Note: This is an archived version of the page from alexabsalom.wordpress.com related to Alex Absalom.
Source Details
Entity: Alex Absalom
Source: alexabsalom.wordpress.com
Source URL: http://alexabsalom.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/location-third-places-and-missional-communities
Archive Datetime: 2012-06-28T03:40:46
Community, Out, Stories Location, Location, Location
Posted by alexabsalom ⋅ May 24, 2012 ⋅ Leave a Comment
Filed Under Third Place
When we first moved to Oklahoma I sought out local cafes, vetting them primarily on their ability to supply a decent cup of tea!! After some diligent research, my regular haunt became a spot near to Joel’s school in downtown Edmond.
While I used it as a place to work or meet people from church, my favorite thing to do was to take one of our boys there for Daddy Time. I’d choose from their excellent selection of teas, while hot chocolate and the largest-cake-on-display was the order of the day for the boys. Then we’d pick one of the board games, settle into a window seat and enjoy hanging out together.
As we spent time there, it was amazing who would pop in for a drink from the local community. It was such a great place to connect and chat and build friendships. Naturally enough, we also built a great relationship with the staff, learning about their stories and being able to pray with them on several occasions. The owners used to refer to us as their English Okies – often greeting us with that shout across a crowded cafe as we walked in the door! By our last year there, they were inviting us to spend Thanksgiving with them.
After we moved to Ohio, one of the things that I especially missed was spending time in ‘our’ cafe (although by God’s kindness we have been able to build some strong relationships in our local Starbucks – ministry is tough!).
One of the issues for Missional Communities is finding places to meet besides homes. In Summer months parks are great spots, but to be more consistent we need to identify a Third Place – an open, public setting that is neither home nor work. This won’t be the right thing for every MC, but for some it will be an amazing way to become more embedded into a particular context. In my homeland of England the pub often serves this purpose – a place where people can naturally and easily gather and build relationships, coming and going as they please. In the US, we haven’t seen a direct correlation to the pub, but do see the role that coffee shops play in local culture. Obviously there are many other options as well – the question really is, who are you called to reach and where do they naturally gather?
I think the principle of the Third Place, as it liberates our thinking and helps us think more like missionaries. If you would like to read more, check out this excellent (and brief!) post by Brad Brisco on the topic.
Share this:
Like this:
LikeBe the first to like this.
About alexabsalom
Check me out at http://about.me/alexabsalom! View all posts by alexabsalom »
« Student Ministry And Church Services – Part 3 Jewelry for a Cause »
Discussion
No comments yet.
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
Enter your comment here…
Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:
Email (required) (Address never made public)
Name (required)
Website
You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out;) / Change )
You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out;) / Change )
You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out;) / Change )
Cancel Connecting to %s
Notify me of follow-up comments via email.
Notify me of new posts via email.