AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THIRD PLACE MINISTRIES IN REACHING NON-BELIEVERS IN POSTMODERN CITIES OF THE RHEIN-MAIN-AREA IN GERMANY - Master of Arts Dissertation June 2019

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS
OF THIRD PLACE MINISTRIES

IN REACHING NON-BELIEVERS IN POSTMODERN CITIES
OF THE RHEIN-MAIN-AREA IN GERMANY
ROBERT STÖßER
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment

of the requirements of The University of Manchester
for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS IN THEOLOGY
June 2019
NAZARENE THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE

MANCHESTER
Abstract
It stands to reason that urban ministries are of high significance in our present times when
one evaluates recent statistics of the degree of urbanization in the last years and upcoming
decades. Nowadays diversity in demographics and heterogeneous societies make it difficult
to speak of an archetype of non-believer in Europe. One can determine common factors that
define the “typical non-believer” such as liberalism, consumerism and rationalization that
shape the identity of citizens who do not belong to a Christian faith group. But overall it is
very difficult to narrow down the target group of non-Christians to one simple, describable
individual as the “typical non-believer” who needs to be reached out to.
Hence ministry has to look totally different in such a context of diversity as compared to
other environments with rather homogenous demographic structures. Different missional
approaches are used by churches to preach the gospel in the postmodern environments of
European cities and it is questionable how effective each of these approaches is. Regardless
how creative or progressive a new way of ministry may be, it must be able to stand up to
scrutiny. One outcome of this paper is that it may give evidence that speaks in favour or
against so-called third place ministries with a specific focus on coffee shop ministries.
Crucial questions such as “Does it bear fruit”, “Is it in alignment with scripture” and “Should
churches be operating in public places?” justify an extensive field study and examination
from different theological perspectives.
The qualitative field study that was conducted for this dissertation partly lacks in validity,
because of the limited amount of people (20) who participated by answering a questionnaire
and by being interviewed. The study was narrowed down to the concrete, measurable
outcomes of the endeavors of the church / mission agency “Kirche in Aktion” (lit. “Church in
Action”) and its coffee shop ministries. Church in Action (hereafter referred to as CiA) runs
two cafés, in the cities Mainz and Frankfurt am Main. The outcomes of this research are
transferable to the third place ministries of other fresh expression churches who operate in
areas with similar demographics like the Rhein-Main-area. That would be the case for at least
50 other big cities all over Germany that are home to roughly 23 million people - equal to
more than ¼ of the country´s entire population! These numbers underline the relevancy of
this dissertation for any group or individual that is involved in third place ministry. The field
study shall provide important clues about the outcomes of CiA´s efforts as representative for
all similar ministries.
The study precedes an overview of urbanization in Germany and the importance of third
places in urban context and is followed by a reflection on recent developments in contextual
theology with their impact on society. Furthermore, a glimpse of coffee shop ministries in
light of theology of place and assessments of missional concepts and missional aspects of
non-traditional church services in public places is included.
My own engagement in coffee shop ministry as full-time city pastor of CiA is one reason why
I was driven to conduct research about it for this master dissertation. Another reason is the
lack of publications about this specific form of third place ministry. Therefore, this
dissertation may serve other churches with their decision making when they are considering
engaging in coffee shop ministries.
2
No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an
application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other
institute of learning;
(1) Copyright in text of this thesis rests with the Author. Copies (by any process) either in full,
or of extracts, may be made only in accordance with instructions given by the Author and
lodged in the Library of Nazarene Theological College. Details may be obtained from the
Librarian. This page must form part of any such copies made. Further copies (by any
process) of copies made in accordance with such instructions may not be made without
the permission (in writing) of the Author.
(2) The ownership of any intellectual property rights which may be described in this thesis is
vested in Nazarene Theological College, subject to any prior agreement to the contrary,
and may not be made available for use by third parties without the written permission of
the College, which will prescribe the terms and conditions of any such agreement.
(3) Further information on the conditions under which disclosures and exploitation may take
place is available from the Dean of Nazarene Theological College.
Wiesbaden, June 20th 2019
Robert Stößer
3
Table of Content
1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 5
2. Field research ..................................................................................................................... 8
3. Urbanization in the European context of German cities ................................................. 13
4. The importance of third places in postmodern cities of Europe ..................................... 16
5. Recent developments in contextual / liberation theology .............................................. 22
6. Coffee shop ministries in the light of theology of place .................................................. 27
7. Assessment of missional concepts that are relevant for this research and missional
aspects of church services in public places .......................................................................... 34
8. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 46
Bibliography.......................................................................................................................... 53
Appendix A – Ecclesiology of Church in Action .................................................................... 57
Appendix B – Strategic Ministries of Church in Action ........................................................ 64
Appendix C – Questionnaire................................................................................................. 69
4
1. Introduction
“For the first time in history the world is now predominantly urban.”1
It stands to reason that urban ministries are of high significance in our present times when
one evaluates recent statistics of the degree of urbanization in the last years and upcoming
decades. Scholar Rupert Sheldrake examined the meaning of cities from a Christian
perspective and states that the world´s rapid urbanization has lead from “29% of the world´s
population [that] lived in urban environment in 1950 to an increase of 50% by 19902” and
that this trend will continue rapidly. “At least 75 percent by the end of this century…”3 are
predicted to live in cities. Urbanization did not only increase at a fast pace in Asian mega
cities or in emerging African countries. Europe underwent a similar development and hence
churches need to find ways of ministering in the specific urban context of post-modern cities,
which lies in the focus of this research paper.
All larger cities in the Rhein-Main-area of Germany – similar to many other European cities –
are cultural melting pots and characterized by the big variety of cultures and religions of their
inhabitants. Hence ministry has to look totally different in its contextual diversity as
compared to other environments with rather homogenous demographic structures.
Nowadays diversity in demographics and heterogeneous societies make it difficult to speak
of an archetype of non-believer in Europe. One can determine common factors that define
the “typical non-believer” such as liberalism, consumerism and rationalization that shape the
1
Craig G. Bartholomew, Where Mortals Dwell: A Christian View of Place for Today (Grand Rapids: Baker
Academic, 2011), 249.
2
Philip Sheldrake, The Spiritual City. Theology, Spirituality, and the Urban (Chichester: Wiley Blackwell,
2014), 3.
3
Sheldrake, The Spiritual City, 3.
5
identity of citizens who do not belong to a Christian faith group. But overall it is very difficult
to narrow down the target group of not-yet-Christians to one simple, describable individual
as the “typical non-believer” who needs to be reached out to.
This challenges churches in the way they minister to unreached people groups. Different
missional approaches are used by churches to preach the gospel in the postmodern
environments of European cities and it is questionable how effective each of these
approaches is. Regardless of how creative or progressive a new way of ministry may be, it
must be able to stand up to scrutiny. One outcome of this paper is that it may give evidence
that speaks in favour or against so-called third place ministries with a specific focus on coffee
shop ministries. Crucial questions such as “Does it bear fruit”, “Is it in alignment with
scripture” and “Should churches be operating in public places?” justify an extensive field
study and examination from different theological perspectives.
The qualitative field study that was conducted for this dissertation partly lacks in validity,
because of the limited amount of people (20) who participated by answering a questionnaire
and by being interviewed. The study was narrowed down to the concrete, measurable
outcomes of the endeavours of the church / mission agency “Kirche in Aktion” (lit. “Church in
Action”) and its coffee shop ministries. Church in Action (hereafter referred to as CiA) runs
two so-called “awake” 4 cafés, in the cities Mainz and Frankfurt am Main. The outcomes of
this research are transferable to the third place ministries of other fresh expression churches
who operate in areas with similar demographics like the Rhein-Main-area. That would be the
case for at least 50 other big cities all over Germany that are home to roughly 23 million
4
On June 11th, 2019, the formerly called “awake” coffee shops were rebranded to “The Good Coffee”, but during
the time of this research the old name was still officially used and hence I decided to do the same.
6
people5 - equal to more than ¼ of the country´s entire population! These numbers underline
the relevancy of this dissertation for any group or individual that is involved in third place
ministry. The field study shall provide important clues about the outcomes of CiA´s efforts as
representative for all similar ministries.
The study precedes an overview of urbanization in Germany and the importance of third
places in urban context and is followed by a reflection on recent developments in contextual
theology with their impact on society. Furthermore, a glimpse of coffee shop ministries in
light of theology of place and assessments of missional concepts and missional aspects of
non-traditional church services in public places is included.
My own engagement in coffee shop ministry as full-time city pastor of CiA is one reason why
I was driven to conduct research about it for this master dissertation. Another reason is the
lack of publications about this specific form of third place ministry. Therefore, this
dissertation may serve other churches with their decision making when they are considering
engaging in coffee shop ministries. Opening a coffee shop requires a decent start-up
investment and the running costs absorb a lot of resources, both time and money. Unless a
church can afford to sustain a café business regardless of its profitability, an overall analysis
of all the pros and cons of such kind of ministry would have to include financial figures from
existing audits and a thorough investigation with a substantial risk evaluation. Although a
complex due diligence is beyond the scope of this study, its importance should still be
mentioned at this point and in regards to how one defines success of a coffee shop ministry
and whether that includes its financial performance or not.
5
Wikipedia, “List of cities in Germany by population”, n.p. [cited 12 May 2019]. Online:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Germany_by_population
7
There are several factors that are relevant for validating the “fruitfulness” of a third place
ministry, some of which are difficult to evaluate as they are related to non-tangible impacts
on the lives of people. The definition of “success /fruitfulness” in this context is based on
factors such as:
- How many non-believers are drawn to low-threshold church services in cafés?
- How many of these belong to marginalized groups of society?
- How many people get baptized by the church that does coffee shop ministry?
I have structured the questionnaire for the field study in a way, in which the responses of
participants provide some answers to the above questions.
The outcome indicates to a certain extent of how “successful” CiA´s endeavours with their
coffee shops have been in recent years. In the light of the results of their effectiveness other
churches might either be encouraged or rather prevented from allocating money and time
for such type of ministry.
2. Field research
Case study of CiA´s coffee shop ministry
Field research of an existing ministry is one way of analyzing the effectiveness of third place
ministries. CiA launched her so-called “Journey Services” in 2011 right after opening its first
“Awake” coffee shop. Henceforth approx. 600 of this type of service in third places were held
8
as of June 2019.6 CiA´s “Awake” cafés and the “Journey Services” are explained in CiA´s
official documents that describe a) her ecclesiology and b) her strategic ministries. Both
publications are included in appendixes A and B of this dissertation. The descriptions in the
appendixes help in gaining an understanding CiA´s ministry in general and coffee shop
ministry in particular.
The field research which was conducted for this dissertation was based on the questionnaire
as attached in appendix C. The following section summarizes the most relevant answers to a
set of 19 questions and it reflects the essence of interviews that were conducted with people
after they had given their answers to the questionnaire.
1. Nearly all except of one of the interviewees, whose answer was “one hour only”,
spend more than three hours per week in third places. Half of the people said, that
they spend five or more hours weekly in third places. This shows how relevant third
places are, but it is still a fairly low in regard to coffee shop ministries, because the
time spent at third places may be distributed in different places.
2. As mentioned, the average time people spent at third places ranges from time spent
at cafés / coffee shops (13 of the participants listed them as their favorite third place)
over restaurants, parks and bars (each were named five times as favorite spots), gyms
(three times mentioned) to opera / music halls, sport venues, book shops, food and
street festivals, or ice-cream cafés that all were mentioned once. The preference of
coffee shops undermines their importance in daily urban life.
6
CiA´s church service in third places are held in a bi-weekly rhythm in seven or eight different locations.
9
3. The most mentioned aspect for feeling comfortable was the atmosphere and/or
interior design (16 times mentioned). Meeting friends, relaxing and spending time in
a central location of the city was by far less important and mentioned only three
times each. The aspect of enjoying to be served or being entertained by arts were
mentioned even less with only two times each, which was also the case for having a
good cup of coffee. Quality of coffee products are not a strong motif according to the
survey and the least important aspects for feeling comfortable was the sustainable
business model. That is quite remarkable in regards to social justice topics or the fair
trade aspect of coffee shops run by church.
4. All participants except of one person stated that they had significant conversations at
a third place. Six people said, that this happens often, whereas the rest only
experienced it sometimes in the past.
5. Seven people had heard about CiA´s coffee shop services for the first time from a
friend and three from church-goers in their network of friends. All others either heard
about it from an employee co-worker at the café itself, from a flat-mate, from an
employee, a colleague at work (secular job + ministry worker) or they were already
connected to the church somehow. In all cases a certain level of trust existed in
context of being invited for the first time to a church service at a café.
6. The years of invitations are only relevant to calculate how much time had passed
between the invitation and first attendance.
10
7. The first time that people followed an invitation to one of the coffee shop services
was in nearly all cases within a couple of weeks or months. Three individuals waited
for approximately one year until they had accepted the invitation and only two
people had not yet attended a church service after being invited.
8. Most people (six times per both aspects) came to a coffee shop service out of
curiosity – either they were curious about the church behind it or the concept in
itself. The other reasons for joining a service were: interest in church planting, in
social projects presented, listening to an influencer, sympathy for the pastor,
commitment as a board member / leader of the Church of the Nazarene – each
answer was given once except of the interest in social projects (three times).
9. Except for two persons who only attended one church service at the café and another
individual who attended five services, all the others attended at least approx. 25
services (two persons), 50 services (five persons), 75 (five persons) or over 100
