Generics vs Genetics

It's been nearly a decade since that Monday morning when myself and another youth pastor at the time prayed together about the idea of approaching an executive pastor with the idea for Third Place Cafe. Asking Roger, "What if I could create a place to get people to come early and stay late, extending the best hour of their week." To this day, that is still the question I ask as God has given Third Place Consulting the opportunity to create third places in and for churches around the country.

Our first owned and operated cafe was Third Place Cafe, located on the campus of Crossroads Christian Church in beautiful Corona, CA. That first cafe will always hold a special place in my heart - it continues to teach me to this day. One of the things I've learned is that third place cafes are not cookie-cutter, generic designs or environments. Each church and culture is different.

During a recent session at WFX in Indianapolis, I shared with the audience some ideas on how to filter their coffee plans - one point being "Genetics vs Generics", where I shared of the importance and responsibility a church has to understand their own DNA, be aware of the scarcities in their community - both the ministry and market needs - and how important it is to see third places as investments and not expenses.

The architect on our original Third Place Cafe was Mel McGowan from Visioneering Studios. In Mel's new book, Design Intervention: Revolutionizing Sacred Space, he shares that:

"America is increasingly becoming a postmodern, post-Christian nation, and church architects who drop fiberglass steeples in front of converted Wal-Marts are part of the problem. Without rethinking biblical definitions of authentic church and community, they continue to endorse the same generic solutions across the country. - - - - However, generic is irrelevant - and not always cheaper. Instead of throwing more money at less effective buildings reaching fewer people, a design intervention considers the surrounding culture, unique identity, DNA, and purpose of the individual ministry." McGowan, pg. 21

Each community has different needs, each church has been given different gifts, each ministry team should consider their Genetics and not settle for being Generic - all in the name of saving time and money - which what you'll likely loose more of in the long run when choosing a generic.