CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS PLANNING GROUP



MAY 2008



PROPOSED DELIVERANCE


The General Assembly:
1.	Receive the report.
2.	Welcome the enthusiastic response by congregations to the Re-Energise events in 2006-2008.
3.	Commend and thank the Planning Group for organising The National Gathering 2008 at Ingliston.
4.	Commend the Councils of the Church who have supported and collaborated in this process of encouragement.
5.	Instruct the Church without Walls Group to consult with the appropriate bodies to ensure that finance is in place in order that they may plan a Re-Energise 4 Conference as a follow up to the National Gathering and a preparation for engaging with the Year of the Homecoming in 2009.
6.	Urge congregations to explore the opportunities for mission presented in the Year of the Homecoming 2009 and remind them of the opportunities that can be gained from having an overseas partner church become part of the Homecoming in a local and global outreach programme.
7.	Instruct the Church without Walls Planning Group to network across the Councils and bring to the General Assembly of 2009 proposals for encouraging the Church on this journey of transition. 
8.	Invite the Panel on Review and Reform in collaboration with the World Mission Council to commission a study into the effect of overseas mission on the life of local church communities where they have an interactive partnership with an overseas project and consult with the appropriate bodies to ensure that financial resources can be made available to fund the study.


REPORT


The Background
The Church Without Walls Planning Group arose out of an instruction of the General Assembly of 2001, and was set up by the General Assembly of 2006 with the specific remit: “to continue the dialogue and follow up the success of the CWW celebration events of 2005-6; to continue to encourage the renewal of the Church by modelling, motivating and inspiring the people of God through events and conferences; and to network across Councils and Presbyteries.” The General Assembly agreed that the Group should be located within the Mission and Discipleship Council and that the Nomination Committee should bring before the General Assembly the name of the convener and four additional members. It was further agreed that the Convener of the Group report directly to the General Assembly. 
During the past two years the group has sought to fulfill this remit by organising a series of high profile conferences and by laying plans for a National Gathering to motivate the whole of the Church in Scotland in 2008 and to continue to reflect on what it means to engage with the words of Jesus, when he said, “Follow Me!”  The title of the gathering at Ingliston is:
“All you can’t leave behind.”
What is it then that we can’t leave behind as we seek to obey Christ’s call?  What do we take with us into the future that is essential for our ministry and mission in Scotland? This is a key question that the church in every generation has to engage with and to which it has to respond. Our role is to facilitate action across the church that stimulates obedience to this radical call.
Re-Energise
Re-Energise is the name given to the series of conferences which have been held in the MacDonald Highland Resort, Aviemore. The location was an attempt to engage with the whole church and to encourage those who minister in a rural setting, although meaningful for the urban context too. 
The conferences have been extremely well attended. The seminars have sought to help support and encourage congregations to engage with the themes of the 2001 CWW report.  Seminar leaders and worship leaders have been selected from all over the country sharing with us the wealth and diversity, of gifts, creativity, skills, knowledge and experiences of our ordained and lay folk. We are especially indebted to the Urban Priority Church leaders for their considerable input to the teaching programme for these events. For many the experience of grassroots networking and sharing local stories of faith and struggle has been exhilarating and invaluable.
Here is a typical comment received from an elder who attended:
“I have been a regular church attendee in my local parish all my life. Re-Energise 3 was the first external church event I have ever attended. As such I did not really know what to expect, but have to say the whole weekend far surpassed my expectations. With children present, the whole event had a happy family atmosphere about it, and with being residential, there were plenty of opportunities for people to intermingle and make new friends. The speakers were of the highest quality. Over all I found the event to be truly inspirational and thoroughly enjoyable. There must be many people like me in the church who are regular on a Sunday who don’t know what they are missing. I hope the Church runs a lot more events like this one.”
A Church in Transition
To date, we are pleased to report that we have been able to engage with representatives of 40% of the charges within the Church of Scotland. Over the extended period of a weekend many valuable friendships have been developed and barriers of mistrust have been broken down between those of differing theological positions. Church leaders and members and elders have been able to share their common concerns and network with each other. The fact that we have been able to attract so many congregations to our conferences highlights the mood of the church. Congregations and church leaders are looking for reassurance and inspiration during this time of transition and change in a Scotland that can appear to be increasingly secular.
Many of these congregations are aware of the changing face of their parishes and are eager to engage with their communities. From members of the congregations who have attended, we have discerned a mood of realism in their understanding of church. Many leaders and elders are aware that the shape and the face of the church are changing and they believe the danger is that we will not be able to change quickly enough. Some have likened our Church to a huge oil tanker that requires time to change direction. Many fear that the one thing we do not have is the time to change.
The theme of change and the management of change has been a key feature in the Re-Energise conferences. It is an important one that needs continually to be addressed at a local level. Presbyteries need to be encouraged to continue to reflect on this topic and help facilitate congregations as they engage with the results of being communities in transition. We believe that Presbytery has a role to be offering and exploring sustainable alternative models of church. 
