Third Places

Recently a friend of mine, Dan Desrosiers, shared some thoughts with me about the concept of “Third Places.”
Sociologist Ray Oldenburg has been credited with writing about this concept of creating community by focusing on what he defines as “Third Places.”

Third places refers to a location where people spend time between home (‘first’ place) and work (‘second’ place).
Simple defined, they are locations where people exchange ideas, enjoy social time, and build relationships.

For young people, many third places are now virtual but Oldenburg reminds us that “the most effective third places for building real community seem to be physical places where people can easily and routinely connect with each other: churches, parks, recreation centers, cafes, gyms and even fast-food restaurants.”

Click here to read how Starbucks is creating the ultimate third place culture.

If third places are a natural opportunity to build community, how should our International Churches work to created third places for internationals? It’s really a great conversation.

The reality is our European IC’s should be the best “third place” in our city where people find an attractive opportunity to build relationships and find meaning for life.

We want to encourage you to identify the third places in your city and talk with your leadership team about how your IC can become the default connection for people searching for a meaningful community in your city.

We’re praying for you this week!
Larry