Each of us has a First Place,Second Place and a Third Place.
First Place for most people living in the developed world is the home. This is often a place of closely guarded privacy. The Second Place is where we work. The workplace can often be a place of huge demands and pressure. Third Places vary by context and culture and may be places like pubs and restaurants, places like Starbucks, sports team parents groups and anywhere that people feel free to be themselves. Kind of like the bar in Cheers, "where everybody knows your name." People will spend hours in Third Places and may know more about the lives of people there than most people in churches know about each other. Third Places are where the relationships that knit our society together are formed and fashioned. For many Christians, "church" is their Third Place. Often we expect people who are far from Christ and His family to come to our Third Place. After all, we feel so comfortable and welcomed there, we think that they should too...but they don't come. Perhaps what we need to do is meet folks in their own Third Place.
Why should Third Places matter to Christians? They are where we can learn about the culture of our communities. There we can learn about people's everyday struggles and concerns are. They are places we can ask spiritual questions. They are the places we can share Jesus. Afterall, people who don't know Jesus rarely come to our First Place , and often we are not permitted to talk about Jesus in our Second Place. Where are the Third Places in your community?
Where does this concept come from? Michael Frost's book, Exiles: living missionally in a post-Christian culture (Hendrickson, 2007)is the place. Michael is Australian and Professor of Evangelism at Moorling College in Sydney Australia.
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4 comments:
Right on, Paul!!! I've seen this phenomenon at work many times in the lives of folks I work with. Spending a little extra time with them in Starbucks, or at lunch, pays big dividends!
Thanks Phil. It is so easy for many of us Christians to just keep hoping that people will come the "church", which is Third Place for many of us. If we never go to their Third Places we may never get the opportunity to share Christ with them.
so what if i never see the big dividends you tell me i should expect?
Dear "in need of answers"
The only big dividends the article mentioned are that meeting people in "third places"are where we can learn about the culture of our communities. There we can learn about people's everyday struggles and concerns are. They are places we can ask spiritual questions. They are the places we can share Jesus."
I believe those statements are true. Basically, the encouragement is to widen the circles we travel in so we at least have a chance to talk about what God has done for us with those who might not hear if we never go there.
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