services (three persons). Most interviewees had to give estimate numbers, because
nobody had tracked precisely how often they had attended services at CiA café.
10. The reasons that the interviewees gave are wide-ranging from:
- sympathy for the pastor, interest in hearing the pastor´s sermon, being challenged
by an inspirational message, enjoying a non-churchy set-up and good location
(each received one vote) and
- meeting new people, having good / interesting conversations, being attracted by
an appealing vision (each named twice) to
11
- enjoying the cosy / relaxed atmosphere, meeting friends and appreciating the
open-minded community or [feeling like] belonging to the CiA community (each
named three times). Several people listed more than one reason for repeatedly
going to church services.
11. Only one person said that she went just once to a church service the reason for that
being her engagement in a dance group that usually meets on Sundays either for
training lessons or for tournaments / performances.
12. People responded mostly that coffee shop services are very or of utmost importance
for them (5: four people / 4: five people), but nearly half of the interviewees rated
them to be either of moderate (3: three people), low (2: three people) or very low
importance (1: one person). Two individuals who had heard about and were invited
to churches services, but never attended one, said that these services were not at all
important to them. One of them stated that he is an atheist.
13. Half of the interviewees stated that they had been to an estimated minimum of 500
and up to over 1,000 church services. All of them except of two either grew up in a
Christian family or came to faith in childhood / teenage years. The other half
estimated their previous attendances at church services with only time (one person)
or a few (two persons) and dozens of times (seven persons).
14. Four of the interviewees were baptized by CiA and one person has decided to get
baptized soon in July 2019. All the others were baptized before they had attended a
12
coffee shop service and most as children or teenagers, only three persons in their
adult life.
15. One person was each baptized in 2016, 2018 and 2019.
16. Except for two people who considered themselves growing up as atheist or agnostic,
all others belonged to Christian denominations. Four people had a “general Christian
family background”, five a free Evangelical, three each a Catholic or Lutheran, one a
Baptist and one a “mixed Christian faith life” with influences from different
denominations.
17. Only one person considers themselves belonging to a marginalized people group.
18. Eleven men and nine women participated in the survey.
19. Nearly all age ranges except for the over 65 years old were represented. Half of the
interviewees (five people each) are in the 30 – 35 and 36 – 41 years age groups. The
24 – 29 years old three representatives and the age ranges from 18 – 23 and 53 – 58
each had two representatives while the ones from 41 – 46, 47 – 52, and 59 – 64 each
had one representative.
3. Urbanization in the European context of German cities
The context of the investigated coffee shop ministries is the multi-cultural environment of
the cities Frankfurt am Main and Mainz in the so-called Rhein-Main-area of central Germany.
Demographics in this geographic region show a heterogeneous mix of a multitude of
different socio-economic groups. Most cities in Germany have become ever more diverse as
a result of different phases of migration movements after World War II. Historically it is
13
known that the fast pace of reconstruction during post-war times in Germany led to a quick
growth of rebuilt cities. In the years from 1949 – 1970 many striving new, as well as old,
booming industries hired guest workers from European countries. The German government
entered into agreements on labor recruitment with Italy (1955), Greece and Spain (1960),
Turkey (1961), Morocco (1963), Portugal (1964), Tunisia (1965) and the former Yugoslavia
(1968). By 1964 approximately one million immigrants had resettled into their new German
home. Since those years many cities in Germany have witnessed a significant growth of
numbers of migrants which has led to a lot of diversity. Even though an estimated 11 million
out of roughly 14 million immigrant workers returned to their home countries after a
recruitment stop in 1973, a large amount of the remaining “labor migrants” brought their
families over to Germany. As most of the Turkish and Moroccan families came from a Muslim
background they built Mosques, opened restaurants and started businesses over the last
decades that reflect their culture and religion. 2,750 Mosques alone existed in 20167
according to estimated numbers published by the renowned newspaper “Die Zeit”.
Nowadays Muslims are omnipresent in German cities. Other religions like Buddhism have
fewer official followers according to statistics by the “Fowid Group” (“Forschungsgruppe
Weltanschauungen in Deutschland” = lit. “Research Group for Ideologies in Germany”). Its
publications stated that the majority within the population (37%) belong to the group of non-
confessional citizens8. This high percentage is in accord with “conventional secularization
theories, [that] hold that as societies modernize, so they become less ´religious´”9. However,
social theorists like Jürgen Habermas, have acknowledged a “seemingly paradoxical co-
7
Die Zeit, “Muslime in Deutschland“ n.p. [cited 18 May 2019]. Online: https://www.zeit.de/2016/30/muslime-in-
deutschland-moschee-glauben-staat/seite-2
8
Fowid Group, “Religionszugehörigkeiten in Deutschland 2017“ (lit. “Religious affiliations in Germany 2017“),
n.p. [cited 2 June 2019]. Online: https://fowid.de/meldung/religionszugehoerigkeiten-deutschland-2017
9
Elaine Graham, Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Public Theology in a Post-Secular Age. (London: SCM
Press, 2013), xiii-xiv
14
existence of the religious and the secular”10 in a post-secular society, in which “a persistence
of personal spirituality…[which] is entirely consistent with modernization, since it is a
symptom of the continued separation, or differentiation, between religion and politics,
public and private.”11
Roman-Catholics (28%) and Evangelical Christians (26%) combined make up more than half of
the population. 5% were listed as Muslims and 2% belonged to Orthodox churches as well as
2% to other Christian communities or religions. Urbanization as well as global migration has
led to both cultural and religious diversity. The city of Frankfurt was home to people from
177 different countries according to the city´s official statistics in 2018. Out of 741,093
citizens, 218,775 are foreigners, which make up nearly a third of the entire population.12
Ministries are facing different challenges in such an urban environment. Language barriers
and different cultural identities that were not shaped by Christian values demand a culturally
sensitive approach when preaching the gospel to non-believers amongst the many – often
Muslim - immigrants. Urbanization in Europe is also characterized by secularization, which
“relates to the diminution in the social significance of religion”13. Some commentators like
Steve Bruce have drawn an apocalyptic picture of the death of European churches in the
secular environment. He “predicts that by 2031 the Church of England will be ´reduced to a
trivial voluntary association with a large portfolio of heritage property´”.14 Authors like
Partridge draw a different picture from that of religion / church coming to a soon end,
because from his perspective only “mainstream religion loses authority, [but] new forms of
10
Graham, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, xvi.
11
Graham, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, xvi.
12
Citizens' Registration Office, “Statistical Yearbook”, 22.
13
Bryan Wilson, Religion in Sociological Perspective (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), 149.
14
Graham, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, 38.
15
significant religion will evolve to compensate.”15 In times of the digital age with the
omnipresent influences of consumerism, rock and pop concerts or soccer games on Sundays
seem to be of much higher relevance than church in the life of many people. Most churches
would be grateful to reach 1% of the numbers of “attendees” of a single soccer game. From
that reasoning, running a coffee shop might be an appealing way to allow churches to enter
into as many interactions with secular people as possible. The importance of places of
entertainment and consumerism become obvious from these observations. Therefore, the
next paragraph elaborates on the relevance of third places in urban context and aspects like
consumerism.
4. The importance of third places in postmodern cities of Europe
Third places as fulfilling socio-economic needs
After industrialization cities all over Western Europe have undergone significant changes.
First globalization and then the digital revolution led to a disruption of the lifestyle of many.
One of the most significant changes in the lives of people is how much time they spend
online in “cyberspace” and in third places such as bars, soccer stadiums, sports clubs, parks
and coffee shops. For the ever growing numbers of “digital nomads” third places have even
replaced the need for offices and have become an alternative to traditional workplaces. The
fact that third places satisfy various needs is reflected in their ever growing numbers. For
instance 2,073 places alone offer food in the city of Frankfurt as listed on the tripdavisor.com
website.16 There are no official statistics for the total number of third places, but inclusive of
15
Christopher Partridge, The Re-Enchantment of the West: Alternative Spiritualities, Sacralization, Popular
Culture and Occulture (London: T & T Clark, 2005), 39.
16
Tripadvisor, “Restaurants in Frankfurt,” n.p. [cited 20 June 2019]. Online:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g187337-Frankfurt_Hesse.html
16
non-food places like barber and beauty shops, theaters and other places one could estimate
a total of double of that published number. The 88 church buildings as listed on an overview
on the Wikipedia17 website would make up less than 3% of all third places.
Third Places as fulfilling spiritual needs
Even though those bare figures neither provide details about how frequently people are
going to any of these places nor about how much time they spend at these locations, there is
still a remarkable correlation between the low number of church buildings and the small
relevance of church as an institution with less and less importance in the lives of people.
Churches are not only fairly meaningless for people from non-Christian faith groups, for
example the many Muslims in Germany, but also for the majority of secular native Germans,
most of whom were born, baptized and raised in a Christian culture. Why should anyone
spend time in a place operated by an organization that has little or no meaning for this
person? This question is not only relevant for German church culture, but concurrently to
many urban contexts with diverse societies like in England. In the Archbishop of Canterbury´s
reflection on inner-city churches the remark of Joost de Blank, former Bishop of Stepney,
addresses this widespread issue: “They are wonderful people in the East End. They will do
anything for you except to go to church.”18 This statement underlines the relevance of
reaching out to people with third place ministries, as that is where people spend most of
their time at when not being at home or at their workplace.
17
Wikipedia, “Churches of Frankfurt,” n.p [cited 12 June 2019]. Online:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Kirchen_in_Frankfurt_am_Main
18
George Carey, God in the city: Essays and Reflections from the Archbishop of Canterbury´s Urban Theology
Group (London: Mowbray, 1995), 81.
17
Third places as fulfilling emotional and physical needs
Third places have become the most important places for human interactions. The huge
success of international companies like Starbucks gives proof of this fact. Their coffee shops
are places where people come together to discuss politics, faith life and any countless other
topics. Especially for migrants from Middle Eastern and other countries with a more
“outgoing” culture, public places like marketplaces and Turkish cafés or Shisha bars are
crucial for their lifestyle characterized by the custom of spending time in public. People
groups that cannot afford to have their own living space or enough place to accommodate
guests, rely on third places when they want to meet with others, both in group gatherings as
well as one on one meetings. That applies for the many students and refugees in larger cities
and these people groups shape the street scenes of downtown areas all over Germany
nowadays. Third places are not only an additional “nice” option for spending time at, but a
necessity particularly in life circumstances with constricted space area. Additionally to that
necessity for specific peer groups, they also meet in third places that offer a uniting factor.
That could be a specific cuisine as to be found in vegan cafés for example or a unique type of
music and atmosphere. The Hard Rock cafés, or places with similar concepts, reflect the need
of individuals to belong to a – specific - group of people. The finding of a community where
one belongs has become more relevant in the ever more disconnected environment of cities,
in which an individualized lifestyle with new records in single households has led to lonely
lives for many. “One-person households increased most drastically, going from 6 percent in
the German Empire in 1871 to 40 percent in Germany in 2011”19. Disruptions in family life
have made multi-generation families living under one roof the big exemption. “In 1957, 8
percent of all households still consisted of three generations, compared to merely 2 percent
19
Deutschland in Zahlen, “Population, Households and Families,“ n.p. [cited 28 May 2019]. Online:
http://www.deutschland-in-daten.de/en/population/
18
in 1989; in reunited Germany, the proportion further decreased to 1.3 percent in 1999.”20
Daily encountering and deep conversations with others are thus rarely happening in private
places within a family setting, but are carried out in the public realm, mostly in third places.
Third places as fulfilling unifying needs
With the end of multi-generational families, parents and grandparents are losing their grip on
their children and grandchildren. And in a parallel development scholars like Lewis and
Wilkins observe that “church is losing its grip on the very world it has been called to save.”21
The question “What will it take to reconnect the church and culture?”22 they have put in this
context, is challenging churches in becoming relevant again in post-modern times. Any
answer to this question requires an understanding of the current Western culture in which
churches are trying to be relevant again. The phrase “Western consumer culture” highlights
how Western lifestyle is shaped by consumerism. It seems to be the all-uniting factor that
connects people from many different, if not even all, walks of life. It seems like the “modern
temples” of consumerism have long outstripped the “old temples”. It raises the question
whether churches have lost their important role in uniting all classes of society, both rich and
poor, young and old and so forth. One may even claim that shopping malls and other similar
third places have replaced churches to a wide extent.
Third places as platforms with transcending factors
20
Deutschland in Zahlen, “Population, Households and Families”
21
Robert Lewis, Rob Wilkins, The Church of Irresistible Influence (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 11.
22
Lewis, Wilkins, The Church of Irresistible Influence, 17.
19
Consumerism is a transcending power to an extent that it does not count what sex, skin color
or age a person has. The identity of the individual in consumerism is mainly based on his or
her ability to purchase services or products. The “I shop therefore I am”23 slogan as used by
contemporary artist Barbara Kruger reflects on this idea of finding ones identity rooted in
shopping / consumerism.
One could favor the position of churches using the leverage of third places in uniting people,
because after all uniting individuals from all nations is an essence of Christianity. An opposing
position would say that “tuning into” consumerism is a risky “stream of influence that led to
a chasm between the selfless vision of Christ and the self-obsessed reality of our world”24 - as
Lewis and Wilkins do. Another critical point in this context is whether or not places of
consumerism, inclusive of coffee shops, are a good environment for fostering the Christian
ideal of love? Or whether they solely demonstrate egoistic behavior?
The secular and the spiritual realms of life, that for decades were regarded as clearly divided,
might have more in common than expressed by scholars who support this view. The
functions of consumerism and religion are very similar according to a recently published
article about “Consumerism from the Perspective of Religion”25 in 2018 by Mikko Kurenlahti
and Arto O. Salonen. The authors suggest that “three categories offer an excellent starting
point for trying to understand how consumerism as a cultural phenomenon has adopted
23
Barbara Kruger, “I Shop Therefore I Am,” n.p. [cited 2 June 2019]. Online:
https://noaozielart.weebly.com/i-shop-therefore-i-am.html
24
25
Mikko Kurenlahti, Arto O. Salonen, “Rethinking Consumerism from the Perspective of Religion” (Basel:
MDPI, 2018), 1.
20
functionalities that are typically found in expressly religious traditions or communities”26.
They refer to Gordon Lynch who defined these categories as:
“(i) a social function: religion provides people with an experience of community and
binds people into a social order of shared beliefs and values that provide structure for
their everyday lives [ . . . ]
(ii) an existential/hermeneutical function: religion provides people with a set of

