We don’t often put those three names together in the same sentence. Yet the idea of the third space—those places where community forms, distinguished from home (first space) and work (second space—is a powerful concept becoming part of the the conversation among those for whom church continues to be an important third space.
Yet somehow the idea of church as a third space doesn’t quite feel like it makes sense. Our church is currently exploring the idea of third space as part of our mission focus to “create places where people can experience life with God.” The conversation has raised questions like:
Can church be a third space and do we need a third space that is separate and distinct from church?
Ray Oldenburg, the popularizer of the third space idea, defines third spaces as those settings “beyond home and work in which people relax in good company and do so on a regular basis.”
Oldenburg suggests that third spaces are characterized by:

• Ready accessibility, they are welcoming, comfortable and easy to find
• Neutral ground, there is little or no obligation to a larger idea
• Conversation is the main activity: playful, witty, common and valued
• Wholesome atmosphere, they are not snobby, pretentious, or out of local character
• People whom you know come and go as they please

City planners and environmental designers also suggest that third spaces are places of food and drink, music and art, health and wellness.


Because of Starbucks we often identify coffee shops as the most common third places. But coffee shops are often not nearly as active third places as other opportunities. In our town the local Foundation of the Arts may be one of the most vibrant third places around. They have collected a great community of volunteers and attenders. Cafes and homegrown restaurants serve as third places. Sporting leagues, hobby clubs, and schools provide great third place opportunities. Service programs that serve people with specific needs—like reading programs, recovery groups, and food banks—often generate their own third place communities.
Can Church be a Third Place?
There’s a lot about church that characterizes it as a third place. In earlier years churches were main street institutions, sitting right downtown where they were daily entities as people worked, were schooled, and played. In fact, churches were often the center piece of social life. They were where you went to see friends, to engage in conversation, and to enjoy fellowship and entertainment. I think James Emery White is on the right track when he suggests that early Christians occupied third spaces such as the Jewish temple, the synagogues, and even the marketplaces of the first century world.
For those of us who are Christians church is one of our significant third places. Church is where we gather, we talk, we relax. In our large worship gatherings we find significance in numbers and outlets for our interests and needs. In our smaller gatherings we connect in relationships that are close and affirming. As I reflect on my life church has been my most significant and ever present third place experience.
Do we need a third space separate and distinct from church?
For the last thirty years or so our country has experienced a growing antagonism towards Christian faith with a commensurate barrier between those whom we would wish to influence towards Jesus and the very faith that gathers those of us who believe as church. Our church as third place is often considered hostile and neither welcoming or accessible to those not of our faith tribe. Faith removes the neutrality so essential to third place context.
If we are to gain the opportunity to influence those estranged to faith in Jesus most likely we are going to need to begin by engaging in their significant third places. Their third places are bridging opportunities where we get to know one another as we develop significant conversations. We’ve got to go to them, to their places and spaces, to build enough credibility to help them feel comfortable enough to come to our places.​

Christmas! Don't we seem to have a love-hate relationship with Christmas? We are reminded over and over that Christmas is "the hap-, hap-, happiest time of the year" yet we know that for many people Christmas is emotionally challenging. On one hand Christmas celebrates a divine event of salvation while on the other the traffic snarls on the shopping roads and the incessant commercialization wears us thin. And then there is the circumstance that until recently-and sometimes still-my fellowship of churches had decided that we shouldn't celebrate Christmas or most any holiday for that matter. In this blog I lift my voice to give a resounding YES, let us celebrate Christmas--and with gusto.  So to encourage you and lift your spirits here are 12 reasons I believe churches should publicly, visually, and with heartfelt enthusiasm celebrate Christmas and a suggestion of what we can do for every reason:
#12: Because there are two months of anticipation. Easter and Christmas are the two holiday seasons that fill our cultural calendar. From Halloween to New Years people are thinking and preparing for what is coming. What a great time for vibrant, life-touching sermon series.
#11: Invite people together: it's PARTY time. People are ready for invitations in the Christmas season. Having parties is what we do. It's easy, it's not awkward, to invite because peoples' social walls have lowered. We took one of our neighbors to a local production of White Christmas who had yet to accept any other invitation we had offered. Invite people to parties where they can rub shoulders and make friends with people who are Christians.
#10: Families come together. Christmas is family time. As the colder, darker months take hold families turn to traditions that hold them together. We tell more stories, play more games, and work more puzzles together at Christmas. Christmas togetherness opens opportunities to see how life is treating those dear to us and to lend an encouraging ear or a helping hand. Create events that give families something faith-building to experience together.​