Undoubtedly, communities and individuals are going through change. It is rapidly becoming one of the greatest challenges of the twenty-first century church. How we manage that transition as a church will affect our future influence in Scotland.
Networking across the Councils
We have continued to network across the Councils and Presbyteries and have been encouraged by their generous support, which has contributed to the success of our Re-Energise Conferences. The Mission and Discipleship Council has been the main funder of our work over the past two years and for this the church is extremely grateful.
In August 2007 the NEXUS Event attracted a large number of people to the SECC in Glasgow. This is a project that has developed out of the Clyde Presbyteries and their partnership with the Christian Resources Exhibition, a further example of the success of our networking and enabling role. We were glad to be a major contributor to the project and to be able to hold our Energy Boost Conference as part of the NEXUS Event. In turn we have been able to co-opt on to one of our task groups the expertise of those who organised this event.
We were delighted to have John and Olive Drane as our keynote speakers at that conference where they addressed the theme of Emerging Church and the difficulty involved in defining it. 
We would like to commend the collaboration between the Ministries Council and the Mission and Discipleship Council in appointing a new post to engage with this important issue. We are encouraged by the Conference that was held in early January 2008 in the International Christian College, sponsored jointly by these Councils and at which John and Olive Drane were the keynote speakers on the same subject.
Emerging Projects in the Church
As a Planning Group, we have learned from these conferences that in an age of transition the church has to be aware of the importance of its locale and the opportunities being made available to share the gospel in a changing culture. 
The many expressions of fresh church initiatives, often in the form of a project centered on social outreach supported by funding from the Parish Development Fund, continues to justify the establishment of the Fund which was one of the recommendations of the Church Without Walls report in 2001. All of this highlights the fact that the church is still engaging with communities, often during the week rather than at the traditional Sunday services. A growing number of congregations who have attended Re-Energise are now beginning to re-assess what it means to be a parish church delivering the ordinances of religion, while they and their communities around them are going through transition. This can only be a healthy and hopeful process.
Change with no change
We have especially welcomed and encouraged congregations who were in a time of vacancy to be part of the Re-Energise experience. Those who have attended have found the experience to be beneficial and rewarding. We have also encountered issues of conflict where congregations are emerging with a structure that does not quite fit a recognised pattern. In the period of vacancy a Presbytery may opt for the safe option of seeking to return congregations to status quo. In doing so all involved experience stress and concern and may even feel guilt that they have somehow broken a law.
The Planning Group welcomes the interest that both the Mission Discipleship Council and the Ministries Council are taking in this area of change and development. We are certain that, as more innovation takes place, more issues will arise between the permission-givers and the law-conservers. It is essential for the mindset of the permission-giver – which must be one of trust –  to prevail.
Safeguarding principles for people who find themselves exploring new expressions of church should be available. 
Focus on the family
In January 2008 we welcomed around 275 representatives from congregations who had expressed an interest in developing further their ministry among families. Once again this conference was well received and even the few who highlighted ways for improvement did so with a generous spirit. 
Our planning of this event was further enhanced by the contribution from the Church and Society Council and Crossreach. Representatives from both these bodies gave us representatives who helped us design and shape the conference. 
We were delighted to have Katherine Marshall, the Children’s Commissioner, as a keynote speaker, and Richard Hardy from Care for the Family. This conference allowed us to offer support and advice to congregations seeking to develop specialised aspects of family ministry. 
The CWW National Gathering 
By the time of the General Assembly we will have hosted The National Gathering on the 3 and 4 May 2008. This event will seek to focus on the journey we have made to date as congregations and the journey we all face in the future as we continue to engage with the Church Without Walls report.
The National Gathering will seek to inspire the Church in Scotland to consider the things that are important to us as we engage with our culture and explore what it is that we each can’t leave behind if we are going to be effective witnesses in our locale. 
We believe this will be an inspirational event that will help kick start an additional group of churches to consider accompanying us as we journey together. We have contacted all the main denominations in Scotland and have invited them to participate in the event.
The CWW Gathering will centre around four large worship experiences, which will reflect four different styles of worship. The opening will concentrate on our Celtic roots and will explore unaccompanied psalm singing as well as engaging with praise songs from a Celtic tradition. Keith Tait, who is a worship leader at Gorebridge Parish Church, will lead worship. The keynote speaker at this opening service will be Michelle Guinness, the well-known Christian author who writes from a Jewish perspective. Michelle will be helping us think through the challenges of understanding the place of departure before setting out on a journey. She will lead us to think about the importance of our traditions and invite us to consider what it is that we can’t leave behind.
The Saturday evening event will concentrate on a more contemporary feel. In worship we will explore the theme “Take Off” this will be lead by Susan Brown of Dornoch Cathedral, Andrea Wigglesworth from the Scottish Episcopal Church, and Jim Ritchie, formerly minister of Oldmachar Parish, Aberdeen.
