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again i’ve posted this before but it bears repeating small ritual:

Church as third place

Imagine the unlocking of the doors. Imagine the re-emergence of church interiors as public spaces in the city. Imagine if the worship installations could stay up all the time. Imagine your local church building as an open-doored hangout. Imagine sofas, visuals, newspapers, books, food, drink. Imagine a church with good coffee. Imagine a church with plenty of places to plug in your laptop. Imagine opening hours 10am to midnight. Imagine spiritual resources and personal space available at all times. Imagine a place to work, rest and pray.

Your living room only bigger. Your life only bigger.

Rolling community: The constant presence of staff & punters deals with the commitment problem. It creates ‘rolling community’ - there’s no need to all be in the same place at the same time. It works like Cheers or the Queen Vic, or films like ‘Slacker’ and ‘La Ronde’ - as one set of characters leave another set arrive. All are connected by the bar staff [who themselves come and go] or one or two members who exchange groups. These are bearers of news, conveyors of messages etc. Everybody does some connecting in this way. The community is a network, not a spoked wheel dependent on a few at the centre.