Matthew's Table

Friday September 18, 2009 ~ 29 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to visit Java Joe's / Matthew's Table in Lebanon, TN. (The church gathers for worship in a coffee shop they own and operate.)

Part of the design is that they are trying to create a "third place" community. From Wikipedia:

The third place is a term used in the concept of community building to refer to social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace. In his influential book The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg (1989, 1991) argues that third places are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place.

Oldenburg calls one's "first place" the home and those that one lives with. The "second place" is the workplace -- where people may actually spend most of their time. Third places, then, are "anchors" of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction. All societies already have informal meeting places; what is new in modern times is the intentionality of seeking them out as vital to current societal needs. Oldenburg suggests these hallmarks of a true "third place": free or inexpensive; food and drink, while not essential, are important; highly accessible: proximate for many (walking distance); involve regulars - those who habitually congregate there; welcoming and comfortable; both new friends and old should be found there.

They describe their church on their website.

Matthew's Table is a church stripped of its formality. At every Sunday gathering we prepare food and all eat freely. During the meal we engage in a simple liturgy that we call a Weekly Rhythm:

BLESSING - The word "blessing" means "to empower to strength." We seek God's blessing and pass that blessing on to others. As we gather we intentionally speak words of blessing and affirmation over each other.

EATING - Sharing food has always been central to a shared life of community. We want to place worship and communion back where it began: as a delight in the middle of the shared table. We eat and drink in remembrance of Christ - looking back to the cross and forward to his return.

LISTENING - We believe that God is capable of speaking to us. We do not confine him to any particular medium, but we try to be attentive to his voice, wherever and whenever it speaks. We provide a period for reflection, meditation and listening to the voice of God.

LEARNING - We desire to take on the image of God and to participate in his plan. We seek out knowledge about God to help us to do this. We gather around the Scriptures and learn together, discussing issues that confront our world.

SENDING - We are ambassadors who bear God's image in the world. We remind ourselves regularly that we are sent to participate in God's activity in both our local and global cultures.

I thought is might be helpful to share some of the setting with you. Instead of a church starting a coffee shop, this is a coffee shop with a church.

It looks like a regular coffee shop from the outside:

My friend Michal Carperter looks like your average emerging church pastor (grin):

But, when you look up close you can see the church info:

The signs around the church speak to what happens on the weekend:

The place has an open feel that invites fellowship and community:

During church, the kids go in the back:

There are few places where you will find Rolling Stone and Christianity Today on the same table:

Michael is planning to open more coffee shops and, with them, more churches. As they grow, they plan to multiply, and not enlarge-- creating more spaces for coffee, community, and churches.

Since church planters are often entrepreneurs, this is a way to create business-as-mission opportunities.

This seems to me to be a reproducible model that creates new way to plan churches and do mission in many different settings.

What do you think?

Posted on September 18, 2009 at 10:00 AM ~ 29 Comments

Tagged with: church, matthews table, third place

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29 Comments

By Michael Trent on September 18, 2009 10:32 AM

Ed,

Thanks for continuing the conversation and bringing more attention, not only to Third Places as a whole, but for where they are going.

What's cool about where they are going is really more about a return to where they came from. I'm seeing more Third Places happen in and for (mostly 'for') churches - as multi-site, church plants, and alternative venues than ever before.

This is a perfect way for the church to return to the center of town, contribute to the community as a viable ingredient / thread.

Bravo to Michael and the team for hearing God's heart in a city and deciding to join Him where He was already at work. Much love and prayers to all to accept the challenge of Church Bartending as one of the best ways to pour into the lives of others.

Michael Trent
@churchbartender

(Ed: there's always a DC chillin' behind the bar for you)

By andrew on September 18, 2009 11:01 AM

hi ed,
great post and very encouraging to see the gospel visually & spiritually impacting the local area. innovation is the heart of the gospel.a breath of fresh air.

By Bill White on September 18, 2009 11:07 AM

We are planting a church in a 3rd place in January 2010. Akron Lanes (Bowling) in Akron, Ohio. Our name is "Action Church" and our email is akronactionchurch@yahoo.com. Excited to see a blog on 3rd places. We too want to plant more churches, in other bowling centers, not just get big at one location. I am so excited at what God is doing! Bill White

By Steve Corn on September 18, 2009 11:14 AM

Love this stuff Ed. Also really like the description: Blessing, Eating, Listening, Learning, Sending.