resources (e.g., myths, rituals, symbols, beliefs, values, narratives) that may help
people to live with a sense of identity, meaning and purpose [ . . . ]
(iii) a transcendent function: religion provides a medium through which people are
able to experience ‘God’, the numinous or the transcendent [ . . . ]”27
From Kurenlathi´s and Salonen´s point of view a “holistic and multi-dimensional approach to
the all-pervading nature of consumerism”28 is needed in order to understand why it fulfills all
the functions in a way only religion could do in the past. As many third places are places to
consume, an understanding of this dynamic is worth a closer examination in the context of
this paper. This paper agrees with the author that the emphasis on function (iii) “might well
be the most important”29, both in my view and the authors alike. This transcendent function
is reflected in the advertisement for consumer products. The acquisition of them is linked to
a far greater promise than experiencing a positive impact limited only to physical and social
aspects. In the case of a vegan café the promise for consumers of vegan products reaches far
beyond the well-being for the human body which a vegan diet may cause. The lifestyle of the
vegan community gives its members a feeling of leading a meaningful life with a certain
purpose. In this specific case people are united by a “way of living which seeks to exclude, as
far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals…”30 In
this vision statement one discovers the transcending function that reaches far beyond a
26
Kurenlahti, Salonen, “Rethinking Consumerism from the Perspective of Religion”, 9.
27
Gordon Lynch, Understanding Theology and Popular Culture (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2005), 28.
28
Kurenlahti, Salonen, Rethinking Consumerism from the Perspective of Religion, 10.
29
Kurenlahti, Salonen, Rethinking Consumerism from the Perspective of Religion, 12.
30
The Vegan Society, “Definition of veganism,” n.p. [cited 18 June 2019]. Online:
https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism
21
material dimension of consuming vegan products. The “vegan promise” of a peaceful world is
not that far from the “Christian promise” of experiencing God´s shalom. Even the quasi-
rituals of drinking soy milk and eating vegan bread are comparable to what Christians
participate in by having bread and wine during the Lord´s supper. The “vegan kingdom of
peace” sounds pretty much like Christianity´s vision of “heaven on earth” or other world
religions´ claims for “universal peace”. Followers of the vegan movement give praise to an
idea, whereas Christians follow Christ, who became the incarnation of living a life in shalom.
The goals that both groups seek to reach are related, but still distinguish from each other.
The eternal dimension of Christian faith points mainly to the inability of reaching a goal by
people´s own efforts and the requirement of a savior, upon whose intervention, exploitation
and violence can finally be overcome.
With this in mind it becomes clear that third places of consumerism can have a religious /
spiritual dimension to them. This resonates in post-modern life and is relevant for ministry in
urban context. It is questionable if a revival of Christianity in our times can happen without
contextualizing it to the specifics of urban environment. In times of all pervasive discussions
about environmental and social justice issues, as well as the religious debates about
terrorism and extremists´ activities that threaten the lives of people around the globe,
theology comes strongly into the public scope. What is this modern day perspective and how
did it come about? It is worth a scratching of the surface of contextual theology.
5. Recent developments in contextual / liberation theology
Religion going public
The renowned sociologist of religion José Casanova stated in 1994 that “Religion in the 1980s
`went public´, in a dual sense. It entered the "public sphere" and gained, thereby, "publicity."
Various "publics" - the mass media, social scientists, professional politicians, and the "public
22
at large”- suddenly began to pay attention to religion.”31 He dissents with secular theorist
Habermas and his ilk, who thought that religion would disappear from the public in a
(post)secular society.
One of recent history´s most prominent moments of displaying religion in public and in
contextual theology becoming relevant for many Germans was shortly before and during the
reunification. Surprisingly to many “it came as a result of truly peaceful popular revolt, the
only such revolution in modern German history”32 as Robert Berdahl highlights in his 2005
article. It was an act of liberation in people´s view and German churches had a strong impact
on this turning point of Europe´s or even world history.
Political engagement of Christians in the context of social injustice
In the months before the fall of the German wall Christian faith was displayed by the every-
man on the street, by pastors, as well as by Christians in high government. It happened when
Christians gathered for peace prayers that led to the so-called Monday demonstrations in
East Germany from 1989 to 1991. During this time many confessing Protestants literally
became protestants. Jesus´ role model of practicing non-violent resistance was not only
reflected in the peaceful demonstrations of Christian activists in context of the German
reunification, but it is also broadly associated with deacon Günter Johannsen, the pastors
Christoph Wonneberger and Christian Führer, as well as Christian statesmen like Hans-
Dietrich Genscher and Helmut Kohl. In fact, in his role as the nation´s chancellor and leader
of the German Democratic Union party was later honorably titled “architect of reunification”.
31
José Casanova, Public Religions in the Modern World (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 3.
32
Robert M. Berdahl, “German Reunification in Historical Perspective.” (Berkeley: Berkeley Journal of
International Law, 2005) in Volume 23, 497.
23
Christian politicians like him and many believers addressed the issue of oppression and lack
of freedom in the GDR, which was under authority of the Socialist party that had established
a quasi-dictatorship. Similarly to the American civil rights movement with reverend Martin
Luther King as its most prominent Christian leader, people stood up for social justice and
equality, motivated by Christian ideals. Due to the political nature of both of these major
events with high media coverage, religious motifs and theological reasoning for Christian
concepts of freedom and a longing for liberation from oppressive powers actually became
part of the public consciousness. The contextualizing of Christians ideas reached millions of
GDR citizens who in many regions were an unreached people group characterized by an
atheistic and/or secular lifestyle. The masses had never heard the gospel, similar to the many
people in countries under Soviet governments that were biased when it came to living a life
in faith. Societies in these countries were under strong influence of Marx´s and Lenin´s claims
that religion only serves as an “opium for the people” 33. People were conditioned to consider
the effects of religion as harmful and not helpful for one´s life. It was explained that religion
only brings temporary release from people´s painful feelings of being oppressed and
exploited in a capitalist system. On the one hand such arguments are not totally different
from a scriptural critique of religion as a legalistic system. Jesus himself warned about living a
religious life without a personal relationship with Him as the living God. But Marxist belief
has not made a distinction between a religious system and the individual´s faith life under
influence of the Holy Spirit that can liberate people from emotional suffering and physical
pain. Marx´s theology was very limited in his understanding of a living faith that distinguishes
itself from systemic illnesses and temporary relief from suffering without leading to any
transformation both on individual as well as on any structural levels of society. Supporters of
33
Karl Marx, “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,” n.p. [cited 19 June 2019]. Online:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm
24
liberation theology, however, took the position that Christ´s promise of being set free from
evil powers and their negative effects, for instance the painful feelings of being oppressed, is
indeed a real possibility and not only a nice religious utopia.
Liberation theology in context of social justice and environmental issues
Several Christian scholars argued differently from Marx and emphasized the need for
missional engagement in the politics of liberation movements. From a theological
perspective the civil rights movements in German context and others are most closely
related to the earlier occurring liberation theology with its synthesis of Christian theology
and Marxist concepts of economics. Liberation theology was widely practiced in Latin
America in the years after World War II and mainly addressed the issues of poor and
oppressed people groups, whose income partially stemmed from the coffee industry, as one
of the most important sections of the agribusiness. Exploitation on one part of the world with
slavery-like working conditions allowed coffee consumers on other parts of the world to
enjoy fairly cheap products. The joy of 1st world consumers when drinking a hot cup of coffee
therefore happened on the shoulders of the many 3rd world farmers who did all the hard
work on coffee estates. Christian scholars addressed this conflict of social injustice and the
influence of their liberation theology was not limited to Latin America but swopped over to
the United States with the development of black theology and also to other parts of the
world like South Africa, India and South Korea. One of the effects of the appearances of
liberation theology was an increased awareness of the social conditions of coffee farmers
amongst some Christians. That led to new initiatives and companies like the previously
mentioned GEPA. It was started by Christian organizations as one of the world´s fair trade
pioneers. Over time, with the growth of consumer awareness about the working conditions
25
of Latin American coffee farmers, it grew to become “the organization with the largest
turnover of fair trade goods in the world”34. One reason for this development can be found in
European Christians being challenged by reports of missionaries who addressed the
exploitation and oppression of coffee farmers. Another reason lies in the emphasis of
theologians like Pedro Arrupe who stressed God´s “preferential option for the poor”35. That
subsequently became a guiding principle for the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, which
consequently influenced congregations all over the world. The ideas that were expressed in
the early days of liberation theology spread globally from one context to another and that
eventually had an impact on the ecclesiology and missiology of European churches.
Theologians across the globe increasingly commented on social justice issues that initially
were only in the focus of Latin American scholars and political activists overseas. The
influential conferences of the Catholic Bishops of Latin America and the then published
synods were a starting point for many Catholics scholars to support the concept of God´s love
of preference given to the poor. Recent debates about global climate change and the
negative impacts of air and water pollution, or similar environmental issues, have brought
liberation theology again into the public focus. In context of the reflections on the meaning
of the scriptural command for stewardship of planet earth, a growing number of theologians
have started commenting on the unequal distribution of negative environmental impacts in
rich countries versus poor ones. In the light of social justice such advocacy for
underprivileged people groups reflects the image of Jesus as an advocate for the poor and
marginalized in society. Jesus´ famous parable of the Good Samaritan and his statements,
one may even call them commands, in context of his emphasis on the engagement for “the
34
Gavin Fridell, Fair Trade Coffee: The Prospects and Pitfalls of Market-Driven Social Justice (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 2017).
35
Kira Dault, “What is the preferential option for the poor?,” n.p. [cited 20 June 2019]. Online:
http://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201501/what-preferential-option-poor-29649
26
least” of society can be seen as the foundation of contextual theologies like liberation
theology. Currently, churches, especially Catholic churches under Pope Francis, are once
again frontrunners in context of social injustice or environmental topics and address issues
quite boldly in public. Due to the fact that every theological development is embedded in a
particular environment and linked to specific places, the next section focuses on the theology
of place in context of third place ministries.
6. Coffee shop ministries in the light of theology of place
It is arguable whether an encounter with the divine requires a specific place like a temple in
which to happen. In context of Christian and Jewish faith, an “approach [that] was concerned
to establish the distinctiveness of Israel´s faith, the free sovereignty of Yahweh”36 brings the
risk of putting “an inordinate stress on covenant to the neglect of land”37 according to Walter
Brueggemann. He advocates an understanding the biblical narrative, i.e. the history of the
Israelites, as “placed history…about the God who both leads out and brings in, about the
Messiah who has no place and yet who is the very one with authority to give a place (Luke
9:59)”.38 A reflection of the temple which is crucial for the history of Israel in regards to
gaining an understanding of the meaning of place from biblical perspective.
Temple theology of the Old Testament
The biblical narrative of the Israelites in Old Testament times gives evidence of their need for
a temple to come into the presence of God. The underlying concept of this is what Mark
36
Walter Brueggemann, The Land. Place as Gift, Promise and Challenge in Biblical Faith (Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1977), 187.
37
Brueggemann, The Land, 187.
38
Brueggemann, The Land, 188 - 189.
27
Wynn “understands [as] an encounter with God primarily as an encounter with place.”39
Wynn explains this concept with reference to the philosopher Heidegger´s reflections on the
phenomenology of religious experience. Heidegger developed three models of the spatiality
of religious experience. The first of these models describes the dimension of God-encounters
as places that are defined by specific coordinates:
“A Divine being can [also] be invited into this dimension by indicating coordinates for
an encounter. This usually happens symbolically or architecturally by building a
temple, a statue, painting an image, performing a gesture, et cetera. A temple, a
statue, an image, or a gesture marks the coordinates of an encounter for both
humans and Divine, in the (opened) dimension between them.” 40
In Old Testament times the temple with its tabernacle served as an exquisite place of God´s
dwelling with precise coordinates and therefore made it exclusively available to few selected
people (Exodus 25 - 30). It was also limited to a small spatial area. Permission to enter into
the Holy of Holies was given only to the high priest once per year and even that required
strict obedience of rituals, including blood sacrifices, cleansing rituals etc. In modern day
analogies one could compare it with a VIP member club that permits just selected elite to
enter. These few elite members would have to follow strict rules before doing so. In urban
