We are continuing our look at the book by Bill Easum - Unfreezing Moves - Following Jesus into the mission field The other posts in the series can be found here

Unfreezing move #8 - Space and Place as a metaphor

Easum starts this chapter with a story that highlights the contrast between the way businesses utilise their buildings and the way Churches do.

“At the stroke of midnight 1997, a famous casino was imploded to make way for a casino more in tune with the technology of our times. What made this event so interesting was that the old casino was less than ten years old. As I watched the casino fall in on itself, all I could think was “What if Christians loved their mission as much as the casino owners loved making money?” What would happen to most of our church facilities? You know the answer: Most of them would implode.” (p131).

For many Churches, the building has become the purpose. Much energy, time and money is invested to keep the place open and operating. It always amazes me how painless decisions are in Churches to get money spent on buildings and how tough it is to spend it on ministries. The old adage that our buildings shape us, is very true. We need to be careful not to demonise buildings and to say that they are inherently bad for churches to own but we do need to ensure that they are tool for the mission and have not become the mission.

To illustrate what it means for Churches to see space and place as a metaphor, Easum uses a number of examples:

“To choose to worship in a storefront may be more a statement of mission than a lack of money” (p133)

“To hold worship in a bar may be a statement that the church is willing to meet the unreached on their turf.” (p133)

“To meet in a cafe is one way to say to the world that you understand the importance of getting an extra-hot-triple-tall-skim-latte” (p134)

“To use art extensively throughout a facility is an attempt to acknowledge the growing place that art plays in the post-modern world” (p134)

The concept that space and place are a metaphor is an important one. Recently at Northern, one of our congregations who for most of his life had been in homes and cafes spent eighteen months trialing meeting at our newly renovated factory. The space that they used at our new building was designed in way that was very suitable for the style of the congregation. It has an open plan kitchen with tables so that the sharing of the meal so important to this congregation was catered for very well, and then after the meal they could retire to couches for an interactive worship time. The space worked well and the facilities were excellent. But over time it become increasingly apparent to the members of the congregation that something was missing. What was missing was that the space and place had ceased to become a metaphor for the mission of this congregation.

This particular congregation was started with the missional impulse that if young adults who were numerous in our local area due to the many universities and tafe colleges. These young adults were not anti-spirituality that was obvious from the local community shops and the many spiritual seminars that were advertised. So where were these young adults expressing their spirituality, as it was not in local churches? It was decided it was over alcohol and caffeine in cafes, pubs and restaurants. The placement of this congregation in a cafe or a pub was not necessarily going to mean that more people would come, but it is, as Easum says, an important metaphor of mission. This is not to say that all Churches need to meet in community buildings but it is worth considering for those who are struggling to be committed to mission.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 19th, 2006 at 8:26 am by phil and is filed under Unfreezing Moves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.