Sharing God in our Third Places

I don’t consider myself a natural evangelist. By temperament, I fall right on the line of demarcation between introvert and extravert. And if I reflect on my habit, I spend my extravert chips at work and home, so when I get down time I don’t want to share faith– or sports box scores–with anyone. Give me a book and my ipod and I’m good.

God seems to be showing me that if I invite him to be a part of these third places that sharing faith seems strangely natural.

Example One: Every Tuesday Morning I meet at Starbucks with two leaders for a mentoring meeting. This is a sanctuary time for me. I share life and the Word with two strong leaders who challenge and stretch me. Every Tuesday we still at the table with open Bibles and talk. I never considered that we were being watched. But recently, patron approached the table and asked for prayer. We stopped and prayed for the gentleman in the moment. Another time, a second discipleship relationship was opened for a season of months. 

Example Two: My wife sings in an classic rock/acoustic trio. This means that if I want to see my honey on a Friday evening that I need to go to a bar. This isn’t my choice of a third place. I’m a jazz, not a rock, man. Cigarette smoke is nasty. And my church has asked that leadership not drink in public. But, love for Amy compells me to hang out in a bar a few times a month. 

There’s nothing like disclosing that you’re a pastor to toss a wrinkle in the conversation. However, as I keep coming back with a handful of those extraverted chips, laugh, and get my new friends comfortable, the barriers come down and I have the opportunuity to share faith and invite folk to Grace.

Example Three: I was invited to join a book club conversation last week to discuss my newest book, Divine Intention. I agreed in large part because it was good for sales. I expected to spend the night with a room full of evangelicals (who else would read the book?)

I discovered who else. I spent the evening sharing Christianity with a spiritually ecclectic group– evangelical and non-evangelical Christians, agnostics, and ”free-stylers” (a few had a patache of spiritual notions). We shared our thoughts on evil and God’s justice, their concerns that Christianity was a patriarchal religion (I being the sole male in the room), their suspicion that organized religion was a barrier to true faith, and that “you evangelicals” are too political. I’m sure I didn’t change any minds. However, I was able to share Jesus who shares many of their frustrations with Christiandom.

I’m beginning to believe that being “on the clock” as a pastor is the worst arena for me to share faith. Faith conversations seem to bubble up in my third places.