April 4, 1975, marked an unforgettable day in history with the invention of Microsoft. Founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen would never go hungry again.
October 16, 1923, was the birth of Disney. Walt and Roy Disney produced the current largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world.
In 220 AD, woodblock printing was developed in China resulting in the start of the history of printing.
After traveling 400 kilometers by foot to Paris, Louis Vuitton made appealing relations with the French aristocracy and found himself designing the world renown luggage wear. It was in 1854 that Louis Vuitton Co. raised to popular existence. It is now one of the most recognizable brands on all continents.
According to the FIFA (International Federation Football Association), the earliest form that exercised the skillful technique of football dated back to 2nd and 3rd century BC in China.
FIFA also records that since 2001 240 million people in 200 countries regularly play.
The Christian Church found its beginnings with its famed leader Christ. It was at that time that time shifted and His Church started in Roman Judea 1st century AD with Himself and 12 others.
People are influenced by movements. Whether it be corporations, electronics, music, fashion, media, books, leaders, religion etc., it is all geared and wired to inspire people. These influences and inspirations lead the way we think and act.
This leads me to wonder about the church. The people.
Are masses of people influenced by Christ’s church? The answer is yes. I desire that it is all for the good but honestly there are people that have been mistreated, believe in false precepts, or simply find it “unappealing” to their lifestyle. Those people find themselves not just walking away or even making the decision to not be a part of the church but also from God. There are masses of people who don’t know the name of Christ. There are masses of people who do know His name but keep it separate from most of their ways of life. And then there are masses of people who decide to incarnate the very living God as their only life source.
Simply, Christ loves His bride. Although far from perfect, He decided to love and show grace that streams and shatters all sin and brokenness to make it whole and righteous.
People have desires. Good and bad, many are fueled by the need for something more. Simply we were made to be loved, so people desire love. We were made to be free, so people desire freedom. And on the darkest or brightest of days, people desire a hope. Not to hope for something more… but a hope that never fails.
Obviously Christ brings life to people through His love, freedom, and hope. His church is designed to be in unity with Him. A call to greatness unlike any other movement or influence. It is for all generations, tongues, tribes, nations, people groups. It is a movement that lasts and is led by the Shepherd who knows His flock and brings unity among the brethren.
So how does the church, the people/Christ bride, meet the people that are longing for that something more? How does the church not just keep up with time but be the very thing that changes time? How can the church today change the course of history tomorrow?
Let me raise another question.
So why aren’t the masses of people in love with the church? After all, it is people. I can make my assumptions but that would only result in me finding an answer that would be questionable. I want a movement. I desire to reach the masses that have a disconnect with “the church.” I desire to connect the current church with itself. I desire to see people, his bride, join in unity with one another. Big dreams, yet movements start and influence the world. Starts with one person, one city, one nation, one world.
We, the church, are meant to revolutionize like our roots did. Our early church fathers were radicals and knew the cost as a disciple. They preached truth. Not to lure in the masses but because it was the Truth. They knew their role and “so the churches were strengthened in faith and grew daily in numbers” (Acts 16:5).
For some time, God has placed a new excitement for His church and for those not a part of His Church in me. I ultimately want to reach those who normally don’t set foot in a actually church building with those that do. It isn’t necessarily going to be at their work or at their home but where people meet to have community. Ray Odenburg, author of The Great Good Place, calls that specific place “The Third Place.” The first place is the home and the second is the work environment. Odenburg said “The third place hosts the regular, voluntary, informal and happily anticipated gatherings of individuals beyond the realms of home and work.” I say lets have church there. It is there that people fellowship in an environment that has the potential to produce freedom, love and a sense of hope.
We find these “Third Places” all over the world in forms of “cafes, coffee shops, community centers, beauty parlors, general stores, bars, hangouts.” It is a place that “anchors community life and fosters broader more creative interaction.”
It is in these places that people open up and find a type of relaxation that many don’t find anywhere else. God has given me a vision to create an action of church through third place
environments. Church is not a building; it is people. It is not Sunday morning or Wednesday night bible study, but it is who we are.
I want to empower the workers in their gifting to go out and serve through their passions. I want to see people who have been “burned” by the church fall back in love with Christ and His bride. I want to see those who thought they never fit in to a certain mold find freedom to be the very thing that Christ set them free to be. To see a group of different denominations come together and change a nation that is in dire need of help and restoration. To see people inspired to be and do and live in a way that was created. Whether a five year old sees his ability to prophecy or a 62-year-old man comes to faith for the first time. It is in the movement that we still move. It is only powered by His Spirit–the wind that blows and never sits still stirring us up and sending us out to plant His Kingdom everywhere the green meets the blue.
Whether it is through fair trade coffee farmers finding meaningful relationships with their consumer, missionaries reaching out to the AIDS orphaned in the Ukraine or a young teenager finding inspiration through local musician, there is a connection in this place…it brings the LOVE of Christ as the main inspiration and sets the captives free. It is educating the local to think global and as well as reaching out to the neighbors. Through a variety of avenues, this vision can transform a community and a community can transform a nation.
A third place environment can’t change the world, but Christ in us the hope of glory can. It is in this place that we can unite and BE the bride of Christ. It is working together and not tearing down. Connecting ministries, churches, people, movements to bring about life, that is, LIFE in action. Love in action. Freedom in action and HOPE to fuel us to fight harder and become the bride that Christ intended.
“Who do you say I am?” Jesus asked. Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter (means the rock), and on the rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
From the Cambodian rice fields to the Guatemalan hill tribes, God loves people. There are over 6 billion people on planet earth. He has built His church out of His people. Christ is my inspiration and influence. It is His movement of His bride that will unite and grab a hold of its inheritance (people). It is Christ Himself that will unite with His perfect bride. It is His Spirit that has empowered us to be the bride and bring all nations, all tongues, all generations, all people groups to His glory as one.