context churches might be more open to “newcomers”, but most require their members to
adhere to strict rules. Any of such systems based on laws and rules of who is let in is still
exclusive. One could argue that any such legalistic approach of getting into God´s presence
finds its end when Jesus publicly proclaims the new covenant. According to scholar G.K Beale
“Part of Jesus´ doing what Adam should have done included establishing the new temple and
39
Martin Nitsche, “A Place of Encounter with a Divine. Heidegger on the Spatiality of Religious Experience”,
n.p. [cited 12 March 2019]. Online:
http://www.academia.edu/33879564/A_Place_of_Encounter_with_a_Divine._Heidegger_on_the_Spatiality_of_R
eligious_Experience
40
Nitsche, “A Place of Encounter with a Divine”
28
extending it obediently.”41 Beale sees both an obligation for humanity to care for the world
as well as the mission to establishing a new place in which God can dwell. “The old temple
dies (his body; the sacrificial system), and a new temple arises (his body, which becomes a
corporate house of prayer for all nations).42 “Jesus´ self-identification with the temple is
underscored in Matthew 12:6, where he says about himself, that ´something greater than
the temple is here´.”43 He puts himself above any spiritual, social or spatial limitations by
making such bold claims. Taking Jesus´ words into account, coffee shop services and cafés as
new types of sacred places would replace traditional temples or church buildings in a
scripturally legitimate way. The only hindrance to experiencing God´s presence in a particular
place might be an absence of the Holy Spirit. If it is God´s Spirit through whom we encounter
Him, then any God-experience is independent of a physical place and reaches far beyond any
coordinates. One could interpret all of this in a way that says both new and old temple have
come to an end and hence former physical limitations of God´s presence are overcome. The
old temple was replaced by Jesus Christ who subsequently was replaced by God´s
omnipresent Spirit. Besides the development that makes physical places irrelevant for having
God experiences, the particularity of place in context of God´s presence during the public
ministry of Jesus is an aspect that is crucial for a theological understanding of the meaning of
place.
Particularity of place
Throughout the NT people from different walks of life encounter God as present in Jesus in
some very unlikely places. The wedding party of Cana (John 2:1-11) and the woman at the
41
G.K. Beale, The Temple and the Church's Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God
(Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2004),176.
42
Beale, The Temple and the Church's Mission, 180.
43
Beale, The Temple and the Church's Mission, 178.
29
well (John 4:4-26) are two prominent examples of how locations play an important role in
context of his ministry. In the cultural setting of his time both situations allowed people to
have a Kairos moment, but it also challenged some in their expectations of a messiah. Jesus´
behavior and the places where he acted out the gospel were uncommon for a rabbi. Another
striking example of the particularity of place is to be found in Luke 19:5 where Zacchaeus is
spotted by Jesus up in a tree. Throughout his ministry he discovered people all over the place
who had a longing inside for deliverance and redemption, even when hiding in trees. We find
no reason to assume that things have changed in regards to people being found by God.
Hence an individual longing for God in a coffee shop may be simply “another Zacchaeus”.
The whole life of Jesus besides his ministry is marked by places of social, political as well as
religious significance. His incarnation in a simple manger and growing up in a place like
Nazareth tells us about God´s character. He was neither born in a rich family nor as that son
of a powerful king and queen at court. And he did not grow up in the economic and political
powerhouses of Jerusalem or Rome, but in a small village of no importance nor did he enter
the public arena with a big military parade. The way he showed up initially and his outer
appearance in general did not match with how Jews expected their Messiah to look and act.
The rhetorical question in John 1:46 “What good can come from Nazareth?" expresses rather
rejection of this place and of its citizens than enthusiasm amongst the Jewish people. That
stands in contrast to a possible response by Christians to that critical question that is linked
to a particular city. Wouldn´t “Simply the best can come from this place.” be an appropriate
answer? That alone shows how places are deeply linked with expectations, beliefs and
prejudices. Favoring a temple over well or a church over a coffee shop might be one of the
examples of “preference of place” that regards third places as less sacred. But from the last
findings one can conclude that mission is not limited to being lived out in sacred spaces like
30
temples or synagogues. Jesus laid a foundation of “free choice of place” when it comes to
encountering God. After all, he and then his missionaries were wandering around and were
cross-culturally engaging with people. Transferring this to modern times, coffee shops would
be on the list of legitimate places for mission, from a biblical perspective.
Jesus´ identification with people via identification with places
A closer look at the places of Jesus´ mission show that these were often locations where one
would not necessarily expect a messiah “to hang around”. People identify with places and
Jesus identified himself with all kinds of people and hence with different kinds of places. His
choice for least likely of spots to minister goes hand in hand with his choice to care for the
least in society. The one determines the other and is an interlinked decision. In seeing Jesus
and his disciples approaching people like Zacchaeus, the woman at the well, or the
Samaritan, we discover their outward focus when choosing places for ministry. This
challenges churches to leave their comfort zone or more drastically put: “The church´s
inward focus is a grave illness.”44
This quote can sound exaggerated, but Regele may have given the correct diagnosis of the
issues that many congregations are facing. Throughout the New Testament Jesus exposes
himself relentlessly to people from all walks of life in a radical way that even enables the
unclean to literally get in touch with him as is the case with the woman who had been
subject to bleeding for 12 years (Mark 5:25). Place and the outgoing missional focus of Jesus
are closely intertwined. He “looked for God not among the pious at the synagogue, but in a
widow who had two pennies left to her name and in a tax collector who knew no formal
44
Michael B. Regele, Death of the Church (Austin: Mars Hill, 1998), 66.
31
prayers; he found his spiritual lessons in sparrows sold at a market, and in wheat fields and
wedding banquets.”45
Not only do observations like those of Yancey lead to the conclusion that Christians are called
to leave their “modern temples” which means being present in public, for example, at third
places or out on the streets instead of solely occupying church buildings. It is profoundly
backed up by the many biblical findings of all the places where Jesus was present during his
ministry. He could have stayed in synagogues throughout his life as a rabbi, but we only find
about a dozen incidents of him – and his disciples – in this specific place of gathering.
According to Dr. Ashley Denton, it is a remarkably low 16% of indoor teachings standing
against 50% of outdoor teachings of the overall occurrences with a remaining 34% in
unknown locations.46 According to Denton´s statistic, an encountering at a “traditional
church place” (= synagogue or temple) of Jesus´ times was the least unlikely. It is valid to
question in this context how God-pleasing it is to settle in a specific place like a coffee shop
instead of moving around as itinerant preachers. Is any form of church identification with a
fixed locale scriptural?
Settling in a place versus pilgrimage as expressions of faith life
The biblical narrative is filled with epochs of pilgrimage. When seeing the Israelites as God´s
chosen people “being constantly on the move” one may be tempted to lean towards a
theological position in favour of a life of peregrination over settling in a specific location.
However, the pilgrimage of the Israelites is not for the sake of wandering around, but it leads
to reaching a final destination, both metaphorically as well as literally. “The pilgrimages are a
45
Philip Yancey, Finding God in Unexpected Places (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2002), 3.
46
Ashley Denton, Christian Outdoor Leadership: Theology, Theory, and Practice (Fort Collins: Smooth Stone
Publishing, 2011), 22.
32
break in daily routine and involve a journey to Zion, to the place where Yahweh dwells in
their midst. The intention is that through the journey they reconnect with God Yahweh and
recontextualize their lives in the story of redemption.”47 Since the early exiles in Babylon, we
hear the prophet Jeremiah commanding God´s people to settle down (Jeremiah 29:5). It is a
prophecy connected with the hope of finding a place to call home. That points to the
importance of establishing a place for believers in which they can reside permanently. Loren
Wilkinson emphasizes this importance of settling in a place for Christian life by stating that
“we were made for place”48 in his foreword for Hjalmarson´s “Defence of the Importance of
Place” as one could title his work about theology of place. In the ever more mobile post-
modern societies the decision to settle down may be counter-cultural. Yet, it might satisfy
humanity´s longing for finding a place. After having to leave the Garden of Eden, as the very
first home of human existence, which was the intended dwelling place of harmony and
peace, humanity seeks to locate a homecoming. If our God-given identity is characterized by
his shalom, then the place of optimal environment for human existence must reflect this.
“We are where we live” – identity in context of place
Individual Identity depends a great deal on our environment. People connect to places just as
they do to people, and this chapter aims at assessing the meaning of place. Both a sacred
environment and an evil one can shape the way people think and act – either loving and
caring for others, or selfish and hating others. Practical examples of people, who grow up in
poverty and slums with omnipresent violence, tend to carry those characteristics in their
mentality and personality, both on a physical and emotional level. An inner transformation
47
Bartholomew, Where Mortals Dwell, 67
48
Leonard Hjalmarson, No Home Like Place: A Christian Theology of Place (Portland: Urban Loft Publishers,
2015), 18.
33
often leads to a change of place. When children disconnect and break away from domestic
violence by the inner decision of not allowing parents to abuse them, they become
runaways. Women caught in prostitution who decide to escape from the control of their
pimps will quit their jobs and leave the establishment even facing death threads in order to
gain freedom. One approach of grasping how places are linked to personhood can be found
in Hjalmarson advocacy of a “Trinitarian understanding of personhood”49. He argues that
“We are, in fact, nothing if not for the relationships in which we exist: relationships to a
people and a place”.50 Living out incarnational mission as a community on mission in a
specific place is, in his and other scholar’s views, a reflection of what we find in a triune God.
7. Assessment of missional concepts that are relevant for this research and
missional aspects of church services in public places
For the sake of gaining a better understanding of how theoretical missional concepts can lead
to practical applications in third place ministries, I decided to combine both topics under one
chapter. The case study of CiA´s coffee shop ministry and her practical ways of executing
missional ideas flowed into the content of this chapter. It is structured in a way that each
missional concept is followed by concrete aspects.
The presented concepts are based on the influential works “Missional Church” and “The
Missional Church in Perspective” whose authors track down historical developments and
provide an overview of different missional concepts. The following section contains three of
these concepts that are of relevance in context of third place ministries.
49
Hjalmarson, No Home Like Place, 61.
50
Hjalmarson, No Home Like Place, 61.
34
1. God is a missionary God
This concept stems from a renewal / shift in Trinitarian theology that started in the first half
of the 20th century under the influence of the famous scholar Karl Barth.
“Barth, in developing his doctrine of the Word of God, utilized a Western trinitarian
understanding to reframe discussion of God theologically. This tradition focused on
the essential unity within the divine community and then proceeded to elucidate the
distinct roles of the three persons of God…Barth reclaimed the classical meaning of
“mission” within the interrelations of God as that of sending – the Father sent the
Son, and the Father and the Son sent the Spirit.”51
Jesus the “sent one” – disciples on mission in this world like Jesus
The high usage of the Greek verbs apostello52 (lit. to send forth, akin to apostols “to send on
service, or with a commission) and pempo53 (lit. to send) throughout the NT emphasize that
Jesus was sent into the world - to be on mission – by God. The expression that Jesus is sent
by God denotes the mission which He has to fulfill and the authority which backs Him"54 .
John 20:21 challenges followers of Christ to step out of their own comfort zone and to be
witnessing to the world. From John 17:6-19 one may conclude that Jesus himself sends his
followers on mission with a clearly defined destination: out into the world. This word “occurs
thirteen (!) times in these fourteen verses, for the world is both the focus of God´s mission
and the source of opposition to it.”55 Scholars are in disagreement about the role of the
disciple as representative or participatory. Jesus´ intercessory prayers for his disciples and
their protection speak in favour of the latter. God´s love for this world (John 3:16) and God´s
love of enemies (Mark 12:31) does as well. Loving the world and loving enemies are not
51
Craig Van Gelder, Dwight J Zscheile, The Missional Church in Perspective (The Missional Network):
Mapping Trends and Shaping the Conversation, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011), 26.
52
Used in Matt 10:40; 15:24; 21:37; Mark 9:37; 12:6; Luke 4:18,43; 9:48; 10:16; John 3:17; 5:36,38; 6:29,57;
7:29; 8:42; 10:36; 11:42; 17:3,8,18 etc.
53
Used in Luke 20:13; John 4:34; 5:23,24,30,37; 6:38-40,44; 7:16,18,28,33; 8:16,18,26,29; 9:4; 12:44,45,49;
John 13:20 etc.
54
Hermann Cremer, Biblico-theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1872), 552.
55
Michael J. Gorman, Abide and Go: Missional Theosis in the Gospel of John (Eugen: Cascade Books, 2018),
114.
35
independent, but at least interrelated if not identical activities that reflect aspects of God´s
loving being. If the world is the realm of Satan´s reign, then followers of Jesus are called to be
in a loving relationship with it as it was modelled by their Lord. According to Barth “The
Logos Takes the Side of His Adversaries”56. The unconditional enemy-love and Jesus´ mercy
are best represented in his parable of the Good Samaritan and culminates in Jesus´ washing
the feet of his own betrayer and in his plea on the cross (Luke 23:34). In mission that ought
to be reflected in the willingness to be engaged with non- or even anti-Christians. The image
of God as a sending God influenced congregations globally and lies at the core of missional
