Being spaces
Just back from another meeting in the cafe on the corner. Dont know why we dont just move our offices down there. It’s becoming more like a “home away from home”. Especially since they’ve put in lovely comfy sofa chairs to lounge in. And it is a much nicer office away form the office, believe me! Trendwatching.com call these third places “being spaces” and describe them as “commercial living room-like settings in the public space” whose purpose is to accomodate consumers “outside of the home and office, becoming a relevant and useful part of their daily lives, offering them surprise, discovery, empathy, transformation. A place to lounge, hang out, try things out, work, or relax. Or all this at once.” (full article here) Imagine if we could describe churches like this! Church being relevant and useful – that is not hard to imagine; surprise, empathy, discovery and transformation – that happening at church is not too big a leap of the imagination either but a place to lounge, hang out, relax, try things out … now that’s getting a bit harder to picture. There’d be no pews in sight, that’d be for sure! Some churches are already taking up the challenge of creating a “third place” (neutral, relational, comfortable space) within their domain – you will have heard of cafes that are also churches, and perhaps of a play zone for children - but what about a gym, a laundromat, an art gallery or a greenhouse? You can read about some churches who are offering these kinds of third places in this Leadership Network article: third20place
Getting the washing dry at this time of the year when you work all day is a real problem. Let me know when your church has set up a laundromat and I’ll plan to have a meeting there each week!
Cheers, Louise
