Decline of Malls and the Church

The Gruen Effect, episode 163 of the podcast 99% Invisible, shares the story of an architect who desired to build third places for those living in suburban areas. The idea morphed over time and became what we now call the "shopping mall". The shopping mall was a shell of what Victor Gruen imagined and since their peak in the 1990's shopping malls have been in decline. The last new indoor shopping mall was built in 2006. 

This does not mean that Americans are less consumeristic and thus the mall is no longer financially stable. People shop and spend but now there is a massive trend not only to move away from the indoor shopping mall but to move toward "lifestyle centers".

These are areas where people live, work and shop all in the same area. In the area I live there you can see Southlake Town Square or West 7th as a lifestyle center. 

When I heard this story, I could not help but think about the Church. Specifically how the Church has had the mall mentality and how there needs to be a shift. The Church could/should shift to lifestyle centers mentality. Church is not someplace you attend, but something you live. Religion is not something that is separate from your life but interwoven into it.

As Churchill once said, "We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us." Christianity has shaped the faith around buildings (like malls) and we now come to think that our faith is separate from our lives. So what would it look like for Christianity to move away from the mall mentality of doing Church? What sort of ways would a lifestyle center sort of Church shape Christians in the next 100 years?

RobCast - The Podcast by Rob Bell

Rob Bell has created a podcast entitled "Robcast". It is not bad if you like Rob Bell but if you don't then you might not. I happen to like him and so I am enjoying the "Robcast". 

"Salmon River" by Fredlyfish4 at the English language Wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salmon_River.JPG#/media/File:Salmon_River.JPG

In the second episode Bell spoke of the saying: first a mountain is a mountain and a river is a river, then a mountain is not a mountain and a river is not a river, and then a mountain is a mountain and a river is a river again.

Bell goes through and talks about how when we are young we believe things are what others tell us they are. A river is a river and a mountain is a mountain. God is in heaven, Jesus died for you, etc.

At some point in our lives we begin to question everything. This is natural and only the most insecure of adults fear this when they see younger generations go through this process of deconstructing. A river is no longer a river and a mountain is no longer a mountain. God is not in heaven, Jesus did not die for you specifically, etc.

This is where the challenge is. Once we deconstruct the things in our lives, the next part of life is to reconstruct something out of those pieces. Over time many of the things that we learned when we were small and then broke apart begin to make sense in a different way than they did before. We may not believe that God is an actual man in the clouds, but we are comfortable talking about the hands and feet of God once again. We understand things in a different way even though we may use language we previously dismissed. The river is a river again, and the mountain is a mountain again. God is in heaven, Jesus died for you, etc. 

Not everything will return. That is true. After Seminary I cannot go back to seeing God exclusively as a male. After my sons were born I cannot go back to seeing God as demanding the death of Jesus. After seeing where the logic takes me, I can no longer affirm that everything happens for a reason. There are somethings that may be discarded for a long time.

First a mountain is a mountain and a river is a river, then a mountain is not a mountain and a river is not a river, and then a mountain is a mountain and a river is a river again.

Preacher of the Month - May

In a new and ongoing effort to highlight the different voices around the United Methodist world that I live in, I would like to introduce you to Rev. Kyland Dobbins, the Preacher of the Month (May 2015).

I invite you to also spend time to learn more about him in the full write up here.