Dream Awakener

German pub friends
Originally uploaded by Camera Freak

A guest post by Mark Steffey

Third Places
Followers of Jesus need to actively involve themselves in the life of the community in which they live, especially in the leisurely activities of the people who they find themselves surrounded by.  The idea of the “third place” in the life of a Christian is important.  The home is the first place, where we spend most of our time.  The place of work is the second place.  The “third place” or “third places” is the location or locations where we choose to spend whatever time is left.  In his follow-up book to A Shaping of Things to Come, Michael Frost says, “Many Christians don’t actually go to third places.  In fact…for many Christians, the church is their third place.  All their leisure time is spent at church meetings or gatherings, belonging to church-based committees and occasionally socializing with our church friends (Frost 2006: 27).”

One the most common of “third places” for many people is a bar or pub.  Subsequently, Christians should consider how they might frequent such establishments as a “missional outpost.”  Frost says, “Two of the core ingredients that make third places fertile for mission are food and alcohol.  Although it makes many conservative Christians uncomfortable, it’s a fact that many not-yet-Christians really open up about important issues over a meal and few drinks (Frost 2006: 175).”

An even more aggressive example of the missional engagement of the pub and bar culture is explained in The Shaping of Things to Come, where the authors describe a pub in England owned and operated by passionate Christians.  The owners claim to “Set about creating a loving, welcoming environment, where locals are cared for, listened to, and ministered to (Frost and Hirsch 2003: 17).” 

Frost and Hirsch express the kind of interaction that must take place in our culture if we are to impact people with the truth and hope of the Gospel, "The missional church is incarnational, not attractional, in its ecclesiology.  By incarnational we mean it does not create sanctified spaces into which unbelievers must come to encounter the gospel.  Rather, the missional church disassembles itself and seeps into the cracks and crevices of a society in order to be Christ to those who don’t yet know him" (Frost and Hirsch 2003: 12).

Hirsch, writing on his blog explains further this missional stance. "Incarnational mission thus engages people from within their cultural expression. Once this essential missional listening, observation, connecting, and networking have been done, then the forming of Jesus communities can take place. This is the only way to ensure that the Christian community truly incarnates itself and is fully contextualized."

Only this way can the church actually become part of the cultural fabric and social rhythms of the host community. Once it has achieved this, it can therefore influence it from within. And it doesn’t matter what group that might be. In our neighborhoods are literally hundreds of different ’tribes’ that can be meaningfully reached by such means. Through the missional-incarnational approach Jesus is introduced into their imaginations and conversations in a really evocative way (Hirsch, blog entry 3/17/2008).