Evicted Worshipers Create ‘Church Without Walls’

LA CORUNA, SPAIN (October 9, 2007) – “The church without walls” became an apt – and literal – description of the congregation of Vida Nueva Covenant Church as police officially closed the church, forcing parishioners into open spaces to worship this past Sunday.

Authorities were acting on a complaint and subsequent order issued by the City Council of Oleiros, charging the church with excessive noise levels, an unfavorable safety report, and complaints by some neighbors.

The closure and sealing of entrances not only denied congregants access to worship and educational spaces, but also administrative offices and the pastor’s library.

“What neighborhood complaints?” asks a press release provided by church representatives to local media. “Apparently the complaints come principally from one neighbor who also has an industrial warehouse.”

The statement acknowledges that the congregation may have been given bad advice by one city councilperson, who advised the church that amplified sound equipment could be used during worship services on Sundays. The City Council originally had granted a provisional license to open the church in a vacant warehouse on the condition that sound equipment not be used.

“Recently we have celebrated our liturgy and other meetings singing a capella without any microphone or sound amplification,” the press release states, noting that several heavy machinery companies in the same industrial zone operate at noise levels greater than that generated by the church. Representatives also state they have provided the city with all safety documentation that has been requested of them.

During Sunday’s open-air worship experience (top photo), pastors Robert Reed and David Zapata offered tongue-in-cheek apologies for their formal attire normally reserved for weddings and funerals – “and church closings,” they added to the audience’s delight.

“WE are the church – the church without walls,” said Reed in his shortened sermon, which followed a half dozen testimonies. “Although it was a sad moment to find ourselves in the street, yet it was a moment of great joy to suffer persecution for Christ’s sake” – or as Reed suggested, “persecution-lite” compared to what others have suffered in China and other countries.

One of the members shared her sense of shock at learning the news, and how she felt the authorities had taken advantage of a new cabinet member to sign the complaint, noting that a previous cabinet member had refused. Another church member told of a large church in Argentina that was burned to the ground – and how God built a missionary church from the ashes.

Television cameras and news reporters were present for most of the service.

“The ministry continues,” Reed stresses. Nine people were at the membership class in a nearby small apartment as well as another 14 in two separate classes. The ALPHA Course will be held in a small restaurant. Even children took advantage of nearby sidewalk benches to work on their studies (lower photo). The missionary training program – the Finisterre Project – is finishing up in another home. This weekend 30 people will be at the planned leadership retreat.

“We have been overwhelmed by the love and well wishes from fellow pastors in La Coruña, offering us the use of their churches and assistance of any kind,” Reed says. Prayer support has poured in from around the world: Sweden, France, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Mexico, the U.S, and beyond.

“We ask Covenant churches to be in prayer for Vida Nueva as they proceed through these legal issues,” says Curt Peterson, executive minister of the Department of World Mission of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

“While the church recognizes there are ambiguities related to coding restrictions, there is also a larger issue at stake here that impacts the freedom of evangelical churches to meet,” Peterson observes. “We know that God will be honored and glorified in this difficult circumstance. Please pray for the families of the pastoral leaders as they deal with this stressful situation. World Mission staff (Margie and Baxter Swenson and Walter Contreras) will be with the Vida Nueva leaders on Wednesday and Thursday this week for a previously scheduled visit. They will now be with the church to pray and care on behalf of the larger Covenant Church.”