The Unlocking of the Doors...

The Church as a 3rd place? I came across this comment the other day:

"The question we need to ask ourselves is: How can we introduce the church, not the coffeehouse, as a third place where community and connection take place. Why isn’t the church serving as a third place for many of our neighbours today? Why aren’t we creating a community marked by the qualities lifted up by Paul in his letter to the Colossians?(www.homileticsonline.com/nonsubscriber/btl_display.asp?)"

To introduce the Church into this discussion of community opens up a huge topic, one that I don't want to enter into at the moment. However I will post some of my thoughts as related to third places.

The Church is a rather difficult form to describe; is it a building, a people, an institution, a movement, a religious gathering place or a place of refuge for the masses? From a biblical standpoint the church is a people, set apart from, bride of Christ, community of believers. A living testimony to Christ; a visual example of what heaven is like. The church, this body of believers is set into the world but not conformed to the patterns of the world. It is an open community to all that know Jesus and offers the inclusive love of God to all who come to its doors.

But we know the Church, as we see it in our communities, has not always lived up to this image; it has become very exclusive, set apart and judgemental. People come on a Sunday and meet other members, say 'hello' then 'worship' God and go home. They might meet again during the week for home group, but not much community apart from that.

"Have you ever felt Christianity to be reserved for pastors, priests, and professional Christians? Jesus spent His earthly life teaching, healing, and visiting every day people. Sermons and parables were not reserved for the Sabbath. His lessons were from real life.

Fishermen, carpenters, tax collectors and beggars followed Jesus seven days a week, from town to town searching for answers. Jesus said: "I am come that they might have life"(John 10:10) and we know life isn't lived only on Sunday. Christianity is meant to bring joy to life on mundane Monday's at work, fellowship at Friday's ball game and excitement to Sunday's worship. It is meant to help us live simply and provide answers in the midst of crisis.

Real Christianity provides solutions to stressful situations and builds relationships. "

So can the church become your 3rd place? Can it become the 3rd place of choice for the wider community? There are a number of ways we can face this challenge. We could try and create a 3rd place physically within the walls of the Church, as many Churches are doing; start a cafe! I liked this piece I found a while back:

imagine

• the unlocking of the doors
• the re-emergence of the churches interiors as a public space in our cities
• if the 'worship' installations could stay up all the time
• your local church building as an open-door hangout
• sofas, visuals, newspapers, food, drink, books
• a church with good coffee
• plenty of places to plug in your laptop and free Wifi
• opening hours from 10 am to midnight
• spiritual resources and personal space available at all times
• a place to work, rest and play

your living room only bigger. Your life only bigger

Does the creation of "Church" cafes really become a place for the community or a nice social spot for members of the Church. Some Churches start a wholly separate cafe in a certain part of town. In Christchurch a local Baptist Church have opened a cafe in another suburb called 'Coffee Coop', they have created a very nice cafe but why? How does this place introduce the 3rd place goers to God? I can imagine the scenario: once you have your coffee a person will slide into the chair next to you and flop on the table 'The Four Spiritual Laws'! I'm sure that doesn't happen, but they would need to be careful about any 'hidden' agendas.

People are more hungry for an inviting third place than ever before. In his book The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg writes that, due in part to the suburbanization of modern cities, “we do not have that third realm of satisfaction and social cohesion beyond the portals of home and work that for others is an essential element of the good life.” Our neighbours crave a place of satisfaction and social cohesion — it’s something they need at the very deepest levels of their hearts and souls.

I have no problem churches trying to make their gatherings more attractive, relevant, inclusive and appealing. I for one enjoy a real coffe at our Sunday meetings but I wonder if we are going down the wrong pathway by trying to create a 3rd place for the wider community. Why reinvent the wheel. There are many very good cafes already operating that are peoples 3rd places. What the church needs to do is not create 3rd places but go to 3rd places; take Christ with you into these places and engage with people, take your neighbours there. Be Christ in their 3rd places. go into the 'market places'.

"Paul encourages us to teach and to sing, and those are two things that the marketplace is anxious for us to do. In a world of moral confusion, our neighbors are looking for conversation and guidance about difficult and thorny issues, everything from raising teenagers to responding to terrorism, so the time is right for the church to think creatively about addressing these concerns.

Finally, care about community. Don’t simply care about church attendance figures and the maintenance of this institution. Care about community, and about the filling of needs that people may not even be aware they have. This is what Howard Schultz did, when he opened the first Starbucks to fill an emptiness that people couldn't even articulate. He gave them a third place before they even knew they needed a third place".

The "church" is not a neutral place or an attractive place for many people in the wider community.

Now all this leads us onto another topic related but a little different which I will start later.