Here are some other thoughts and theologies about 3rd spaces I learned from Erwin McManus.

http://stevecorn.com/wordpress/2009/01/3rd-space/

By Bill Colburn on September 18, 2009 11:40 AM

Love it! My wife and I operated a similar third place venue in Durham NC for several years before returning to the pastorate. We thought of it as 'church unusual'. Ours, though, was far less overtly 'Christian'. We opted for 'being' Christian in all our contacts with customers, so that nothing filtered people out. All was relationship focused, living out kingdom principles each day.

By Pat Hastings on September 18, 2009 11:47 AM

Isn't any church facility already a 'third place'? It's not home and it's not work, and people gather there as a community. Of course, a coffee shop is a third place too, and it makes perfect sense to sometimes combine the two.

Does anyone (Ed?) know the normal attendance size of Matthew's Table?

By michael carpenter on September 18, 2009 12:29 PM

Pat. We are a little over 1 year old. We started with 4 people which includes my wife and I. We now average 30 all of which are new believers.

By Charlie Wallace on September 18, 2009 12:32 PM

This sounds like a wonderful format. Unfortunately, even in this setting, the kids "go in the back." Making this setting family-integrated would be even more special and biblical.

By Jesse Phillips on September 18, 2009 12:35 PM

AWESOME!

Ever since hearing about Chris Seay and Mark Batterson doing this - I've thought it would be AWESOME! So glad God is moving people to do this, or at least I'm excited to see if it works. & I LOVE the idea of multiplication.

I imagine a third place that is hip and fun to hang-out every night of the week. A place that brings in popular musicians, artists, art gallery, even perhaps lecturers (or pecha kucha), books. and maybe does community organizing, english classes, volunteer days, etc.

This is such a powerful concept! I hope God is in it, cuz it seems really cool.

Thank you so much for sharing this.

By Jonathan McLain on September 18, 2009 12:46 PM

Love this idea. Addicted to Jesus and Caffeine. Thanks for the post I love reading it every week.

By Ron on September 18, 2009 2:16 PM

Fascinating.

What does Matthew's Table consider to be the marks of a NT church and how are they incorporated?

By michael carpenter on September 18, 2009 2:20 PM

Charlie. Children are incorporated into every part of our gatherings except for the learning time during which they go to the back to receive age appropriate instruction. We are very much a family that practices the NT "one another's."

By Ed Stetzer

on September 18, 2009 2:39 PM

Pat,

For some, I think the church is a Third Place. However, not for most.

Jesse,

That sounds like a hippy coffee house from the Jesus movement. ;-)

By Gary on September 18, 2009 2:47 PM

Michael, Amanda, Austin and the Matthew's Table community are living it. The one true God is most definitely what they are into.
...But don't think you have to have a coffee shop to do presence... Third places are all over, think about the places you are a regular and live the story

By Kenny Rager on September 18, 2009 4:22 PM

How does legal ramifications work with this? Does the pastor own the coffee shop or does the church own it? Is the coffee shop a 501c2k?

By Michael Trent on September 19, 2009 9:27 AM

As we begin to find our way back into the community as a viable participant - let's be sensitive to knowing that God is already there and we are not bringing Him downtown or to any place. It's our job to listen and join Him in what He is already doing.

Oh yeah nd to no use a cheezy cafe or business name that no one but those speaking Christianese understand.

Michael Trent
http://thirdplaceconsulting.com

By Kerry on September 19, 2009 10:06 AM

Great news! As a new subscriber, I would like to thank you, Ed, for your great blog.

Thanks for sharing this info...

Questions...
Can you describe your worship time?
What are the elements and flow?
Is the store "open for business" as usual during the service and are some patrons shocked when they walk in to an ongoing service?
How do you invite them to stay and participate?

Thanks, Michael, for taking Jesus to the people!

By Charlie Wallace on September 19, 2009 3:11 PM

Michael,

That's great to hear! Way to be progressive in family integration as well.

By Chris Meirose on September 19, 2009 11:37 PM

Can we do this with Cracker Barrel? Just sayin...I'd start a Cracker..err..Church tomorrow! Well not tomorrow because I've got to preach at my church...but you get the idea...

By Sean McGever on September 19, 2009 11:59 PM

Great post. The pictures also speak a thousand words.

Are there any examples of a church like this (coffee shop, small space, etc.) that has maintained an ongoing presence for a few years?

My initial reaction is that I like a lot, but then questions about its viability, organization and such start popping up in my mind. I also fear it would be known more for its unique coffee/then church approach then its effectiveness as an actual church (which it very well may be!).