Sunday Morning Worship will reflect World Music and will be led by Rev John Bell and John Sentamu, Archbishop of York.  Sunday afternoon outdoor all-age worship will be led by Alison Adam of “Worship Works”. We hope this will unite generations in a creative and celebratory way. The Sunday evening worship will seek to explore alternative worship styles and will be led by Johnny Baker, an “Emerging Church” Leader who has affiliations with the Anglican Church, and Stuart Townsend who is rapidly becoming known as the hymn writer who has made old fashioned hymn tunes popular once more.
The two days will be packed with seminars, music, drama, and even a ceilidh. There will be a special programme designed for the youth of the church and an exciting children’s programme running in parallel. There will be an opportunity for congregations to tell their stories of faith renewal and struggle in the stories tents. At the end of the Gathering, the tents will be passed on to Blythswood Trust and the Scottish International Relief Agency to be used in areas of disaster. The Scottish Bible Society has sponsored a text to be printed on the tents in five languages. As I write we are encouraged by the fact that one congregation in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which was founded by Scots in the early nineteenth century, has purchased a tent and intends sending representatives to the National Gathering; another congregation from Kenya will also be represented.
We have been in consultation with the World Mission Council and a conference has been arranged for world church leaders to coincide with the National Gathering. We are organising specific seminars at the National Gathering to include these world church leaders in our programme. It is our intention to have an area set aside to promote the development of mission links into Scotland in 2009 as part of the “Homecoming’ initiative. This is a very exciting possibility and one that displays the close co-operation that has been developing across the Councils of the Church.
There will be an acoustic café where live music will be played and we are hoping to be able to persuade a number of familiar names from the music business in Scotland to appear on stage in the café.
Prayer the Key to Renewal
Central to our planning and thinking has been the concept of a church being renewed through prayer. Each Re-Energise event has focused on the significance of prayer. Opportunities for small informal prayer groups known as a prayer buzz have proved to be very popular with those who attended the conferences. Prayer partners have also been promoted among the congregations who have attended. Often on the assessment returns the prayer buzz experience has featured as being one of the most significant points of engagement with the Re-Energise events. 
We are excited at the possibility of extending the Prayer Buzz idea into the National Gathering. We have allocated a space for a Prayer Marquee, which will be placed among the story tents. The Marquee will be specifically designed to create an atmosphere of prayer and reflection. Each Presbytery has been invited to take part in the prayer programme using their prayer correspondents. There will also be invitations given to various congregations, groups and organizations who would like to lead a prayer slot. We are also delighted that various leaders from the world church will be taking part in the prayer programme. We are exploring the possibility of live links across the globe with various partners from the World Without Walls programme, which is a project funded by the Parish Development Fund, helping local congregations to facilitate their overseas partnerships. 
Future Plans
As the present Planning Group considers the future place of CWW in the strategy of the Church, there is still much to do. Renewal is an evolutionary process rather than an instant fix or a clever slogan. It will be for the Assembly to decide when our work as a group is no longer relevant. Our role as a facilitator of events and conferences has been a successful one and we believe there is a place for regular conferencing to become part of the whole strategy of support, communication and envisioning within the church. We have shown that members of the church will attend weekend conferences if they understand their significance for them at a local level. The experience of networking with congregations across Scotland has been of great benefit to the Church and is one that should not now lose its momentum. It is time perhaps to begin to develop a national events strategy across the Church of Scotland and a network for those engaged in new ways of being church.
Part of the future strategy for the Church Without Walls Planning Group is pursuing the instruction of last year’s Assembly to create a creative strategy for mission in 2009. It is our intention to highlight the global dimension of the gospel and to encourage churches to go beyond the concept of a Church Without Walls to embrace a World Without Walls. 
Discussions are in progress with the Mission and Discipleship Council and also the World Mission Council to try and develop an inter-church strategy that will link into the Scottish Government initiative entitled the “Homecoming”. We believe that a successful CWW National Gathering will create a mood of expectation that will encourage further local participation in a mission strategy that could creatively embrace the “Homecoming’ as a theme with a rich theological interpretation. This could be developed by local congregations allowing them to create closer links with communities abroad that have a strong religious or social connection with Scotland.
We hope to encourage congregations to invite their overseas church partners to partner them in developing a local mission strategy for their communities and to explore a variety of ways in which the gospel can impact our diverse cultures. The increasing interest that local congregations are taking in world development issues is heartening. The World Mission Council has registered an increase in the number of congregations looking to develop partnerships with projects overseas.  This topic is one worthy of further investigation. If additional congregations catch this vision, the Church will be moving from transition to transformation.
The Vine Trust is an example of an organisation developed out of a parish church which now sends over 300 volunteers a year to South America. The fascinating fact is that many of those volunteers have come through church introductions, but have no live church connections. There is much evidence of a rich seam of potential growth for congregations when they are encouraged to explore the dynamics of becoming missional communities with a local and global dimension. 


In the name of the Planning Group


ALBERT BOGLE, Convener



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