An increasing number of congregations have a Welcome Center. This is great if it is an open, truly welcoming place where first-time guests can get the warm greeting they deserve, accurate directions or a personal guide to their destination, and helpful information about the congregation. It is also beneficial to the congregation as they gently harvest reasonable amounts of data they can they use to contact these guests, and begin a caring relationship with them that ought to characterize a loving and inviting congregation.
In recent years I have noticed a Welcome Center is not enough. Now congregations need a Connections Center, as distinguished from a Welcome Center, where members, regular attendees, and persons new to the congregation can connect with those programs, ministries and activities of greatest interest to them.
But, is this enough? Perhaps not. There may be one more center needed.
This week I was walking around the atrium of the church I attend. It is too small for all that needs to happen in the space. It does, however, allow for people to gather for conversation on two levels of the church facilities. On the upper level it has a well-placed Welcome Center for visitors. Currently our lack of space causes us to use the nearby Media Center as the Connections Center. This out-of-the-way place for the Connections Center--a recent move--will catch on as members and regular attendees seek out the services they want.
However, something is still missing; at least in a formal sense. Congregations now need a third-place.
This is the Networking Center. Just as the world is going flat. Just as social networking is on schedule to overtake e-mail and instant messaging as the way people network in their personal lives. Just as the ministries in which individual people and small groups in congregations are involved are increasingly not the formal ones sponsored by the church or its denomination. A Networking Center could become the most popular of the three places in the gathering area of a congregation.
The Networking Center is where people interact around the personal and small group ministries about which they are passionate. It is where people go to discover the stories of deep, meaningful ministry being engaged in by their fellow spiritual travelers. It is where open doors of opportunity to engage in Great Commission and Great Commandment ministry are shared. It is not run by the staff, board, or a committee of the congregation. It is grassroots in nature. It is self-organizing. It deals with ministries the congregation as a whole is not ready to embrace. These are, however, ministries consistent with the values of the congregation.
Isn't this a redundant place to the Connections Center? No. The Networking Center is owned by the congregational attendees. It networks people around old ideas whose time has generally passed for the congregation, but for which there are a few people who have great passion. It also networks people around new ideas the congregation is not yet ready to embrace, but that it may embrace as it seeks to live into its future. It is further a place for ministries that are a low priority for which the congregation cannot provide budget, staff, and focus, but still need a few people who will enable them to happen.
While many congregations may not need three separate places, they do need three approaches to engaging people in intentional conversation. Does you congregation address all three of these?
