Jon Sampson

So I haven’t blogged much about The Forgotten Ways since last Monday’s class. The week flew by! But I will be writing more about some pieces soon.

We finished with the classroom portion last Friday. I’ll just say it was a powerful week – listening to Alan, processing the ideas, hearing other people’s stories and feedback. It honestly leaves me excited and hopeful for the future of church in America and beyond. That’s something I don’t usually hear when talking about new or existing forms of church in America – hope. Our conversations centered on Jesus – following him and empowering others to do the same. I love that it’s really that simple. It starts with a simple statement: Jesus is Lord. Do we understand it? Are we really living it out?

I’ll flesh some of this out later, but for now, let me start by sharing where I’m committed to go because of this discussion. Ideas are just ideas. They don’t mean much. So what changes has this course challenged me to?

Here’s the first one. I’ll post more later.

• Third Places – Working in seminary and church worlds, it’s very easy to become part of that Christian subculture that doesn’t “get” any other culture. We’re completely removed.But it can happen to folks whose lives aren’t filled with seminary and church. We tend to spend most of our time in our first places – home – and our second places – work. But there’s a different kind of connection that takes place in those third places – where people go to hang out, relax, and have fun.

  Whether it be a coffee shop, a cafe, a happy hour, a sports team, or a hobby club, there’s a place where we all can be close to others. These are the places where real spiritual conversations can happen because real connections are made. I’m looking for places I can be intentional about spending my time off campus and outside of the church.