats on your new effort.
Only videos are not downloading.
Will check from this end.
Yet to look into every space.
love
Raj (India)