By michael carpenter on September 20, 2009 2:46 AM

Kerry,

Our worship time is usually flows with an opening introduction of the evening's teaching with questions for conversation during the meal. Which follows a blessing and time of prayer. As people finish eating I conversationally teach verse-by-verse from scripture and we close with music as a way of response. However, if all you came to was a Sunday gathering, you would probably be highly disappointed. That is to say, the sum of our daily lives together as a community of faith is so much more than the event on Sunday.

We are not "open for business" but we often have people wander in looking to buy coffee. They realize very fast that they walked into something other than what they expected. We do not mind the interruption and they are often served and invited to stay for dinner.

Sean,

We are not into any kind of bait-and-switch. Church as a third place is not about a cafe attached to a church, it’s about the transformation of whatever place is available. No longer is a private, “sacred” place used only for services but is itself offered as a service to the whole community. Nor is a public place off-limits in the exploration of faith, worship and life.

By alvin Reid on September 20, 2009 12:37 PM

Thanks Ed. Starbucks may have created a national (now international) example of what a third place could be (I meet plenty of churched teens who honestl prefer a trip to Starbucks to a day in Sunday school), it is nice to see believers seeking to recover that in the church. The church SHOULD be a third place I think. But often it is not. I do think an established church can become more of a third place as community and intimacy become more vital in a given fellowship. But examples like this show another way.

By Tom Doyle on September 20, 2009 4:11 PM

I love this concept! Something very special happening! I'm seeing a hugh increase of these types of churches around the country. The coffee shop is perfect for starting the church. As it grows, the church has a perfect mid week place and offices. They are typically partnering with other third places, (Movie Theatres, YMCA's etc, etc) so they can grow past the 50-100 mark and TRUELY reach the communities they are in!

By Nikki Collins MacMillan on September 20, 2009 4:36 PM

Thanks, Ed, for including this post. As the Ministry Director of a soon-to-be congregation in a coffee house owned by the church, it is encouraging to see someone a year down the road. What a beautiful ministry. It is taking many months and a lot of faithful volunteers to bring this vision to reality. In the midst of construction delays, it has been a joy to find the many sacred spaces already among us in which we can build community and live together. If you are in the middle Georgia area, look us up!

By Joshua on September 20, 2009 9:07 PM

If family is the "1st place", shouldn't church be the 2nd place (if not 1st)? Why does work take precedence over the church? And I'm under the impression that they meet one time per week--is that so?

By Sean McGever on September 21, 2009 1:32 AM

Michael,

Thanks for your helpful reply.

Could a private sacred place be used during the week as well? i.e. a sanctuary used as a free wifi zone, or for local business conferences/meetings or something like that?

Also, when did public places become "off-limits" in the exploration of faith? I've never felt that way. Just most coffee shops don't host a church after hours...?

By Michael Trent on September 21, 2009 7:32 PM

One of the characteristics of a true Third Place is neutrality. In 12 years of discussing and developing Third Places in and for churches - this is without question THE MOST DIFFICULT for the church to pull off.

Churches still too often are not able to create a neutral playground where Everyone Plays or a place where people can Belong before they Believe. This has started to change some as more attempts to be in the marketplace have been made by the church.

However, if this is going to keep happening, it's vital to consider not only the ministry needs of a community, but also the marketplace needs. Seeing that a majority of church plant(ers) are entrepreneurs by nature - this really isn't a matter of gift mix as much as it is a mental adjustment and change of perspective.

Ed - how long have I been your Church Bartender and you are just now blogging about this? No soup for you :)

Michael Trent
twitter: @churchbartender
http://thirdplaceconsulting.com

By J.D. Co-Conspritor on October 1, 2009 2:43 PM

Church should not be a place but a people. If we allow church to be our 3rd place then that means we spend time at work, home, church. Where are we going to form relationships in which to introduce not-yet believers to Christ?

Don't get me wrong. I was a quintessential church kid. I love church. however, I just realize that it is easier to reach people on neutral ground.

By Craig Johnson on March 31, 2010 2:06 PM

I too am trying to plant a church in Natomas, CA (right outside Sacramento). I was looking online for missional ideas and ran across Matthew's Table and signed up for their twitter. It really is amazing to see other young missionaries doing things different. Althought the routine is drastically different than my conservative backgrounds, it would stretch me, which in turn would grow me closer to Jesus and mold me to be more like Jesus. I say God Bless Java Joe's and Matthew's Table and hopefully they will continue reaching the lost the best way they know how. PRAISELUJAH

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