Thanks to sociologists, the phrase third place is part of most people’s lexicon. It refers to that place away from work and home where people can hang out. Think of third places as postmodern versions of ancient wells. In a sense, coffeehouses are wells. They are the natural gathering places in our culture.

I just read an interview with Howard Schultz, Starbuck’s chief global strategist. He said, “The physical environment has become as important as anything we do, including the coffee.”

Think about the profundity of that statement. Starbucks isn’t in the coffee business. They are in the third place business.

Schultz said, “The environment and the experience is the brand. It’s a very important distinction that people use our stores all over the world as an extension of their daily lives, and sometimes the coffee is subordinate to that.”

One of the ten buzz commandments is Thou Shalt Hang Out At Wells. We need to find creative ways to turn our churches into third places. I know there is a fine line here. But I’m hearing about more churches building community centers and restaurants and coffeehouses and gyms that serve a dual-purpose. They serve the community and the church.

For what it’s worth, we haven’t started renting out Ebenezers but we have about forty requests sitting on the table! We have created a place where the community can congregate.

Here is the challenge we face as churches: how do we become part of the daily routine of people’s lives?

One reason why we built a coffeehouse is because we didn’t want it to be a place where a few hundred people gathered once a week. We wanted it to be a place where hundreds of people gathered every day of the week!

And the cool thing is that every penny of profit goes to our community outreach and missionary endeavors.

I think part of being shrewd as snakes is learning from business models. We can’t let Starbucks beat us at the Third Place game! We need to find creatives ways of turning our churches into wells.

Coffee for thought.