movements and churches like CiA, which in many aspects operate like a mission agency. Her
ecclesiology is characterized by a strong missional focus. This stems from the transition that
had led from a “theology of mission to mission theology”57 by the 1970s. It has inspired
young church planters like Philip and Cris Zimmermann who founded CiA with her coffee
shop ministry. If one would put the missional concepts and practical aspects related to each
of these concepts in chronological order, then the first aspect lies in shifting the focus from a
church-centered to a mission-oriented community, which reflects the sending nature of a
triune God.
Church without church buildings
The openness to enter into third place ministry and being a church without a traditional
church building lays the foundation of CiA´s missional ministry. This led to opening coffee
shops that are also being used as platforms for unconventional worship and evangelism
outside of the “Christian castle”. Tearing down walls of an orthodox church environment that
separate believers from the world is one necessary approach of reaching out to secular
56
Richard Bauckham, Carl Mosser, The Gospel of John and Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008), 283. – quoted from Karl Barth, Erklärung des Johannesevangeliums
(Zurich: Theologischer Verlag, 1976), 9:110.
57
Van Gelder, Zscheile, The Missional Church in Perspective, 73.
36
people or to any individuals whose lives are under influence of evil. Coffee shops serve as
places in which Christians can interact and dialogue with people from other peer groups or
even with marginalized people. Findings in John alone of “the very activity of Jesus as he
interacts and dialogues with various figures and groups, such as Nicodemus, the Samaritan
woman, the man born blind…”58 calls believers to follow Jesus´ footsteps. Coffee shop
ministries are well-suited for a God-shaped mission. Not least because it allows interactions
with people that otherwise would not enter into a dialogue with believers. Such incarnational
practice is also “bringing church to the people – by reaching out - instead of bringing people
to church”.
How does that look like in practical terms? In CiA´s case third place services are designed as
worship services in which a larger community of believers gather on Sundays in cafés, bars or
restaurants and are then sent out into the world on weekdays in smaller “Communities on
Mission” (home groups with a specific mission). In a holistic rhythm of first gathering to then
being sent, one can identify what Clayton Schmit calls “a continuation of worshipping,
precisely as the action part that has its source in adoration. … the gathered become the sent.
They are not dismissed, as if worship were adjourned, but they are sent forth in the
enactment of God’s mission in the local community and the world (worship as action).”59
Gorman is an advocate of such incarnational ministry. He draws profound reasons to be in
favour of it from the Gospel of John and criticizes authors like Andreas Köstenberger who in
his view “limits, or nearly limits, mission to evangelism”.60 Incarnational ministry, in
Gorman´s view, mirrors the model of how Jesus and his disciples were on mission. Whereas
58
Gorman, Abide and Go, 28.
59
Clayton J. Schmit, Sent and Gathered (Engaging Worship): A Worship Manual for the Missional Church
(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009), 247.
60
37
Köstenberger in his earlier works “argues for a “representational” model, in which disciples
do not imitate Jesus, but [only] represent him”61.
CiA´s missional approach of gathering to then being sent is in alignment with Gorman´s
hermeneutical summary of John. Sunday church services in coffee shops are organized to be
times of dwelling in God´s presence before believers are departing into the world outside.
The spiritual practice of abiding, a “mutual indwelling between believers and Jesus”62 in John
does not automatically lead to seeing in it an expression of unity of spirituality with mission.
It can have the opposite impact on readers who may disconnect “this mystical union of
awesome intimacy…from concrete existence in the world, and specifically disconnect it from
mission in one way or another”.63 That would do unjust to the calling of Matthew 5:13-14.
Salt as a spice can only have an impact if it has direct contact with the food item that should
be seasoned. However, some churches tend to withdraw from the public and thus not come
in contact with the world around them. Authors like Philip Yancey have critically reflected
about Christians secluding themselves from the people who surround them. In his
observation “Christians under duress often show a tendency to withdraw from the world,
pull up the drawbridge, and retreat behind a protective moat.“ 64 He even expresses feelings
of sadness about this withdrawing, because “it directly contradicts Jesus´ command to act
like salt in meat”65. Matthew 4,23 and 9,35 or Luke 6,18-19 are further examples of the
outward focus of Jesus and is resulting in healings of countless people. Jesus did not install
himself as a miracle healer exclusively for Jews alone or any other selected group of people.
He trespassed boundaries and left his comfort zone when it came to getting in touch with ill
61
62
63
64
Yancey, Finding God in Unexpected Places, 2.
65
Yancey, Finding God in Unexpected Place, 2.
38
people. That does not only undermine the unlimited atonement theory of many scholars. The
rhythm of restraining from the world either by himself or with his disciples during times of
prayer and meditation also points to a “marriage of mission and spirituality”66. Gorman has
distilled his missional theosis, as inspired by the Gospel of John, down to the terms “abide
and go”. In his view the Fourth Gospel does not “reflect…a community of disciples turned in
on themselves, loving one another but not others”67 in a sectarian way. His interpretation
emphasis a missional spirituality.
2. Missio Dei
The statement “The church is free in Christ not from the world but for the world”68 refers to
the theological concept that God is a missionary God and that churches participate in God´s
mission. This concept is broadly referred to as the “Missio Dei” – after the title of Georg F.
Vicedom´s book in the 60´s. It became the most often used term for a new perspective of
the concept of mission.
If one assumption in the context of missional hermeneutics is “that the church is called and
sent to participate in that [God´s] mission in God-like, or God-shaped, ways”69 then the
question arises:
“Is it a God-like approach or not to have a coffee shop ministry as missional focus?”
From a scriptural view of God´s incarnational nature, a “missional church cannot participate
in God´s passion for the world without drawing close to its neighbours. This means
surrendering a posture of control, distance, and mere benevolence in order to enter closely
66
67
68
69
39
into relational community.”70 One practical implication of that has led to the formation of so-
called Communities on Mission (CoMs) in the case of CiA. CoMs in combination with church
services in third places are the two columns on which CiA´s missiology and ecclesiology stand
on. CoMs are groups of five to fifteen people who meet on a regular basis like home groups
with a mission. Such groups have both an inward as well as an outward focus. They come
together in a bi-weekly rhythm. In one week they gather, most commonly in a private home
or meeting room, and spiritual growth is fostered during times of fellowship, prayer and bible
study. In the next week the group is called to be on mission and go “out on the streets”. That
can happen with street teams who reach out to homeless people in the evenings, enter
brothels to reach women in prostitution, spend time with the elderly in care homes, minister
in hospitals, or go to refugees camps. It can also find its expression in a coffee shop CoM.
That specific CoM requires from its members to organize church services or social events like
game nights – both open to anyone who wants to join in. In doing so, they “will transcend all
boundaries (cultural, social, economic, racial, etc.) to show love and be accepting of
everyone…”71, as concluded by Kobus Kok in context of the “missional-incarnational ethos”
that he sees in the Gospel of John. Both the CoMs themselves as well as their mission field
open / create a space, in which Christians can be on mission together with non-Christians and
socialize with each other in a God-pleasing way. That happens in many different ways:
- Christians socialize with non-Christian colleagues, business partners etc. at their
workplace.
70
71
Kobus Kok, “As the Father Has Sent Me, I Send You: Towards a Missional-Incarnational Ethos in John 4,” in
Moral Language in the New Testament: The Interrelatedness of Language and Ethics in Early Christian Writings
(Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010), 193.
40
- Christians invite people within their circle of friends or acquaintances to third place
services
- Christians who work at a church own coffee shop ask their co-workers to volunteer on
a Sunday by doing the same job, but without getting paid for it.
- Christians interact with non-believers on online platforms and via social media
channel, which they use to announce services in third places and invite people to join.
- Christians inform people about social justice topics and organize events for “good
causes” that allow the moderators to point to additional “more churchy” events =
services.
3.) The “not yet” and the “already” reign of God
The focus on the reign of God that was taken by the neoorthodoxy movement in the middle
of the 20th century opened new perspectives on mission and the role of the church in it.
Scholars expressed a distinction between “those aspects of the reign of God, that were
already present, the already of the reign, and those aspects of the reign of God that were yet
to come, the not yet of the reign.”72
This broadened the theological interpretation of what the Great Commission meant for the
church and resulted in an important implication: “it was God through the Spirit who was
gathering, forming and sending the church into the world to bear witness to this good
news.”73 This challenged those who had taken a simplistic view on “the world as evil and
largely outside the work of Christ´s redemption.” 74 Churches who came to the conclusion
that they ought to bear witness to the world started to develop new ways of being
72
73
74
41
incarnational in a secular environment, which by far does not reflect attributes of God´s
kingdom such as a pervading peace, an end to hunger and so forth. It rather looks like a
“work in progress”. They way how Jesus´ announced the coming of the Kingdom of God
reflects that church finds itself in an “in-between time”. An image for the dynamic of a reign
that is on its way could be a train that just entered a train station, but is still driving the last
couple of meters to come to a rest at its final destination.
Belonging before believing
This image of not “having arrived yet” at the final destination might be helpful in
understanding how a practical missional aspect is reflected in the lives of individuals who are
not yet followers of Jesus. By inviting them to participate in low-threshold services with open
communion and worship songs with “popular melodies” they can enjoy an atmosphere that
looks a bit like a secular event. Lower barriers of entering such an open-minded community
and having the option to actively partake in worship or just passively listen to songs, can be a
first step of belonging before believing. They might enjoy the fellowship time, meeting new
people and interesting conversations. With small steps like contributing by setting up chairs,
bringing food for the shared meal before the church service they can turn from a passive to
more engagement at church. It allows non-believers to enjoy being part of a community
whose way of living might be attractive or the way that it engages in the city in social projects
for example. For secular people it offers opportunities to participate in social or humanitarian
initiatives of the church, before committing to live under the “authority of a new reign.” Thus
they are already on the journey, but have not arrived at the “final destination” of accepting
Jesus as their Lord.
42
In CiA´s case neither the employees of their coffee shops nor the attendees of their church
services of the cafés have to be confessing Christians. The open communion as part of
worship services reflect this posture of inviting people into a Christian community without
pushing them to commit to “something” that is unknown to them. An image that illustrates
how this approach is taken would be from the realm of fashion. People who are allowed to
try on a new jacket, for example, in a dressing room, have no commitment to buy it in the
end. The freedom that a dressing room with mirrors on its walls gives, allows the potential
buyer to get a look – from different angles – and feel for it. That happens before making a
final decision to “take it on” or not. Non-believers are invited in to experience a church
service even for several times without any pressure nor being obliged to membership-like
contributions. One could compare this to allowing an individual to do a test drive of a car and
exploring its functions repeatedly.
Restoration and reconciliation of creation & relationships: care for nature & for people
Van Gelder et al. in their book mention that “God´s redemptive work extends beyond the
church…”.75 That is to be found in Jesus addressing the issues of poverty and social injustice
throughout his entire public ministry. Liberation theology with its emphasis on helping the
oppressed, picked up this idea and that stream of theology did not only shape churches in
their understanding and practical ways of doing mission in Latin and South-America. It also
influenced churches´ positions in regards to the link between producers and consumers of
coffee, which is especially relevant for churches that are involved in coffee shop ministries.
Their decision to sell only fair trade, organic products to customers has economic and
environmental impacts. Serving “the least of these” (Mat 25:40) can be become an integral
part of contextual theology in context of the call to care for others. Pointing to cross-
75
Van Gelder, Zscheile, The Missional Church in Perspective, 56
43
continental connections of social injustice is a fairly new approach in discipling believers who
in previous decades might not have been aware of the interconnectedness of coffee farmers
and coffee consumers who live on different continents. The slopping over of liberation
theology to Europe as described in chapter 5 influenced the pastors who developed the
concept of CiA´s coffee shop ministries resulting in giving importance to certain work
standards, minimum wages etc.
In the light of theology of place the description of how God created the world as a dwelling
place for humanity gives us first hints of the meaning of place from a biblical perspective. The
stewardship that God has entrusted humanity with as we find it in Genesis 1 ought to be
done by serving if we take a translation of the Hebrew “bd” is “to serve”76. “This helpfully
undermines any sense of brutal mastery over the garden.”77 Even in Levitical laws, like when
one lets the land rest, aimed at maintaining the well-being of the land. Throughout time land
is the place where life giving food comes from and the garden stands for the place of human
existence. “In today´s context of topsoil destruction and overuse and abuse of land, the
importance of giving land rest is easily recognizable as of fundamental importance. Such
ecological practice also helps the poor and wild animals to find the food they need.”78
