If you’re looking for a church that has year-round ministry opportunities, look no further than Church Without Walls.
Based in Greenville, South Carolina, Church Without Walls hosts monthly outdoor revivals, summer VBS, winter coat drives, annual Thanksgiving meals and food distributions that often exceed 75,000 meals every year. Volunteers at these meal distributions make it a point to give at least a week’s worth of sustenance to each family who attends. With many families still recovering from Hurricane Ida, Church Without Walls sent a cargo truck of food to Louisiana n the weeks following the storm.
Since its founding seven years ago, Church Without Walls has made its mission clear: to serve working class communities and make the gospel known.
“Our church is based in evangelism,” lead pastor Alfred Johnson explained. “COVID made our ministry more robust because there were even more needs to fill. We have dealt with some incredibly hard things, but when COVID hit, we wanted to evangelize where people normally don’t think of or even go.”
That’s how the church’s mobile home community ministry started in one of the most violent districts of Greenville. With a ministry field of ten mobile home communities, seven housing projects and five underserved schools, Johnson and his church team began distributing Bibles and food to hurting families.
“Every community we invest in his hard-pressed, but the difference in our trailer park and motel ministries is that these families are often the ones suffering the most, as they don’t receive government housing or subsidies. It’s hard to tell people with no food on the table how good Christ is, so for us, it’s all about meeting physical and spiritual needs as we build relationships with folks,” Johnson added.
One of these valuable relationships was formed with 10-year-old Nathaniel, a motel resident who has joyfully joined Johnson’s team in distributing Bibles to his neighbors. In the past year, Nathaniel has helped deliver nearly 2,000 Bibles!
After Nathaniel’s mom, Monica, was introduced to Church Without Walls, she became a regular face in Sunday services. Recently, she approached Johnson and asked to be baptized. Following this public commitment to faith, Monica now leads a street evangelism ministry in one of the toughest neighborhoods in town.
Pray for Monica, Nathaniel, Pastor Johnson and his congregation’s safety, both from COVID and violence in the community, as they faithfully serve the people of Greenville.
Published October 7, 2021