Dales Faith – Growing faith in community
THE VISION: Church-Without-Walls
“It was the same seat, at the back of the chapel in the village outside of Bedale, that I had sat in on other Sundays. This Sunday, however, as the service progressed I began to experience an appreciation of the devotion of the people sat around me, to Jesus, and to their chapel, maintained over many years. I knew that these people loved God and were faithful.
As I contemplated this and looked around the room I noticed the walls begin to melt away. Soon I could not see them at all.
The rows of seats and people remained, but now I could see the village green, the cars parked outside, the houses around and the people of the village going about their lives. But there were no walls anywhere, there were no barriers, and there were so many more people. I was then overcome with the overwhelming sense that God loved these people, not just those sat in the rows in front of me, but all of them.
That was the vision, but that was some time ago now. What has grown from it since, is an understanding that God wants to reach people where they are and that walls, sometimes, get in the way.”
(Charlie Hart, 2008)
Dales Faith’s Vision is:
- Our vision is to see God grow his Church in and around the North Yorkshire Dales area.
- Our part in this vision is to encourage and enable the growth of church-without-walls, a non-congregational expression of God’s Kingdom formed as a scattered-yet-connected network of individuals, communities, missional projects, worship events, teaching opportunities, and centres of resource.
- Our vision is to both to encourage, and equip those who connect with Dales Faith to gather in groups where they live, and to network with other such groups.
Alongside this vision is a hope that God will grow a missional community/church in Bedale. If you are interested in this, and would like to find out more please get in touch.
An Invitation to Participate
As believers we are called to care for each other, to encourage and build up each other, to teach, comfort, stir up and to pray for each other. We are also called to use the gifts we have been given for the benefit of each other.
If your gift is poetry or prose, prayers or reflections, writing or painting then maybe you might be willing to share it with others through our Community Contributions. Here’s how…