I guess what all of the posts last week were trying to communicate a real need for the church to connect with the world. I know thats the theory, however we do need to move from where we are if we are going to see growth.
I do think the church can create third spaces, increasingly spaces enthused with the Spirit, whom I know dwells in us but I do think you can create places that have a Godly atmosphere! We also mustn't live with the false allusion that the third places that already exist where created with an ethos of community enhancement most of them were created to make money and our driven by consumerism, nothing else.
I am just thinking out loud, I am prepared to be wrong but I am not willing to do nothing.
The primary building block in my thinking is incarnational, this kingdom happens, advances and grows through us, the body of Christ here on the planet. I enjoy and think there is a place for attractional invitational models of church, but I also think these won't truly work without christians living incarnationally. All these things should be set in place to complement the mission of the body which is to make Christ known in the world.
Old buildings, new buildings, large services, simple services, high tech, low tech, kitchen tables, coffee shops, alphas, small groups, cell groups, boiler rooms whatever are primarily aids to the living breathing flesh that we are and should be wells and resources as we try to be Christ to our neighbours.
We are the fourth place.
1 comment:
Loved the series on third places. Culture has changed so much - my guess is the home was much more a 'third place' in the time of Jesus? Often think here in Spain where the home seems so private, what third space will be effective.
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