True worship is surely an act of the heart in response to love and forgiveness not an act of duty or even an act of obedience. In so many ways the thinking of Church Without Walls is inviting the church to make a huge shift, to move from the courtroom to the place of adoration this is the place where we are called to in worship – the place of intimacy. In such a place we need to begin to understand the difference between public worship and the intimacy of private worship. I sometimes think that what is happening in many churches is that the intimacy of private devotion is being displayed in public and the solemnity of public weorship is being lost.

A Community of Worshippers

Many of the growing churches have based themselves around a community that makes worship its priority. They are prepared to change times, structures, and buildings to fit in with the social patterns of the day. These congregations take Ephesians 4 seriously they are committed to equipping all the saints for ministry. They include social justice and welfare care as part of the Christian act of worship and ministry. These are serious churches taking seriously the call to ministry and discipleship.

The Church of Scotland has had its successes in the past in the area of Discipleship. The Summer Mission programme of the 60s and 70s is but one example where the programme developed many people within the church to take on roles of leadership through the experience of mission often with worship at its heart. We have seen some nurture in the past but it would be true to say that we have not been consistent in making nurture part of our congregational growth.

We need to encourage a model of Presbytery that allows for nurture to develop, this is why the cell group or connect group is essential in the structure of the congregation. Nurture is seen as a key ingredient if we are going to be effective. From the first encounter with a cell group or a small house group the worshippers should feel accepted and part of something that iis helping them grow deeper in their Faith. If we could have opportunities for members to explore different topics as part of a Presbytery study group we could be starting to build the infra sttructure for local theological teaching and reflection.

This might lead in turn to a person becoming a graduate of the College of Training in Worship and Discipleship which may be attached to Presbytery

I think there is something about leading and teaching that go together. Perhaps it is only right that those who teach the future leaders of the church be themselves practiced in their leadership as they teach and train others.

The model adopted by many of the growing churches is the person leading worship at one of the services on a Sunday will also be teaching the subject at the Church College the next week to students.

If the Church of Scotland adopted a similar model the Presbytery would have its centre open daily as a place of prayer and reflection and spiritual activity. There are different levels of Christian teaching that could be of great service to local church leaders if courses were made available and taught by the ministers and teachers in the Presbytery. Some ministers would no longer be called to a congregation but be attached to minister from a Presbytery and be available for the district or region.

Using our resources wisely from a central point may very well be a creative and useful development for the Presbytery. Inspirational leadership is borne out of reflection and prayer. In our busy parish lives, as ministers we often are becoming slaves to administration and fearful of failure and dwindling numbers. We perhaps need to regroup our leadership weekly around a centre of prayer and imaginative service. A new style presbytery would become a centre of renewal for ministers and congregations.

Finding ways to connect with people is at the heart of the Gospel and of course the biggest connection of all is when a man or a woman discover the presence of God all around them. The thing is when this happens its “a God incident” its not something we can generate it happens in God’s time. I also think it happens when the Church is practicing what it means to be an everyday church. The truth is the church has to be an everyday church because its all about people living their everyday lives. Too often we still think of church as the building as a set of programmesas an organised identity. Church is not really like that at all. I think its a lot more messy than we’d like to believe. Jesus in his parables iis continually surprising people who want things to fall into a neat solution. he tells stories and parables that stretch our ideas of fairness and justice. He tells stories that often put the people who ae on the outside of religion more at the centre of true religion than those who are at the centre of religious organisations. It might even be that some of the organisations and structures and trappings of past religious experience may have to wither on the vine to allow the new branches the new grapes to begin to grow.

I’m becoming more convinced that God is working where he has always been working in the hearts and lives of individual people drawing them together by his Spirit to fulful his purposes in the world. Those of us who are used to thinking of church being church in a set way, we need to change if we are going to be part of the church of the 21st century.

Look into our building these weeks when the young people are off school and you’d think it was building site. There are just so many bits and pieces lying around the place. I’m ever thankful for our long suffering church cleaner who takes is all in her stride. Its also a parable the people and relationships are there to bring glory to God. the building has to be made to fit round the needs of the people not the people fitting around the building. Now that is our problem. We have an old building no longer fit for an everyday church. So here is the question what does a building being used by an everyday church look like? Do we need one building, do we need many buildings, do we need to use more technology? What is the 21st century church building to look like? let me hear your comments