Being aware of this fact, one would have to implement the “caring factor” in every aspect of
faith life and mission. In context of coffee shop ministry eco-friendliness needs to “have its
place” in the business model to be scripturally sound. Therefore, it would have to be based
on eco-friendly, organically harvested products like coffee or cacao beans. In addition to
caring for nature by responsibly stewarding God´s creation, a Christ-like café implies fair
working conditions with minimum wages etc. if it ought to reflect God´s ceaseless mission of
76
Gordon J. Wenham, Word Biblical Commentary (52 vols.; Waco: Word Books, 1987), 1:67.
77
Barthomlomew, Where Mortals Dwell, 27.
78
Barthomlomew, Where Mortals Dwell, 65
44
loving people. The golden rule in Mat 22:37-38 echoes like a mission statement with a call for
action: followers of Christ ought to make God´s love manifest by incarnating amongst
humans and by emphasizing his empathy and unconditional love for the least - the ones
without good reputation, the ones who trespassed laws, the ones who were ill and governed
by hatred, jealousy etc. Bartholomew summed this up with “We care about places [in nature]
as well as people”.79
This holistic approach of care and stewardship ought not to be a secondary effect of coffee
shop ministries, but is a prime requirement to be in accordance with scripture. In the case of
CiA the slogan “a social coffee company” as used for their awake cafés reflects an intentional
focus which is a crucial part of their business model.
Creating a caring atmosphere that fosters well-being would be another aspect of a model
that reflects God´s love and care for His creation by taking the role of co-creators seriously in
all areas of life. Coffee shops with a beautiful interior design, clean surfaces and floors, etc.
may mirror God´s image and his nature that is characterized by hospitality, which “has been a
theme of mission that has received increased attention in recent years.”80
As previously mentioned, Genesis highlights the need to take care of the place that humans
live in. It is both a gift and calling to incarnate in a specific environment. Valuing a place
means taking care of it. Its maintenance requires time and energy put into it. Looking at
creation as a gift from God to us implies that our caretaking is an expression of our gratitude
for God and what one receives from him. Then, vice versa neglecting a place would imply an
affront to God, disregarding his gifts for us and disobeying him. Jesus himself became harsh
with the dealers and money lenders who turned God´s place into a market and desecrated
the temple. As these coffeehouse ministries are hosting the presence of God, one would
79
Barthomlomew, Where Mortals Dwell, 28.
80
Van Gelder, Zscheile, The Missional Church in Perspective,132.
45
need to act as if it is a direct affront to Christ himself if one would not responsibly take care
of places.
8. Conclusion
Urbanization, with all the negative effect that it may have on physical, mental and spiritual
levels, impacts individuals and entire societies and is challenging politicians and leaders of
churches alike. Pope John Paul II expressed his concerns about urbanization nearly 30 years
ago in his appeal when he stated that,
“…efforts should be concentrated on the big cities, where new customs and styles of
living arise together with new forms of culture and communication, which then
influence the wider population. It is true that the “option for the neediest” means
that we should not overlook the most abandoned and isolated human groups, but it is
also true that individual or small groups cannot be evangelized if we neglect the
centers where a new humanity so to speak, is emerging, and where new models of
development are taking shape.”81
The ways in which churches have responded to the problems of urbanization in Germany are
manifold. One way of “caring for cities and citizens” is found in third place ministries with a
focus on coffee shops. As with any new missional approach it would require long-term
studies to evaluate the effectiveness and impact in regards to reaching non-believers. The
field research of this dissertation did not have a sufficient quantitative number of
participants to give any solid proof of the effectiveness of coffee shop ministries and was
solely based on CiA´s third place ministry. The outcomes can only serve as an indicator of the
effectiveness. Over all they point towards a fruitful way of churches being on mission with
this specific strategy. Therefore, a neutral stance, without taking any position in favour or
81
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio: Encyclical Letter on the Permanent Validity of the Church's
Missionary Mandate. (Boston: St. Paul´s Book and Media, 1991), 51.
46
against this missional approach, is advisable. From a scriptural perspective a defence of third
place ministry as a God-pleasing engagement stands on a solid foundation. There is plenty of
evidence in favour of it. Pro-theological arguments derive from insights of temple theology,
amongst findings from missional concepts and practical aspects in coffee shop ministry.
A critical dialogue about how churches can contextualize the gospel based on “being a Jew to
Jews” approach is advisable in regards to fresh expressions. Playing on the “strings of the
consumerism harp” by offering attractional services is surely not advisable in this context if
churches want to avoid conditioning believers from bringing a consumer mindset to services.
After all they should not have the same expectation from attending church as they would
from going to a rock concert. Reflections on the functions of consumerism are crucial,
especially when considering how church services might be just an additional entertainment
option amongst many other consumer products. In context of coffee shop ministries the risk
of having consumerism dominate the ministry lies at hand, and it is up to churches to
educate and disciple followers of Jesus towards a holistic faith life. This includes political
positioning, social engagement for justice and environment preservation and requires a
business model with focus on sustainable, fair trade products.
From a missional perspective coffee shop ministries have great potential for fostering
engagement of individuals in mission. Church services that send out attendees on mission
into the world as if it was an continuation of worship could have a strong impact on
mobilizing both believers and not-yet believers as one community to which people can
belong even before they believe. If that leads to improvements in city life, then church might
regain a stronger say in society and it can offer a counter-weight to a culture that is
predominantly shaped by a selfish consumerism mind-set and egocentric way of living.
47
CiA´s low-threshold church services and the business model of their coffee shops illustrate
how a church of today can speak into the lives of people with critical messages based on
scripture. When words and actions are in unison in regards to having a holistic impact within
urban context, then non-believers might be reached by the universal message of Jesus, that
does not only promote unconditional love of the neighbour, but also advocates social justice
and stewardship of nature. The latter topics are relevant in the daily life of people as well as
in mainstream media with the high coverage of climate change discussions and news about
social conflicts in cities with big diversity, high percentages of immigrants and mix of cultures
and religions that in extreme cases can lead to violence against each other. From a biblical
perspective the unifying factor of coffee shops with a welcoming atmosphere points to more
than the hospitality as one of the aspects of God´s being that we find in Jesus being lived out
to its fullest extent. Instead of a rather exclusive set-up with high barriers that temples or
traditional church buildings may set for multiple unreached people groups, a café can bring
consumers from different socio-economic backgrounds together. In the case of CiA´s coffee
shop ministry, they have succeeded in creating a place that many people have on their
favourite list of locations. It offers a glimpse of God´s reign as a kingdom of peace and unity
when people from different religions, age groups and sexes, even with opposing political
opinions, are all working together in a mixed coffee shop staff team. A diverse community
meeting for Sunday services also shows God´s transcending power that can overcome the
division which urban subcultures bring about. When one observes the crowd at a Journey
service of CiA one finds representatives of different faith groups and even atheists all
worshipping together. That family-like atmosphere is a powerful experience for people who
mostly live a fairly lonely life without family in the city. And it connects people who “out on
the street” would not have enough similarities in their lifestyle for bonding on emotional and
48
spiritual levels with others. In context of “the great need that exits today of reconnecting the
church with the community in a way that makes the church both real and reachable.”82 third
place ministries can lead to seeing a “church of irresistible influence”83 - as Lewis and Wilkins
phrased it.
Cafés in particular can be like a second home for secular people in which they find new hope,
inspiration and power from worship and Christian messages for their daily struggles at
workplace and private challenges. Furthermore, coffee shops with Christian services can be
sacred places of modern-day Christianity, where people dwell in God´s presence. And they
can be created as a place to be sent out on mission. They can be a source from where ideas
and the power of the Holy Spirit are channelled into serving the needy on weekdays, for
example in prisons, hospitals, brothels etc. In times of high burnout rates, one of many forms
of depression, a source of getting filled with power is required especially when people are
disconnected from nature with its healing effect on the human body, mind and spirit. The
noise, pollution, crime and other stressful factors of the urban environment robs people of
life-power. Jesus as the “bread of life” and “water of life” can be experienced in the relaxed
and uplifting atmosphere of a cosy coffee shop and might cure some of the illnesses of
modern cities.
One should not forget that traditional church buildings can serve many aspects of third place
ministries in cafés. This is to be found in the example of churches inviting homeless people to
attend church services and participating in worship. It can nurture them in a holistic way,
which includes their souls, hearts and minds as well as covering physical needs by providing
82
83
49
food before or after church services. What can happen quite smoothly in the non-profit
context of church might be a challenge for a coffee shop. Take for example the serving of
homeless people in a holistic way, that alone would require free or at least affordable
provision of coffee and food in order to let them experience hospitality and care. With the
price structure of inner city cafés, which is very costly, most coffee shops are only affordable
for people with a decent income. CiA´s products are priced at the high range end, mainly
because they are all fair trade and/or expensive eco-friendly products. From a profit-oriented
business perspective even church owned cafés run into big financial risks if they provide free
coffee for needy ones in order to invite them in. Doing this does not only threaten / diminish
the cash flow situation. It can also lead to complaining “regular” customers who might feel
intimidated by unwashed people from the streets. One can neither assume that they know
and comprehend nor go along with liberation theologians who see a favouring of the
oppressed in society. Herein lays a big challenge on the one hand and great opportunity of
bearing witness to the world as Christians on the other hand. The question whether coffee
shops can operate in a holistic way like some church buildings do or whether they cannot,
needs to find answers by offering practical solutions. When comparing a business owner with
a minister, both face the risk that sources of revenues, either income from paying customers
or on-going donations from recurring church attendees, are coming to an end by people
leaving a place in which they feel uncomfortable and challenged in a way that is
overwhelming them. In a consume driven society the “paying customer” is often regarded as
the one who has the last word when it comes to the mission put into practice. Mission can
come to a quick end if it is not financially sustainable just like many food / hospitality
business run into insolvency due to a lack of cash flow.
50
One last remark: when it comes to the missional focus of churches on third place ministries
one should be reminded of the reality, that immobile individuals, e.g. handicapped and ill
people who are bed-ridden, need other opportunities of hearing the gospel outside of coffee
shops. Based on the assumption that God is a God for everyone and all, any exclusivity to a
specific location would need to be overcome by finding practical ways of offering both coffee
as well as the gospel “to go”.
The example of CiA´s missiology and acting it out accordingly in their third place ministry
points to a paradigm shift of how missional churches who are involved in urban ministries
found new forms of services and creative ways of doing ministry - both are major aspects of
churches that aim at ministering to the unreached within heterogeneous cities. “These new
paradigm churches appear to be succeeding not because they are offering an alternative to
modern culture, but because they are speaking with its voice and mimicking its moves.”84,
according to David Wells. One of postmodern churches biggest challenge is to bridge the gap
of their vision and what Jesus Christ has to offer with the driving forces of the world and
what they have to offer. The big chasm needs to be spanned and it is a question of how, and
where churches will (re)connect with the world and surrounding culture. Occupying third
places appears to be one of many creative ways of doing so.
I would like to conclude with a theme that the leading ministry experts Van Velder and
Zscheile have identified in their recent book about missional church:
84
David Wells, Losing Our Virtue (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 32.
51
“The missional church is an incarnational ministry sent to engage a postmodern, post-
Christendom, globalized context.”85 If the needy and lost in urban environment call believers
to live incarnational amongst them, then churches are challenged to find ways of bearing
witness to the world in a missional way that should include any option and outer form of
which fresh expressions with third place ministries are definitely a favourable option.
15,000 words
85
52
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Kurenlahti, Mikko, and Arto O. Salonen. “Rethinking Consumerism from the Perspective of
Religion.” Basel: MDPI, 2018.
Lewis, Robert, and Rob Wilkins. The Church of Irresistible Influence. Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
2001.
Lynch, Gordon. Understanding Theology and Popular Culture. Malden: Blackwell Publishing,
2005
54
Marx, Karl. “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,” No pages. Cited 19
June 2019. Online: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-
hpr/intro.htm
Nitsche, Martin. “A Place of Encounter with a Divine. Heidegger on the Spatiality of Religious
Experience”, No pages. Cited 12 March 2019. Online:
http://www.academia.edu/33879564/A_Place_of_Encounter_with_a_Divine._Heidegger_on
_the_Spatiality_of_Religious_Experience
Partridge, Christopher. The Re-Enchantment of the West: Alternative Spiritualities,

Sacralization, Popular Culture and Occulture. London: T & T Clark, 2005.
Pope John Paul II. Redemptoris Missio: Encyclical Letter on the Permanent Validity of the
Church's Missionary Mandate. Boston: St. Paul´s Book and Media, 1991.
Regele, Michael B. Death of the Church. Austin: Mars Hill, 1998.
Schmit, Clayton J. Sent and Gathered (Engaging Worship): A Worship Manual for the
Missional Church. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009.
Sheldrake, Philip. The Spiritual City. Theology, Spirituality, and the Urban. Chichester: Wiley
Blackwell, 2014.
The Vegan Society, “Definition of veganism,” No pages. Cited 18 June 2019. Online:
https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism
Tripadvisor, “Restaurants in Frankfurt,” No pages. Cited 20 June 2019. Online:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g187337-Frankfurt_Hesse.html
Van Gelder, Craig, and Dwight J Zscheile. The Missional Church in Perspective (The Missional
Network): Mapping Trends and Shaping the Conversation. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic,
2011.
Wells, David. Losing Our Virtue. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.
55
Wenham, Gordon J. Word Biblical Commentary. 52 vols. Waco: Word Books, 1987.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Germany_by_population
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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Kirchen_in_Frankfurt_am_Main
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56
Appendix A – Ecclesiology of Church in Action
by Philip Zimmermann
A word up front
Now some Christians, for very good reasons, have already given up on the church. It seems that the
movement of people who are Christians but do not belong to a church anymore becomes larger. Viola
supports this idea and quotes missional church expert McNeal who says that “A growing number of
people are leaving the institutional church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they have
lost their faith. They are leaving the church to preserve their faith.”i Many Christians have not said it
out loud that they have given up on the church but are very frustrated with the church and are
contemplating leaving her. In times of frustration it is good to be reminded of what Cole has to say
concerning the church: “Don’t bash the bride no matter how ugly she looks to you. If you start
attacking the bride, sooner or later you’re going to have to take on the Groom, and I don’t think you
want this.”ii Chalk quotes a very provocative comment from Augustine of Hippo who is one of the
most influential theologians of church history who understood that one could get frustrated with the
church but should never give up on her. Hippo said: “The church may be a whore but she is still my
mother.” iii
Christians cannot have Jesus without the church. I am convinced that the right picture and
understanding of the church and what God intended her to be gives leaders a deeper passion and
desire to serve her.
Since the term “church” is only mentioned twice in all of the gospels (Matthew 16:18; 18:17) we first
need to understand the message that Jesus lived and proclaimed before we can answer the question
what the church is.
The message of Jesus
Chalk makes a good observation: “It has been said that every great leader or teacher has one core
message to terminate everything they do and say; that can be summed up in a sentence; one key
note that provides the framework and unifies every other statement they make an action they take.
It was true for Karl Marx, for Gandhi, for Martin Luther King Jr., for Freud. And it’s equally true for
Jesus.”iv
The reason Jesus came into this world was not primarily to save people from their sins, show the
world the love of God or reconcile us with God and each other. These are all good and needed
messages but they have to emerge in the one core message that holds it all together and is the
reason why Jesus came into the world. Jesus came into this world first and foremost to establish the
kingdom of God.
Here is what the Evangelist Luke is saying about the kingdom of God:
First, he says that Jesus was sent for the purpose of preaching the kingdom of God in many cities.
“But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for
this purpose.” (Luke 4:43)
Secondly, Luke writes that Jesus sent out his disciples to proclaim the same message: “And He sent
them out to proclaim the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:2) Thirdly, he points out that even after Jesus was
resurrected from the dead the message of the kingdom was his main concern. “To these He also
57
presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a
period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:4)
Forth, Luke explicitly points out that the Evangelist Philip (Acts 8:12) and the Apostle Paul (Acts 28:30-
31) preached the good news of the kingdom of God.
Even though every theologian would agree that the kingdom of God is at the center of Jesus’s
message the bad news is that the evangelical church has lost the message of Jesus over the last 50-
100 years. Green asked rhetorically at the Lausanne Conference of World Evangelization in 1974,
“How much have you heard here about the Kingdom of God?” His answer was, “Not much. It is not
our language. But it was Jesus ‘ prime concern.”v Wagner one of the best known leaders in the so
called “church growth” movement adds: “I cannot help wondering out loud why I haven’t heard more
about it in the thirty years I have been a Christian. I certainly read about it enough in the Bibl. But I
honestly cannot remember any pastor whose ministry I have been under actually preaching a sermon
on the Kingdom of God. As I rummage through my own sermon barrel, I now realize that I myself
have never preached a sermon on it. Where has the Kingdom been?”vi
So the important question is what is the kingdom of God? If church leaders get this question wrong
they get a distorted view of almost everything else concerning Christianity.
Explaining the kingdom
The challenge is that the kingdom language does not mean too much to people in the Western world
anymore since they live in a democracy and not a kingdom anymore. A kingdom can be understood as
the sphere of influence where what one desires to happen actually happens. Or, to put it in other
terms, it is the range of your effective willvii. So if the kingdom is one’s sphere of influence, the
kingdom of God is the realm where what God desires actually happens. His perfect will takes place
and he is in control.
Chalk summarizes the message of Jesus like this: “The kingdom, the in-breaking shalom of God, is
available now to everyone through me.”viii He defines the Shalom of God, which appears over two
hundred and fifty times in the Hebrew Scriptures, as “a kaleidoscopic vision of what life is like when
lived in line with God’s agenda. It incorporates contentment, health, justice, liberation, fulfillment,
freedom and hope. Shalom is about comprehensive well-being and flourishing at every level of life—
socially, economically, spiritually and politically.”ix
The kingdom of God is the “perfect world” where things are the way God wants them to be and Jews
of the first century were waiting and anticipating that God’s kingdom would come one day.x The
revolutionary statement that Jesus made, however was that the kingdom of God will not only come
one day at the end of times, but is already here at hand, it is starting in and through his person (Lk
17:21).
The kingdom of God is not just something in the future; it is God’s shalom breaking into our midst,
into our lives, into our mess and chaos.xi God starts to heal, to set free, forgive and put back together
what is broken in our world. For McKinley the kingdom of God is, “the living, breathing presence and
purpose and reign of God on our planet.”xii
Wakabayashi explains the kingdom of God like this: “This is what the kingdom of God is about. God’s
reign descends in and through Jesus and is applied in a world that is not yet fully under his authority.
Sicknesses are healed, demons are banished, sins are forgiven and people are assured of God’s love
for them. Wherever God’s kingdom comes, his kingship is applied and the evil of darkness is
banished.”xiii
58
Heaven on Earth
Another way and maybe the best way to explain the kingdom of God in very simple terms is
through the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus teaches his disciples in Matthew 6 to pray and in this prayer he
makes a statement that summarizes the kingdom of God in a powerful way. In Matthew 6:10 Jesus
instructs his disciples to pray: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
The word will is the Greek Word thelma which can also be translated as wish, desire, passion and
dream. So the Lord’s Prayer tells us that God has a passion, God has a dream, God has a desire. God's
dream is that whatever happens in heaven is also happening here on earth. Jesus summarizes the
kingdom of God in the Lord’s Prayer as God’s dream of heaven on earth.
New Testament Scholar N.T. Wright writes the following concerning the Jewish expectation of the
kingdom in the first century: “ They were not thinking about how to secure themselves a place in
heaven after they died. The phrase “kingdom of heaven,” which we find frequently in Matthew’s
Gospel where the others have “kingdom of God,” does not refer to a place, called “heaven, where
God’s people will go after death. It refers to the rule of heaven, that is, of God, being brought to bear
in the present world. Thy kingdom come, said Jesus, will be done, on earth as in heaven. Jesus’
contemporaries knew that the creator God intended to bring justice and peace to his world here and
now.”xiv
Jesus proclaimed that God wants to transform all aspects of society into the kind of world that God
had in mind when he created this world. God’s dream is not first of all for everyone to go to heaven
but for heaven to break into this world and transform this world into the world it ought to be. That is
why the famous preacher of the 18th century Charles Spurgeon said: “A little faith will take you to
heaven, but I pray for the kind of faith that will bring heaven to earth!” Willard points out that when
we pray “Thy kingdom come” we pray for the kingdom to “take over at all points in the personal,
social, and political order where it is now excluded: “On earth as it is in heaven.” With this prayer we
are invoking it, as in faith we are acting it, into the real world of our daily existence.”xv
The Church
The calling of the church is to proclaim and live out heaven on earth. The church is a community of
people that experiences, announces and passes on the in-breaking shalom of God. Since Paul calls the
church the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12) the church is not only there to preach Christ on a Sunday
morning but to actually look and act like Christ in this world. The way Christ lived the church should
live. If this would have been the case Mahatma Gandhi might have joined Christianity. He once said:
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”xvi As long as
the church only preaches Christ but does not look like him in her essence and DNA the church is not
the church God had in mind.
Wakabayashi summarizes it well what it means for the church to look like Jesus: “It’s not just about
saving souls but about seeing that the poor are fed and the oppressed are freed. It’s about caring for
the orphans and providing good education for our children. It’s about challenging ideologies that
counter biblical truth. It’s about effecting change in public policy and creating social systems that are
more in line with God’s intentions for this world. It’s about seeing his reign fleshed out wherever we
set foot in our world.”xviiThe church should look and act like Jesus through proclaiming and living out
the kingdom of God or how Yoder writes in his essay The Kingdom as Social Ethic, “The church is
called to be now what the world is called to be ultimately.”xviii
Four Principles that make a healthy church
59
In order to get a little bit more practical in our understanding of what the church is, I want to
introduce you to the four words that can be used to summarize four principles that make up a healthy
church that looks like Jesus. The four words are: Share-Excite-Grow-Serve.
Principle 1: Share
Share is about being part of the lives of others that do not belong to the church. A church should not
hide from the world; but rather live incarnated as the body of Christ in it. The church imitates Jesus if
she lives out the incarnation since Jesus came into the world and “dwelt among” (John 1:14) us.
Peterson paraphrases this passage with “Jesus moved into our neighborhood.”
Hirsch puts it this way: “Spend more time listening to, eating with, and playing with the neighborhood
you live in. Work toward not merely identifying with the locals; seek to become one.”xix Jesus lived
among people for thirty years before he did three years of public ministry. Either at work, through a
hobby, or communal living: together with other Christians, we are called to live among the people
that God has sent us to. Hayes points out the cost of the principle of share: “Perhaps the heaviest cost
of incarnational ministry is choosing to identify with only one people, one place. Choice is at the very
heart of incarnation. As John Perkins used to say, nailing one’s feet to the floor limits one’s horizons
and can feel like dedication to smallness.”xx Henri Nouwen experienced a similar struggle: “It is
difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause and not to feel that you are
working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to
know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own and to
let them know with words, handshakes and hugs that you do not simply like them—but truly love
them.”xxi
For Frost and Hirsch mission and the idea of the incarnation are at the heart of what the church is. “In
our view, the church should be missional rather than institutional. The church should define itself in
terms of its mission — to take the gospel to and incarnate the gospel within a specific cultural
context.”xxii The principle of share shows that Christians are not against culture or want to create their
own culture but transform the culture that they live in. God loves the whole world (John 3:16).
Principle 2: Excite
Excite is about getting people excited about Jesus through a worship service. Jesus needs to be at the
centre of every church. Throughout history Christians have gathered together as a community to sing,
share sacraments, hear the Word of God, listen to testimonies and taking offerings. Myers explains
how we find scatted references to Christian worship in Paul’s letters: “Patterning their services after
Jewish worship in the synagogue, the early Christians read Scripture (first the Old Testament and later
the letters of the apostles; cf. Col. 4:16; 1 Thess. 5:27), prayed publicly, listened to a sermon,
celebrated the Lord’s Supper, observed baptism, possibly sang hymns (Eph. 5:19), and at times
initiated collections for the poor (1 Cor. 16:1–4).“xxiii And the writer of Hebrews writes: “Let us not
give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another- and all
the more as you see the Day approaching.”xxiv
One of the eight characteristics of church growth that Schwarz comes up with from his research of
more than 1000 churches in 32 countries is the need for inspiring worship services. He writes:
“Services may target Christians or non-Christians, their style may be liturgical or free, their language
may be “churchy” or “secular”- it makes no difference for church growth. A different criterion proved
to be the deciding factor, namely, “Is the worship service an `inspiring experience` for the
participants.”xxv
60
Even though Church services should be exciting it is important that not all or most of the resources
(time, money and creativity) go into one hour on a Sunday. Getting people excited for Jesus through a
worship service is only one principle of a healthy church. Halter and Smay make a good point trying to
balance the importance of the worship service with the other principles. They write: “Because I want
myself and our people to have time to be incarnational in the world, we don’t take up their time
working on the church service. We don’t have a worship practice, and I spend only a few hours a
week planning our time together, which includes sermon preparation. Sometimes, we even cancel
our gathering so people can do something alternative to a worship gathering. If we say that the “big
thing” isn’t the “main thing” then we must reflect that in how we spend our time.”xxvi
Principle 3: Grow
Grow is about helping Christians finding a place to mature in their faith through a smaller group. The
church is not merely a place where people should get excited about Jesus but also where they should
find a family in which they can spiritually grow in their faith and develop a Christian character within a
smaller group of people. Dale and Barna give seven reasons why small churches should be multiplied
rather than seeking to get larger. One of the reasons is the early church: “New Testament Christians
primarily met in small group or home settings. When the apostles went to a town, they often
preached in the synagogue. But it usually did not take long before they were thrown out and forced
to move on to more intimate home gatherings (Acts 18:4-7). And the New Testament includes
numerous references to the church in someone’s home (Romans 16:5).”xxvii Hirsch points out that
through the principle of grow Christianity started in the first place: “The most significant religious
movement in history was initiated through the simple act of Jesus investing his life in a small motley
group of believers, growing them into authentic disciples.”xxviii True change happens when people
invest themselves into other people. A close personal relationship to a spiritual leader is
indispensable for spiritual growth. No pastor can intensively care for more than 50 people in his
congregation. The responsibility has to be carried by many shoulders through smaller groups or
mentoring programs.
Schwarz adds that their „research in growing and declining churches all over the world has shown
that continuous multiplication of small groups is a universal church growth principle.”xxix
Principle 4: Serve
Serve is about using our lives to serve others in our community and in this world. As Christians we are
called to be the light and salt of the world (Mt 5:13-16). The church should be known for their love for
other people. The church is an organization that doesn’t exist for its own members. The church isn’t
called to come to a place, to take a seat and to simply listen, but to go out and serve people.
Throughout history, God doesn’t only want to bless his people for their own sake, but wants that they
are a blessing to all people (Genesis 12:2). The task of the church is not only to preach the good news
but also to live the good news in very practical ways through serving the needs of a community.
Bakke talks about six categories of needs that can be used as a guideline for church ministry. People
have (1) physical needs; (2) spiritual/moral needs; (3) social/relational needs; (4) emotional needs; (5)
educational needs; (6) training/mentoring needs.xxx
Donovan, in his influential book Christianity Rediscovered, explains that “Christianity must be a force
that moves outward, and a Christian community is basically in existence “for others.” That is the
whole meaning of a Christian community. A Christian community, which spends all its resources on a
building campaign for its own needs, has long ago left Christianity high and dry on the banks. Or all its
resources on an education program or youth program for that matter. A Christian community is in
existence “for others,” not for “its own.”xxxi Halter and Smay give a good reminder that “ mission is
61
more than just doing good things for people. It’s a primary means of helping people see what a
Christian really is.”xxxii
Being born again
Church planting starts with the right understanding of church. For this understanding to become part
of us we need to understand and fall in love with the message of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of
God gives the big picture and will motivate us to be the best church leaders that we can be. Ivan Illich
was once asked “What is the most revolutionary way to change society. Is it violent revolution or is it
gradual reform?” “Neither. If you want to change society, then you must tell an alternative story”, he
concluded.”xxxiii If we want to change the church we also need an alternative story. This alternative
story is the kingdom of God.
A healthy church can be summarized in four words: Share-Excite-Grow-Serve. These four words do
not speak about methodology (since the church will look very differently in different contexts) but
they talk about the essence of what it means to be the Body of Christ in this world.
Brewing gives us the right challenge: “The church now seems to stand in the same place as God stood
in some 2,500 years ago: misrepresented, accused of bigotry, portrayed as narrow-minded and in
love with power, only interested in buildings, ready to smite the dirty and sinful, over-occupied with
sex, and ready to lend support for unjust wars…And so we must do as God did, as Christ commanded
and exemplified: we must be born again. Become nothing, removed of strength and power and voice
and means and language. We must re-emerge and grow up again in the place we are meant to serve.
Understand it, learn from it, be in it, love it, listen to it, wait thirty years before speaking to it.”xxxiv The
church in the western world needs to be born again.
A western newspaper reporter once asked Mahatma Gandhi, “Mr Gandhi, would you please tell us in
one short sentence what your message is?” Gandhi answered, “My life is my message.”xxxv Let us also
become the best church leaders we can be to make the life of the church its message again.
i
Frank Viola Finding Organic Church: A Comprehensive Guide to Starting and
Sustaining Authentic Christian Communities Published by David C. Cook
Colorado Springs, Co USA. 125
ii
Neil Cole Organic Church 139
iii
The lost message of Jesus by Steve Chalke and Alan Mann. Zondervan 2003
Grand Rapids, Michigan.173.
iv
Grand Rapids, Michigan.15-16.
v
The Coming Kingdom of the Messiah, by A.F. Buzzard (Wyoming, Mi: Ministry
School Publications, 1988), pp.14-16
vi
Peter Wagner Church Growth and the Whole Gospel (San Francisco: Harper
and Row, 1981), p.2)
vii
Definition borrowed from Dallas Willard The Divine Conspiracy:
Rediscovering our hidden life in God. 1997 HarperCollins San Francisco 25
viii
Grand Rapids, Michigan. 16.
ix
Grand Rapids, Michigan. 37
62
x
For a deeper understanding of the first century Jews/Christina background
read Surprised by hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the
Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright Harper One 2008 New York, NY
xi
The Provocative Church by Graham Tomlin published by Spck 2002 London
Great Britain
xii
Rick McKinley This Beautiful Mess: practicing the presence oft he
kingdom of God. Multnomah Publishers Sisters, Oregon 2006
xiii
Allen Mitsuo Wakabayashi Kingdom Come How Jesus wants to change the
world. (Downers Grove, Ill. InterVarsity Press, 2003), pp. 31.
xiv
N.T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus (Downers Grove, Ill. InterVarsity
Press, 2001), pp.36-37.
xv
Dallas Willard The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering our hidden life in
God. 1997 HarperCollins San Francisco 26
xvi
http://thinkexist.com/quotation/i_like_your_christ-
i_do_not_like_your_christians/215104.html
xvii
Allen Mitsuo Wakabayashi Kingdom Come How Jesus wants to change the
world. (Downers Grove, Ill. InterVarsity Press, 2003), pp. 83.
xviii
John Howard Yoder “The Kingdom as Social Ethic”, in The Priestly
Kingdom (Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 1984),92.
xix
The forgotten ways Handbook by Alan Hirsch p.107
xx
Submerge by John B. Hayes 137-139.
xxi
Henri Nouwen Gracias! New York: HarperCollins, 1983, p147-148
xxii
Frost, Michael and Alan Hirsch. The Shaping of Things to Come
Innovation and Mission for the
21 Century Church. New York: Hendrickson, 2003.p xi
xxiii Myers, A. C. (1987). The Eerdmans Bible dictionary (216). Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans.
xxiv
Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)
xxv
Christian A. Schwarz Natural Church Development Handbook: A Practical
Guide to a New Approach 1996 C& P Publishing, Emmelsbüll Germany. P 30
xxvi
Hugh Halter and Matt Smay The Tangible Kingdom: Creating INcarnational
Community The Posture and Practices of Ancient Church Now Published by
Jossey-Bass 2008 San Francisco, CA p.105
xxvii
Tony & Felicity Dale and George Barna The rabbit and the elephant: Why
small is he new big for today’s church Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 2009
13-14
xxviii
The forgotten ways Handbook by Alan Hirsch p.63
xxix
Christian A. Schwarz Natural Church Development Handbook: A Practical
Guide to a New Approach 1996 C& P Publishing, Emmelsbüll Germany. P 32
xxx
Raymond Bakke, „Spiritual Resources for Transformationl Leadership“, a
class offered in Seattle Washington, on June 10, 2002. Quoted in Rick Rusaw
& Eric Swanson The Externally Focused Church Group Loveland, Colorado 2004
p.165
xxxi
Vincent J. Donovan Christianity Rediscovered p 79
xxxii
Hugh Halter and Matt Smay The Tangible Kingdom: Creating INcarnational
Community The Posture and Practices of Ancient Church Now Published by
Jossey-Bass 2008 San Francisco, CA p.173
xxxiii
Frost, Michael and Alan Hirsch. The Shaping of Things to Come
Innovation and Mission for the
21 Century Church. New York: Hendrickson, 2003.
xxxiv
Brewin, Kester. Signs of Emergence: A Vision for Church That Is Always
Organic/Networked/Decentralized/Bottom-Up/Communal/Flexible/Always Evolving
(emersion:
Emergent Village resources for communities of faith). New York: Baker
Books, 2007. P. 65.
xxxv
Elmer, Duane. Cross-Cultural Connections. InterVarsity Press, 2002.
63
Appendix B – Strategic Ministries of Church in Action
Kirche in Aktion (Church in Action) was founded with the German

Nazarene District as a church planting ministry in the city of Mainz,
Germany in 2008. Within two years, another fledgling Kirche in Aktion
ministry was established in nearby Frankfurt.
With a dual focus on providing a fresh missional expression of

Christian truth for a new generation and a desire to demonstrate the
practical, transformative love of Christ to a people and a city in
need, Kirche in Aktion was born. In 2015, the two ministries combined
into a single church with diverse missional activities currently
impacting communities in 26 locations across the region. The church
is incorporated as a non-profit organization.
Kirche in Aktion is notably characterized by the absence of a church-

owned building. Its ministries take place in diverse, strategic
locations across the region.
The chosen locations are places where the church pursues its mission
in the context of daily life activities among the populations it
seeks to reach. In this way, Kirche in Aktion serves people from many
different walks of life in contexts and places that are natural to
them and fit their culturally defined norms.
Individual needs are identified and served through these locations

enabling the church to influence as many areas of modern life as
possible.
Kirche in Aktion identified 8 key ministry endeavors that can easily

be replicated in a new city. The following explains these 8
ministries in detail.
”awake cafés”
A social coffee company serving warm community spirit at
coffee shops
“awake cafés” coffee shops are in prime locations for exposure to a

broad spectrum of clientele. These shops use and promote and serve
high quality fair trade beverages and foods. They create a welcoming
atmosphere with an attractive interior design with a homey feel that
motivates many people to stay for coffee, luncheon business meetings,
student gatherings, moms’ day out, and lots of casual conversation.
As a result, hundreds of customers are served by the coffee shops and
64
the church has connected with many regular customers who have made
the shops part of their daily lives.
An alternative revenue stream for the “awake cafes" comes from

hosting cultural events, like live music, poetry nights, jazz
concerts etc. To further leverage the settings within these shops,
the cafés are also used for church events, particularly the Journey
Service and Deep Talk events discussed in the following paragraphs.
While the cafés are not specifically designated as “Christian cafés“

a percentage of employed staff are Christians who are closely
associated with Kirche in Aktion. The properties are incorporated as
separate business entities, yet are controlled by Kirche in Aktion,
they can be readily used for church activities without the need for
getting special permission. These cafés also provide jobs, primarily
for young people, who are associated with the church.
“Journey Services”
Low threshold worship services conducted in cafés, bars and
restaurants
Journey services are characterized by presenting a non-traditional,

non-threatening and low-demand style of worship in a café or bar or
theater environment. The Journey format attracts people who might
hesitate to enter a traditional church building. Services are held at
easy-to-attend, convenient times of day (e.g., 1:00, 5:00, or 7:00
pm) on a regular schedule. A particularly welcoming atmosphere is
created through a shared brunch or dinner before the service begins.
Live music is combined with worship songs followed by a straight-

forward message by a pastor or guest speaker. On designated days, the
Lord´s Supper is offered to visitors and guests. Visitors are
encouraged to join in the worship services regardless of their past
or denominational affiliation.
Pastoral messages and conversation touch on relevant issues of daily

life with a down-to-earth, common sense approach that allows
newcomers, especially those unfamiliar with Christian jargon to
“enter in.”
This framework provides many opportunities for church members to

connect with people from all walks of life and establish new
relationships on human level before delving into more personal
discussions and questions of faith.
Some locations hold multiple Journey Services aimed at reaching

specific language and cultural groups. Over the past couple of years,
65
scores of seekers have come to discern God’s call on their lives
through these services.
Granny´s Coffee
A spiritual and social agenda serving the elderly’s special
needs
On a regular basis, a team of Kirche in Aktion volunteers visit the

infirmed and sometimes forgotten permanent residents in nursing and
retirement homes. In some cases these people do not have visitors and
are not able to leave the residence.
The teams endeavor to meet some of their most basic physical,

emotional and spiritual needs through food, music, and socio-
spiritual engagement.
Residents are treated to home-made cakes and coffee at their tables

where team members chat with them and or entertain them with
interesting presentations. Group activities are organized to get
residents involved in games or simple craft activities.
The afternoons often bring birthday celebrations and musical

performances to delight their senses. Entertainment and conversation
is used to strengthen and deepen bonds and open hearts to gospel
light. The teams expressly aim to make each visit the high point of
the residents’ day. In several cases volunteers have established
long-term relationships with residents that result in sanctified
prayer times together, often privately in their rooms.
pe/ix (chi rho)

Redefining social street life with a message of genuine love
Kirche in Aktion uses an intervention approach to this strategic

ministry. A team of volunteers reaches out to prostitutes in local
“red-light-districts” or apartment buildings where sex-workers are
known to receive customers. Volunteers take gifts and cards as part
of their ministry to prostitutes. Cosmetics and jewelry donated by a
sponsor, as well as homemade cookies or flowers express love, respect
and value for these women.
The gifts serve as an icebreaker to start a conversation that can

lead to prayer or other ways of offering hope through Christian
literature. The teams make a variety of literature available in
different languages, including Hungarian, Romanian, Spanish and
Turkish among other languages.
66
If it becomes needful to support them with health issues, the team
refers them to other organizations and health professionals—some of
whom provide services free of charge. The network also provides
fiscal support resources and work training to these women as needed.
If situations warrant, the volunteers accompany them to public
offices to help them find hope and a way out of the street life. In
each new city we want to identify a team of 15-20 volunteers to
minister to the prostitutes.
Tischlein Deck Dich

“The Wishing Table“ - A place for everyone at Christ’s table
The name of this event is drawn from the German fairy tale by the
Grimm brothers in which endless amounts of food are provided to
those who dine at the table. This idea reflects one of the most
basic needs of humanity that often goes unmet in our world. At
Kirche in Aktion, we believe part of our role in bringing a bit of
heaven to earth includes feeding hungry people. Just as people
hunger and thirst for natural food, we understand that they also
hunger and thirst for spiritual nurture, purpose and a deep need to
ascribe meaning to the unexplained events in their lives.
Through Tischelin Deck Dich we serve newcomers to Germany—mostly

refugees, many of whom have fled dangers in their home countries.
A free buffet meal with soft drinks is offered to all guests along
with a healthy serving of warm greetings, games and laughter.
Sometimes, refugees volunteer to prepare meals from their homelands
and in doing so provide a long-missed taste of home to our visiting
guests. This has become a strategy and increasingly popular way to
connect and follow up with many Muslim families who have entered
Germany in recent years. Through shared stories we build
relationships and launch conversations from the common ground of
belief in a powerful God to whom we must answer one day. The
Tischlein Deck Dich meets refugees’ hunger for a life with purpose
and belonging.
Deep Talk
Short dialogues around eternal truths
As people formulate their views of what Kirche in Aktion, and

Christianity is about, questions regarding things spiritual and
natural inevitably emerge. This is where Deep Talk comes into focus.
Deep Talk is an “all welcomed” forum for honest questioning—and
answering newcomers’ thoughts about the Bible, its worldview and
systems of thought, and what Christians believe and teach from it.
67
Important Christian perspectives on any life issue become the topic
of deep discussion and exploration.
Deep Talk sessions typically begin with a half-hour video to

jumpstart discussion that progresses to offer relevant Christian
teachings and life principles, simplified and explained on a
practical level. The goal of these sessions is to help participants
get in touch with the living spiritual content of the Bible and
deepen personal faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.
SpielMobil
Come out and play - Kids can be kids again and adults can relax
The SpielMobil is a ministry primarily serving refugees in Germany.

One of the dangers to the generation of children caught in the
current refugee crisis is the loss of stability, innocence, and
simple pleasures that potentially blights their childhood and
subsequent development.
Through a partnership with World Vision it serves to mitigate the

ill-effects of stressful migration to a new and strange land. The
fully loaded SpielMobil arrives at refugee housing centers and offers
these children and their parents the confidence of a safe opportunity
for children of all ages to come out, play and resume the important
business of fun-filled learning and growth as children. The
SpielMobil van is equipped with toys, games, puzzles, sporting
equipment, musical instruments, and craft supplies to suit every age
group.
Trained volunteers organize and create a safe place for kids to be

kids again while other volunteers seek to create community connection
among parents and care-givers over refreshments and conversation. All
are afforded a refreshing break from the day’s routine. Later, they
can retire with good memories of time well spent.
Small Groups
A time to grow
Kirche in Aktion’s Small Groups are just that — small groups of

Christ-followers who have committed to meet for a time to spur mutual
growth in the faith. To support the variety of goals these groups set
for themselves, an online resource library was established. Bible
book studies, videos, discussion guides, other good Christian
literature, etc., is made available for these groups to use at their
leisure for personalized spiritual development.
68
When expanding to a new city, the goal is to replicate the 8 key
ministry endeavors to build a solid foundation for a new church.
Appendix C – Questionnaire
1. How much time do you spend in third places?
2. What are your favourite third places?
3. What makes you feel comfortable in those places?
4. Have you had significant conversations at those places?
5. How did you hear about church services at the coffee shop?
6. When did you hear about it for the 1st time?
7. When did you attend a church service at a coffee shop for the 1st time?
8. What were your reasons to attend it?
9. How many times did you attend a church service at a coffee shop?
10. If you went more than once, why did you go repeatedly to such services? What attracts
you?
11. If you went only once, what stopped you from attending more services?
12. How important is it for you to attend a church service in a public place on a scale from
0 – not important at all to 5 – very important
13. Have you been to other church services before? If yes, how many times and where?
14. Did you get baptized by the church that runs the coffee shop ministry that you attended?
15. If yes, when did you get baptized?
16. What faith background do you have?
17. Would you consider yourself to belong to a marginalized group of society?
18. What is your sex?
19. What age range do you find yourself in?
18 – 23, 24 – 29, 30 – 35, 36 – 41, 41 – 46, 47 – 52, 53 – 58, 59 – 64, 65 – 70, 71 - 76
69

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THIRD PLACE MINISTRIES IN REACHING NON-BELIEVERS IN POSTMODERN CITIES OF THE RHEIN-MAIN-AREA IN GERMANY - Master of Arts Dissertation June 2019

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AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THIRD PLACE MINISTRIES IN REACHING NON-BELIEVERS IN POSTMODERN CITIES OF THE RHEIN-MAIN-AREA IN GERMANY - Master of Arts Dissertation June 2019

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AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS

OF THIRD PLACE MINISTRIES

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment

MASTER OF ARTS IN THEOLOGY

NAZARENE THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE

Wiesbaden, June 20th 2019

2. Field research ..................................................................................................................... 8

3. Urbanization in the European context of German cities ................................................. 13

4. The importance of third places in postmodern cities of Europe ..................................... 16

5. Recent developments in contextual / liberation theology .............................................. 22

6. Coffee shop ministries in the light of theology of place .................................................. 27

aspects of church services in public places .......................................................................... 34

Appendix A – Ecclesiology of Church in Action .................................................................... 57

Appendix B – Strategic Ministries of Church in Action ........................................................ 64

which lies in the focus of this research paper.

compared to other environments with rather homogenous demographic structures.

Nowadays diversity in demographics and heterogeneous societies make it difficult to speak

as the “typical non-believer” who needs to be reached out to.

environments of European cities and it is questionable how effective each of these

study and examination from different theological perspectives.

representative for all similar ministries.

places in urban context and is followed by a reflection on recent developments in contextual

non-traditional church services in public places is included.

and whether that includes its financial performance or not.

factors such as:

- How many non-believers are drawn to low-threshold church services in cafés?

- How many of these belong to marginalized groups of society?

participants provide some answers to the above questions.

for such type of ministry.

Case study of CiA´s coffee shop ministry

after they had given their answers to the questionnaire.

time spent at third places may be distributed in different places.

coffee shops undermines their importance in daily urban life.

trade aspect of coffee shops run by church.

experienced it sometimes in the past.

between the invitation and first attendance.

social projects presented, listening to an influencer, sympathy for the pastor,

commitment as a board member / leader of the Church of the Nazarene – each

by an inspirational message, enjoying a non-churchy set-up and good location

(each received one vote) and

- meeting new people, having good / interesting conversations, being attracted by

an appealing vision (each named twice) to

open-minded community or [feeling like] belonging to the CiA community (each

going to church services.

training lessons or for tournaments / performances.

important to them. One of them stated that he is an atheist.

or a few (two persons) and dozens of times (seven persons).

18. Eleven men and nine women participated in the survey.

had one representative.

3. Urbanization in the European context of German cities

Demographics in this geographic region show a heterogeneous mix of a multitude of

according to estimated numbers published by the renowned newspaper “Die Zeit”.

fewer official followers according to statistics by the “Fowid Group” (“Forschungsgruppe

Weltanschauungen in Deutschland” = lit. “Research Group for Ideologies in Germany”). Its

confessional citizens8. This high percentage is in accord with “conventional secularization

of personal spirituality…[which] is entirely consistent with modernization, since it is a

symptom of the continued separation, or differentiation, between religion and politics,

public and private.”11

2% to other Christian communities or religions. Urbanization as well as global migration has

Muslim - immigrants. Urbanization in Europe is also characterized by secularization, which

4. The importance of third places in postmodern cities of Europe

Third places as fulfilling socio-economic needs

Third Places as fulfilling spiritual needs

their time at when not being at home or at their workplace.