Unwalled

    

Above is a photo of the church in which I grew up. It contains the most beautiful stained glass windows I have ever seen, some of which are pictured above also. The windows were produced by the Louis Comfort Tiffany Studios. Other than the beautiful windows, and the large built-in organ, the inside of the church was rather plain. It fills one's idea of a conventional church. That church holds many fond memories for me, and I love it still.
After I came to know Christ as an adult, I have attended another wonderful church for many years, and enjoyed it thoroughly. I love that church also. Now that church is a church without walls. It doesn't have a roof, beautiful stained glass windows, pews, an organ, or any other of the usual things one associates with a church building. Some may think, "but that's not a church", but to me, it is the greatest church I have known. Looking at us from the outside, many would think that we no longer exist as a church, but they would be wrong.
Churches with walls are wonderful, but experiencing the church I know now, my church without walls, is in a way like slipping free of your physical body, unencumbered, and soaring as spirit with the Spirit of God. The Presence, praise, prayer, teaching, and fellowship are higher and more awesome than anything I have ever known. In a way, Jesus described a church without walls when a woman was discussing the "acceptable" place and manner of worship with Him:
"Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father...But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
                                                                                                       Jn. 4:21-24
When the walls were removed, first and foremost, I found the church within myself. I am amazed everyday by the experience within this internal church, and I am thankful for having had this opened to me. Having found that church, when I look on the church walls I have known in the past, even though it is with great affection, I can't say that I am missing anything now. On the contrary, I have gained. Secondly, the church I have now, though it has no walls, is still also a fellowship with my pastors and fellow believers. Those of us who understand have not forsaken (abandoned, deserted) the assembling of ourselves together (Heb. 10:24-25) with those who say, "Walls or no walls: we are the church."
This church without walls is not something that I decided for myself. I did not "leave" any walled church, nor am I recommending that anyone else leave a walled church where the Lord is feeding them. On the contrary, what I am experiencing now is the opposite result that one would have from deciding to leave a church. This, in my life, was a sovereign act of God, solely determined by Him, and not my choice at all. At first, the loss of walls felt like a terrible thing, but now I see that it was really an incredible opportunity not experienced by many, to learn things that I might not have learned within the security, comfort, and "normalcy" of walls.
The LORD tried to describe to the struggling remnant who were given the overwhelming task of rebuilding Jerusalem after exile and destruction, the vision He had for their city. The LORD allowed His prophet to witness His angels measuring out the city of Jerusalem in the Spirit, a vision-city so great, the human imagination caught in those challenging natural circumstances couldn't hardly grasp it. This is what the LORD commanded His angels regarding the prophet, and the city:
"Run, speak to this young man, saying: "Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. For I", says the LORD, "will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst."  Zech. 2:4-5
The prophecy of the LORD for Jerusalem certainly has already proven true in the natural, as Jerusalem now sprawls way beyond the previous perimeter of the wall of the old City of David. I know the prophecy will prove true spiritually, as salvation and the peace of God will fill that city to overflowing as well.
Like the vision-city Jerusalem, I believe there is a church that is so great in multitude, that walls cannot be built big enough to contain it. The only wall that will be around it is a wall of the LORD's fire. This is my vision for my current church without walls:
"Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore."   Ezek. 37:26
If, through no choice of your own but by the will of God, you are also part of a church without walls, don't be discouraged, nor look back in mourning for the walls that once contained you. Instead, view this as a rich opportunity to experience the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in a way and in a freedom that you have never had before. We are in this unwalled place for a reason and a season, for a purpose and a gain. Grasp that gain and explore it with all your might!
My church may one day be a walled church again, but even if it is, I will bring within those walls, the wonderful things I have learned in Christ, and with Christ while in my unwalled church.

Our Father's Church does not have to be contained within walls.