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Church Without Walls: Moving Beyond Traditional Boundaries
The first-century Christians had to sort out Jesus from Judaism in order to become a people for all nations. Today, we have to sort out Jesus from religious traditions in order to make Him available to our nation.
That’s the challenge this book tackles: Will we be the church without walls, communicating a gospel free of traditional and cultural trappings?
That’s the challenge this book tackles: Will we be the church without walls, communicating a gospel free of traditional and cultural trappings?
- GenresChurchEcclesiology
242 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1991
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67 people want to read
About the author
Jim Petersen
42 books6 followersJim Petersen has been on Navigator staff since 1958. He pioneered the Navigator ministry in Brazil. He is also the best-selling author of Living Proof, The Insider, and Church Without Walls.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 9, 2018
When I picked up "Church Without Walls" at the used bookstore, I thought it might be a sort of how-to guide for starting a house church. I had no intention of starting a house church, but I still thought it might be interesting to find out how it's done.
That's not what it's about.
It's about something better. Jim Petersen's message, if I dare summarize it, is that no matter what we do to make our churches in America more attractive, they don't really attract the lost (or the unchurched, if you prefer). By and large, they're attracting people who abandon other churches for something that's a little more contemporary, or meets their family's needs better, or whatever. Today's U.S. culture is so far removed from the church that to reach people on the outside it has to GO outside, not expect the culture to come to us.
If you're in a hurry and want to get to the heart of this book, you can go directly to Page 123, which is where Part 3 starts on "Patterns for the Future." Up until then is mostly the historical backdrop, and since I love history when it's well-told, I found it fascinating. But it's after this that Petersen really starts to guide us outside of the walls.
Here are a couple of his concepts:
-- The journey to Christ is a process, not just an event.
"It is a relief to realize we are only part of a process," Petersen writes. "I ask God to move every person I meet a step closer to Christ. Sometimes I reap, but far more often I do not. Sometimes I witness verbally, but more often I do not."
-- We guide people to Christ through the Scriptures.
"I have learned to sit down with an unbelieving friend, or small group, and over a period of time just read that first-century tract," he writes, referring to the Gospel of John. "As the person Jesus emerges, faith becomes plausible."
"Church Without Walls" was written in 1992, which seems like yesterday to me but in fact is more than a quarter-century ago. It does seem dated. I doubt if it were written today it would mention fax machines. I'm sure if it were written today there would be discussion of social media.
In essence, though, the message of "Church Without Walls" seems still true, only more so. I think it's useful reading for Jesus followers who want to develop meaningful strategies for bringing the church and the message to the pre-Christians in their lives.
That's not what it's about.
It's about something better. Jim Petersen's message, if I dare summarize it, is that no matter what we do to make our churches in America more attractive, they don't really attract the lost (or the unchurched, if you prefer). By and large, they're attracting people who abandon other churches for something that's a little more contemporary, or meets their family's needs better, or whatever. Today's U.S. culture is so far removed from the church that to reach people on the outside it has to GO outside, not expect the culture to come to us.
If you're in a hurry and want to get to the heart of this book, you can go directly to Page 123, which is where Part 3 starts on "Patterns for the Future." Up until then is mostly the historical backdrop, and since I love history when it's well-told, I found it fascinating. But it's after this that Petersen really starts to guide us outside of the walls.
Here are a couple of his concepts:
-- The journey to Christ is a process, not just an event.
"It is a relief to realize we are only part of a process," Petersen writes. "I ask God to move every person I meet a step closer to Christ. Sometimes I reap, but far more often I do not. Sometimes I witness verbally, but more often I do not."
-- We guide people to Christ through the Scriptures.
"I have learned to sit down with an unbelieving friend, or small group, and over a period of time just read that first-century tract," he writes, referring to the Gospel of John. "As the person Jesus emerges, faith becomes plausible."
"Church Without Walls" was written in 1992, which seems like yesterday to me but in fact is more than a quarter-century ago. It does seem dated. I doubt if it were written today it would mention fax machines. I'm sure if it were written today there would be discussion of social media.
