In a recent evangelism meeting at my church, I tried to explain the concept of "third places." Most people have three places in their lives where they spend most of their time - home (first place), work (second place), and whatever their third place is. It can be a bowling alley, a pub, the YMCA - anywhere they spend a significant amount of time and find fellowship and a sense of belonging.
I encouraged each person at the meeting to think about their own third places (other than church) and the opportunities that might exist there for sharing the good news in a non-threatening way. Describing the youth baseball and soccer fields where most of the young families in my community spend time, I mused on the possibilities to reach people who either had lapsed from their faith or had never been part of a church.
The eyes in the room lit up as folks considered the potential. Immediately the comments emerged: "I always thought we had so few kids in worship because we don't have any kids in this town. But they are obviously out there." "That would be great if we could get some of them to come here on Sunday." "Imagine all those kids coming forward for the children's sermon!"
I tried not to sigh audibly. I had just spent 10 minutes describing some of the successful "New Worshiping Communities" of the Presbyterian denomination's new initiative. It seeks to create non-traditional ministries that don't center around a Sunday service or the church building.
They had been enthused by the stories of a coffee shop that hosts Bible studies and raises funds for mission; a pub ministry that gets skeptical 20-somethings to talk about faith; and a running club that creates Christian fellowship among folks who aren't otherwise coming to church. "Why," I thought to myself, "can't these people think beyond their own institutional survival and see the bigger picture?"
But before I got too exasperated, I remembered that my thinking on this matter has only recently changed. Until about a year ago, I would have responded to such an opportunity with the same focus on boosting our own worship attendance and membership. My involvement on a regional-level committee has allowed me to explore the concept of evangelism in a deeper way. Before then, I too would have seen all these great new ministries out in communities as merely a means to an end - not as legitimate new churches in and of themselves.
So the challenge for traditional churches like mine is this: How do we encourage folks to think more deeply about the changing times and the need for adaptive strategies? How do we help one another move past those reflexive responses that measure 21st century ministries by 20th century standards?
Most importantly, how do we remind one another that the call to share the good news is a call for us to sacrifice ourselves and our preferences for the larger sake of the Gospel; to understand that the preservation of the institutions we love is not the ultimate point; to realize that in so many ways, "it's not about us."
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Posting as anonymous just because I want to be real in what I say and most of this has not been something I've shared publicly and on social media: your posts about it not being about us have really resonated with me because I have been participating in Al-Anon for the past year to deal with an alcoholic husband (who has 5 months sober now, yay!), and of course that is a long story, but I think all the time at Al-Anon meetings about how I can apply what I'm learning there to church leadership. Basically, the idea that I am only responsible for my own functioning, and I cannot control other people. It feels sometimes as though in the church, especially when we're thinking about church growth and/or survival, we are so worried about CONTROLLING other people and MAKING them do what we need them to do so that we can just exist. This is not possible, even if at one time it "seemed" to work! I think I will start to experiment with just trying to really disentangle myself from such thinking of controlling other and applying a lot of what I've learned at Al-Anon to church leadership. Even to the point of not getting embroiled in some of the hand-wringing that goes on at church council meetings about the budget. I may report back if the church I serve doesn't kick me out during my experiment ;)
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