#9: Christmas calls people to pay attention to one another through the giving of gifts. Even those bizarre white elephant parties require some thoughtfulness, to those who we care for even more so. When people are in this gift giving mood it is so much easier to raise conversations of faith. How are you celebrating Christmas? What blessings have you encountered this year? Open spiritual conversations with the people around you.
#8: The world is more aware of God. There are over 2 billion Christians spread around the world in every continent, country, and nearly every culture. At Christmas season the decorations, the colors, symbols become more religious. These symbols can be deeply meaningful confessions of faith displayed in ways that at other times of the year might be hidden or even dangerous. Give a gift in the name of Jesus to someone in another country.
#7: Christmas brings heaven near. Think of the songs: Silent Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, and Joy to the World. The star at the top of the Christmas tree is intended to light the way to Jesus just as the star of Bethlehem did the night Jesus was born. People are more ready to look for the way back to faith at Christmas. Invite people you know who are not active believers to a celebration Christmas event.
#6: Peace is magnified. In the pre-dawn hours of Christmas 1914 British private Frank Sumter heard the German troops singing Silent Night. Soon the British troops joined in. On Christmas Day German and British soldiers came out of their trenches to share the Khaki Chum's Christmas truce in the no man's land of the battlefield. To whom will you bring the presence of peace?
#5: Because people are more willing to take themselves and their children to Christmas services than any day of the year, other than Easter. Let's give them the opportunity to worship God! Hold an expressly Christmas worship service.
#4: It causes children (and adults) to ask to hear the story. Watching so many Christmas movies this year I am amazed at the overt and explicit language and statements of faith many make. For some reason these faith statements in God or Jesus are considered acceptable at Christmas when they are not at other times of the year. People want to hear the Christmas story of the baby born in the manger. Make the nativity story part of your daily vocabulary during Christmas.
#3 - Christmas focuses the attention of the world on something beyond itself. In a self-serving world service to others gets noticed. This year our church staff carried over 60 poinsettias to the local elementary school we care for. Oh the joy on the children's faces to see all those flowers and the delight of the faculty and staff, many who said, "No one has ever done this for us before!" Spread the joy and serve someone this Christmas.
#2:  Jesus, the Messiah, was born. That's the point of Christmas--right? Let's emphasize it. Christmas occurs close to the Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year. At this dark, cold time in North America Jesus shines brightly as the light of the world. Be a beacon of light; share the source of your faith with others.
#1: God came down to live among us. Yes, his name was Immanuel, God With Us. And we are his people. He invites us to join the heavenly chorus of angels "I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The savior has been born!" Let God live within you so brightly people will ask, "Why are you different?"
Merry Christmas to all and blessed New Year,

Have you ever heard of the 3-hump camel? At our Multiplying Church Cohort meeting at the University Church of Christ, Malibu, CA, Tom Nebel, author of Leading Church Multiplication, prepped us on how to set a growth calendar for a church around Special Sundays. View Tom’s presentation under Resources for Multiplying Churches.

The 3-Humped Camel and Special Sundays
There is a rhythm to the church calendar. Some times of year people around us are more willing to consider attending a church: at the start of the school year, Christmas, Easter, and Mother's Day are typical seasons. Tom suggests that your church should identify three seasons in your church calendar where you can promote seeker-sensitive activities. In between these "humps" are the times when you intentionally you affirm new commitments and increase the discipleship strength of your committed.
You're probably familiar with the one-off Friends Day approach where you encourage your people to invite friends, co-workers, and relatives to come with them. That's fine, but Tom encouraged us to make better use of special days by making them the beginning of 3 or 4 week special preaching series on topics of particular interest for people looking for spiritual answers.
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Three Benefits of Special Sundays
1.  Special Sundays give your people the opportunity to invite others to come with them. Your people are your best advertisement for your church. Churches that grow are churches whose members are constantly inviting their networks to come with them. Give your people reason to make statements like these: "Wow, we had a great day yesterday at church." "Our preacher really touched me with his lesson; I could hardly wait to share some of those thoughts with you today." Or "I wish you could have been with me  at church this week, the lesson was so helpful to me. I know it would help you too." These sort of statements are like irrigation, they water the desire to investigate God.
2. Special Sundays create an attendance surge. Visitors are good but often those who will return and stick because of Special Sundays will be people who are already part of your church network but irregular in their participation. Special Sundays lets you see the size of your network and gives your irregular attenders opportunity to develop an attendance habit.
3. Special Sundays give people chances to reboot--to recommit--to their spiritual journey. Life sometimes just wears people down. A period of intense work, sickness, or even vacation may get people off track of their habit to be at church. We're also seeing the decline of church attendance among committed Christians. Special Sundays give people regularly occurring reasons to encounter God again, to experience his refreshing presence in their lives.
For more information on helping your church grow check out the Beyond 200 overview on the Kairos website.
The 3-Humped Camel and Special Sundays
There is a rhythm to the church calendar. Some times of year people around us are more willing to consider attending a church: at the start of the school year, Christmas, Easter, and Mother's Day are typical seasons. Tom suggests that your church should identify three seasons in your church calendar where you can promote seeker-sensitive activities. In between these "humps" are the times when you intentionally you affirm new commitments and increase the discipleship strength of your committed.
You're probably familiar with the one-off Friends Day approach where you encourage your people to invite friends, co-workers, and relatives to come with them. That's fine, but Tom encouraged us to make better use of special days by making them the beginning of 3 or 4 week special preaching series on topics of particular interest for people looking for spiritual answers.
Three Benefits of Special Sundays
1.  Special Sundays give your people the opportunity to invite others to come with them. Your people are your best advertisement for your church. Churches that grow are churches whose members are constantly inviting their networks to come with them. Give your people reason to make statements like these: "Wow, we had a great day yesterday at church." "Our preacher really touched me with his lesson; I could hardly wait to share some of those thoughts with you today." Or "I wish you could have been with me  at church this week, the lesson was so helpful to me. I know it would help you too." These sort of statements are like irrigation, they water the desire to investigate God.
2. Special Sundays create an attendance surge. Visitors are good but often those who will return and stick because of Special Sundays will be people who are already part of your church network but irregular in their participation. Special Sundays lets you see the size of your network and gives your irregular attenders opportunity to develop an attendance habit.
3. Special Sundays give people chances to reboot--to recommit--to their spiritual journey. Life sometimes just wears people down. A period of intense work, sickness, or even vacation may get people off track of their habit to be at church. We're also seeing the decline of church attendance among committed Christians. Special Sundays give people regularly occurring reasons to encounter God again, to experience his refreshing presence in their lives.
For more information on helping your church grow check out the Beyond 200 overview on the Kairos website.