In essence, though, the message of "Church Without Walls" seems still true, only more so. I think it's useful reading for Jesus followers who want to develop meaningful strategies for bringing the church and the message to the pre-Christians in their lives.
August 11, 2019
I first read this book more than 20 years ago. It deeply resonated with me then, having a number of points in common with my then-just-developing philosophy of ministry and areas of giftedness. Having picked it up again last week for a second read, many timeless truths still resonate with me just as deeply. This book has aged well!
The following are a few of the points that stuck out to me on this second reading:
1. The church is not primarily an organization but an organism.
2. We must evaluate forms in light of function (and re-evaluate and discard traditional forms if needed)
3. We need to minimize the barriers institutionalized by the church fathers separating laity from clergy with regard to ministry "validity".
4. The church must emphasize, appreciate, and validate missional apostolic teams who push off in smaller boats from "the mother ship" off "into the current of the mainstream" to the holes where the fishing is the best."
Still highly recommend!
The following are a few of the points that stuck out to me on this second reading:
1. The church is not primarily an organization but an organism.
2. We must evaluate forms in light of function (and re-evaluate and discard traditional forms if needed)
3. We need to minimize the barriers institutionalized by the church fathers separating laity from clergy with regard to ministry "validity".
4. The church must emphasize, appreciate, and validate missional apostolic teams who push off in smaller boats from "the mother ship" off "into the current of the mainstream" to the holes where the fishing is the best."
Still highly recommend!
August 16, 2020
This book is almost thirty years old, and it has aged very well. I would make different arguments about some things in light of COVID-19, and its impact on the institutional church. But Jim Petersen does a great job thinking through some of the issues facing the church and rooting them in their historical context. The missionary perspective on church is so different in its focus (sharing the Gospel) than the typical pastoral perspective (keeping the machine running). Although his analysis of the history of philosophy is questionable, and his interpretations of postmodernism are dated, the material on the church is superb. Function following form, the dangers of traditionalism, the narrowing of the church, are all great ideas. Petersen is very humble, and aware that the prescription is often worse than the disease, if not now, then at some time in the future. I appreciate that he roots his book in those ideas. There are some things that I don't necessarily agree with, but the book is definitely worth the read for anyone tired of passive, consumeristic Christianity.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
Jesus never said or did anything to indicate that structure and organization could serve to protect God's people. Shepherds and servants, yes, they would be needed, but he never talked about structure. Not that He was against structure. it is necessary, as we shall see, but for protecting His people, He had something far more trustworthy - the Holy Spirit. (p.95)
The sad reality is that going to the lost, living Christlike lives among them, and revealing Christ to them is not in our ecclesiology. The believer has made a whole lot of progress towards regaining his or her place in the ministry. The church came out of the Reformation with no vision for the penetration of society by believers and no provisions for the traveling, or mobile, expressions of the people of God. (p.119)
This is the problem that I see all over the world in so many church-planting efforts. The hcurch planters starts with a blueprint in mind, knowing what a church looks like because he or she was raised in one. But God's people are to expand, not by producing replicas of structures, but by bringing unbelievers to truth and then meeting their needs. As the new believers proceed through life together, the appropriate forms are agreed upon and emerge to facilitate biblical freedom. (p. 136)
Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
Jesus never said or did anything to indicate that structure and organization could serve to protect God's people. Shepherds and servants, yes, they would be needed, but he never talked about structure. Not that He was against structure. it is necessary, as we shall see, but for protecting His people, He had something far more trustworthy - the Holy Spirit. (p.95)
The sad reality is that going to the lost, living Christlike lives among them, and revealing Christ to them is not in our ecclesiology. The believer has made a whole lot of progress towards regaining his or her place in the ministry. The church came out of the Reformation with no vision for the penetration of society by believers and no provisions for the traveling, or mobile, expressions of the people of God. (p.119)
This is the problem that I see all over the world in so many church-planting efforts. The hcurch planters starts with a blueprint in mind, knowing what a church looks like because he or she was raised in one. But God's people are to expand, not by producing replicas of structures, but by bringing unbelievers to truth and then meeting their needs. As the new believers proceed through life together, the appropriate forms are agreed upon and emerge to facilitate biblical freedom. (p. 136)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews