Third Places
Coffee shops, the gym, a board game with friends, golf, gardening, fishing, hunting, art, etc. All of these places, hobbies, and more can be considered a third place. If your first place is your home and your second place is your work or school, a third place is any place outside of that where you spend time and build relationships with others.
Beginning in June, our For The City monthly emphasis is Third Places. We are asking each of our members to consider their personal third places and think about how they can engage those places in order to further relationships with the ultimate goal of getting to the Gospel.
For example, our Mission Pastor, Scott Ward, enjoys spending part of his free time at the gym. As he swims or works out, he is constantly looking for the opportunity to meet new friends and start spiritual conversations with the hope of getting to the Gospel.
Now, you might not go to the gym, but you certainly can go get your nails done or go to the same coffee shop every day or, instead of going hiking by yourself, join a hiking club to be around others. There are a thousand things that you can do to place yourself in close proximity to those that are far from God.
When engaging our third places, there is one key that we need to remember. We must be intentional. Many people have gone to the same coffee shop or gym for years and have never engaged someone intentionally to get to a spiritual conversation or at the very least invite them to church. If someone had the cure to a deadly disease that you had and didn’t tell you, you would be rightly upset. Yet we do this everyday when we ignore the lost around us. The Great Commission (…go and make disciples…) compels us to build real relationships with the lost and share the good news of Jesus with them so that we can see new disciples that worship, grow, and go!
Beginning in June, our For The City monthly emphasis is Third Places. We are asking each of our members to consider their personal third places and think about how they can engage those places in order to further relationships with the ultimate goal of getting to the Gospel.
For example, our Mission Pastor, Scott Ward, enjoys spending part of his free time at the gym. As he swims or works out, he is constantly looking for the opportunity to meet new friends and start spiritual conversations with the hope of getting to the Gospel.
Now, you might not go to the gym, but you certainly can go get your nails done or go to the same coffee shop every day or, instead of going hiking by yourself, join a hiking club to be around others. There are a thousand things that you can do to place yourself in close proximity to those that are far from God.
When engaging our third places, there is one key that we need to remember. We must be intentional. Many people have gone to the same coffee shop or gym for years and have never engaged someone intentionally to get to a spiritual conversation or at the very least invite them to church. If someone had the cure to a deadly disease that you had and didn’t tell you, you would be rightly upset. Yet we do this everyday when we ignore the lost around us. The Great Commission (…go and make disciples…) compels us to build real relationships with the lost and share the good news of Jesus with them so that we can see new disciples that worship, grow, and go!
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