Gathering spaces for worship and fellowship remain a vital part of our life together in Christian community. So, even as we have learned the value of virtual and hybrid church, most congregations continue to affirm the importance of a physical building where people can meet together and encourage one another (Heb. 10:25). However, even among those churches, many of them find attendance in decline and their buildings increasingly underutilized.
This challenge has led to opportunities for creative ministries: opening the building to multiple nonprofit organizations, including new church plants, who need physical meeting spaces. Sometimes, the pursuit of shared space emerges as an expanded sense of mission. Such shared space situations often become an entrée into cross-cultural ministry.
Many churches remain at the surface level: with contract negotiations for space and time usage; occasional joint worship services and fellowship or ministry projects; and frustrations due to misaligned practices of facilities stewardship. Yet, for “churched” people, physical buildings are an extension of theological and cultural beliefs, values, and purposes, all of which informs relationships among those who are sharing sacred space.
On Thu, Mar 27, our Sharing Sacred Spaces webinar will attempt to extract some deeper components at work when sacred spaces are shared by diverse groups. I’ll moderate a panel of experienced cross-cultural context church leaders in asking, What dynamics did you experience? How divergent theological and cultural values impact group interactions? and What does this have to do with God’s ultimate purpose of the Body of the Christ? I hope you’ll join us!
*This webinar is a Tier 1 educational offering of the Intercultural Leadership Institute.
Gathering spaces for worship and fellowship remain a vital part of our life together in Christian community. So, even as we have learned the value of virtual and hybrid church, most congregations continue to affirm the importance of a physical building where people can meet together and encourage one another (Heb. 10:25). However, even among those churches, many of them find attendance in decline and their buildings increasingly underutilized.
This challenge has led to opportunities for creative ministries: opening the building to multiple nonprofit organizations, including new church plants, who need physical meeting spaces. Sometimes, the pursuit of shared space emerges as an expanded sense of mission. Such shared space situations often become an entrée into cross-cultural ministry.
Many churches remain at the surface level: with contract negotiations for space and time usage; occasional joint worship services and fellowship or ministry projects; and frustrations due to misaligned practices of facilities stewardship. Yet, for “churched” people, physical buildings are an extension of theological and cultural beliefs, values, and purposes, all of which informs relationships among those who are sharing sacred space.
On Thu, Mar 27, our Sharing Sacred Spaces webinar will attempt to extract some deeper components at work when sacred spaces are shared by diverse groups. I’ll moderate a panel of experienced cross-cultural context church leaders in asking, What dynamics did you experience? How divergent theological and cultural values impact group interactions? and What does this have to do with God’s ultimate purpose of the Body of the Christ? I hope you’ll join us!
*This webinar is a Tier 1 educational offering of the Intercultural Leadership Institute.