When you enter a home, greet the family, 'Peace.' If your greeting is received, then it's a good place to stay. But if it's not received, take it back and get out. Don't impose yourself. Luke 10:5-6 (The Message).
The Person of Peace concept has become a significant strategy for entering into new communities with the gospel. It's particularly prevalent in US church planting and international CPM (Church Planting Movements) strategies. Sometimes the Person of Peace concept is presented like its the miracle bullet for evangelizing. Other times it is presented as a demand to make someone into your person of peace.
Here's some things we've learned about the Person of Peace strategy from ten years of mission work in Kenya and ten years working with Kairos Church Planting.
1.  We meet Persons of Peace as we go on mission. Luke 10 begins with Jesus sending out 70 disciples, 2 by 2 with a mission: proclaim "the kingdom of God is near!" These disciples were on a mission. They were going. As they went into these villages and towns they would meet people. Some of these people would turn out to be persons of peace. We need to be on our mission if we are to expect people of peace.
2. Persons of Peace are gifts from God. Jesus didn't say "think about someone you know . . ." His command was go, do your work, and as you do it some people you encounter will accept the message. I see people of peace as gifts from God. They encourage us. They connect with us. They resource us. But they don't really do these things because of the close relationship they have with us (though often the relationship does become close). They support us because they connect with the message! They are God's gifts of provision so the mission can be accomplished. We should pray for these gifts of God because we need them so the mission can happen.
3. Persons of Peace drive the mission forward.  The idea that the person of peace is someone who likes you and whom you like is quite attractive. But  I've worked with some persons of peace with whom I didn't really resonate. We could work together. We respected one another. But we weren't really friends. In spite of this, these persons of peace really opened up relationship networks for the gospel in their communities. Despite the fact we were not really friends these people propelled the mission of the gospel forward.

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This week a church planter and I were coaching on networking strategies. How do you go about entering into a new community and finding those Persons of Peace?
Here's some ideas we came up with:
1. Ask people who know your community to help you understand it. These are people like realtors, school principals (particularly elementary schools), and police officers. Tell them who you are, what you are doing (this is your confession of faith as a planter), and how they can help you. If they agree they've begun to show signs of a person of peace because they are helping the mission.
2. Invite people to work alongside you in service events for your community. There are many good organizations, non-profits, and already existing activities in a community that always need help. You can become a resource for them (i.e., you're their person of peace). As you invite people into the activities of these already existing groups you also let them know you are doing this because you are starting a new church and you believe a church is a helping contributor to the community. When you do this you are building an identity and giving the people you invite the opportunity to connect with that identity. So, when someone asks, "Why are you here helping?" you want them to be able to say, "I was invited by Joe who is planting a new church here."
3. Organize special events that gather people, then let them know what you're doing as a church planter and invite them to next steps. The key, again, is to not hide anything. Be up front with who you are (a church planter, a Christian, a Jesus follower) and what you are doing (starting a new church). Take the mystery out of the picture. Give clear invitations to learn more. This provides people the opportunity to grow into becoming Persons of Peace.
My experience has been that most of the Persons of Peace with whom I have worked didn't come fully engaged. They learned about me and about my mission over time and with exposure. God gradually formed them into Persons of Peace.
I pray you keep your eyes open for those budding Persons of Peace in your community, your life, and your ministry. Receive them with joy. They are God's gifts to you for His glory.