Trading Spaces: Church and Spaces of Belonging (Post Covid-19)
This week I re-read Joseph Myers’ book The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community and Small Groups. In the book, he fleshes out Edward Hall’s work from the early 1960s when Hall identified four spaces of human interaction: public, social, personal, and intimate.
I think it would be helpful for church leaders to become familiar with the basic premise of Hall’s and Myer’s work on spaces of belonging since gatherings will more than likely be limited in size when churches are allowed to begin meeting again. If you are not familiar with how each of the spaces are defined, here is a very simple definition of each.
Public Space involves 70 or more people. In public space, communication (or activity) is most often one-way. In other words, one person communicates or performs while the rest watch and listen. Gathering in public space makes genuine interaction difficult. Examples would include sporting events, concerts, political rallies, and many church gatherings.
Social Space is where we share in what the New Testament calls oikos, groups of 20-50. Social space is small enough for people to experience genuine community but large enough to mobilize people for movement and impact. I think it was Mike Breen who said that this size group was “small enough to care, but large enough to dare.”
Personal Space is where we experience belonging among “close friends.” This involves groups of 6-12 people.
Intimate Space is the space where people can share their deepest selves. Most people only ever have a handful of truly intimate relationships. This group includes a very small number of people, usually only 2-4.
What would it look like for your church to provide more opportunities for belonging in social, personal and intimate space?
If you can’t go back to gathering in public spaces, how will you structure for discipleship and mission?
