Half-way through our class in Joining God's Mission, we are now making a transition from what Leonard Sweet calls a "thought experiment" (exploring mission from a Biblical and Cultural context) to an actual "lived experience" as the kids will be choosing a third place to engage in Missional Exploration. Ethnologist Ray Oldenburg posed the concept of a third place which, together with home (our first place) and work/school (our second place) define and shape so much of who we are. A third place is where we experience community by serendipity and/or intent. It is Oldenburg's contention that we all yearn for the sense of conversation and community that have been lost with the demise of neighborhoods, front porches, block parties, etc. Replacing these in our present culture are incidental places where community happens be they coffee shops, YMCA's, diners, or bookstores. Third places are made for God encounters and conversations. And, as Missional Explorations, I want my kids in class to identify and begin to study/hang out/look for God in one specific location.
My guess is that some kids will take this on with relish, others will find this experience way outside their comfort zone while still others will probably think I'm crazy and will be bored to tears. Yet aftertalking about God's mission in the world for the past 10 weeks, I want our kids to begin to look for and engage God's mission in what, at first glance, may appear to be the mundane of everyday life. Needless to say I will be very interested in what my kids encounter as they look for God in their chosen third place. As with so many others, kids often have no idea of how/where to listen and look for God. In fact, this is the issue which vexes so many kids these days:their experience of God has been essentially confined to a mind game devised (and compartmentalized) as "church" so they generally have no idea how to listen for God let alone see His fingerprints at work.
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