A Sense of Place in Local Church Life and Mission

Explore why place and belonging matter for local churches, with seven practical ways congregations can ground ministry in their place.

The Greek New Testament word for church is ekklesia, meaning “called out.” While this denotes a people set apart by a particular faith identity, it can also be interpreted geographically. When the congregation gathers, its members are called out from their varied and scattered locations into a particular place where the meanings and symbols of Christian faith are introduced and experienced. In what follows, I make two observations about a sense of place in relation to the local congregation.

The Local Church as a Sense of Belonging

Firstly, there is no doubt that a local church can be a vital component in any individual person’s sense of place. This is because place is essentially about a sense of belonging and a sense of groundedness. It is expressed by cultural heritage, memory, nostalgia, customs, commemorations, traditions, celebrations, values, beliefs and lifestyles.

There is a shared sense of belonging in a community where being understood is important and you are part of a beloved group. A sense of belonging acts as an all encompassing set of beliefs, enriches our identity and relationships and leads to acceptance and understanding. We are in a context graced by acceptance, safety and security.

It is home. Home is being part of a community and is an irreplaceable source of stability in a time of chaos.

A local church is one of these communities. It has a host of meanings for both churchgoers and non-churchgoers alike. The local church is a central part of the construction of place and people’s attachment to a cultural landscape and locality.

When a person’s sense of place is threatened then their sense of self, identity, safety, stability, and security are challenged. Where there is a loss of a person’s sense of place and belonging to a place they go through a grieving process. We often see this in reactions to the closure, sale and de-consecration of a local church building. Such actions are felt as a threat to a person’s sense of place. People often have a loyalty to their local place well beyond their level of faith in Christianity.

Why the Church Needs a Sense of Place

My second observation is that a local church needs to have a sense of place as a key determinant, stimulus, and inspiration for what it is and what it is about. The physical location of the church has too often been regarded merely as a stage or backdrop rather than having a unique character within God’s redeemed creation and being a home place where God provides the resources for a congregation to fulfil its mission.

If we take seriously the human and non-human condition to which the gospel is addressed, not to mention the doctrine of creation, we can hardly justify ignoring the fundamentally and inescapably “placed” character of any congregation as both proclaimer and hearer of the Good News.

Unfortunately, although place is an important dimension of our individual and collective existence, it has received little theological attention in spite – or because – of being so obvious. Scant focus is given to the dimension of place in thinking about our ministry and mission. Such a focus may be dismissed as irrelevant, non-essential, trivial and sentimental. The various ways in which we connect to the life of our place may be disconnected from one another and categorised as “social” rather than “spiritual.” They are seldom subject to a process of deep and sustained moral or theological reflection.

Four Basic Affirmations

That process begins perhaps with the acceptance and adoption of four basic affirmations:

We affirm that the whole creation is God’s and that its care is a proper concern of Christian communities.
We affirm the relationship between God and non-human life that exists independently of human life.
We affirm the mutual support of human and non-human life in praising God.
We affirm humanity’s role to bring earthly orders to their fullest potential.

These affirmations are a worthy alternative to any fear-driven motive to “save the world.” They release us from the dangers of consumerism, dehumanisation, disregard for creation, and the quest for personal and collective security by obtaining power over others. They avoid the risk of engaging in fashionably “green” feel-good activities that raise no deeper questions about cultural values and public policies. They make a sense of place more integral to a local church’s aspirations and actions.

Seven Ways to Ground Ministry in a Sense of Place

Jeff Wild and Peter Bakken, in their 2009 book Church on Earth: Grounding Your Ministry in a Sense of Place (pp. 79-80), summarise what a congregation can contribute, through teachings and practices grounded by a sense of place, to shape minds and hearts towards a more responsible and sustainable society. They list seven actions:

Move the physical infrastructure and systems on which we depend from the background to the foreground of our awareness, so that we can no longer take them for granted.
Focus attention on the intangible but physically and biologically grounded, factors that make for quality of life – such as beauty, community, and contact with nature.
Enable experiences that foster an individual’s “eco-identity”, i.e. attachment to, and empathy with, the natural world.
Provide opportunities for direct experience of one’s personal ability to preserve, enhance or restore creation.
Cultivate appreciation for the integrity and independent reality of the natural world as God’s creation.
Foster a social and environmental ethic of responsibility, hospitality, care, and interdependence.
Witness to the power of the gospel of Christ to sustain persistent and creative engagement with a wounded world, and to motivate opposition to all the forces that would degrade and destroy it.

In these seven ways, attending to place as a dimension of human experience can provide a new perspective on our church’s mission, ministry and proclamation, providing more concrete ways of relating a Christian theology of creation and redemption to people’s lives as well as engaging us more constructively with contemporary needs and possibilities in God’s world. We need to embody a sense of place in the way we cherish land and property, serve our community, and work for peace and justice.

In the words of the old adage: “Bloom where you are planted!”

The Material Culture of the Congregation

Of particular importance is the material culture of the congregation. The church’s building, grounds, and use of resources are the most visible, direct and concrete ways that a congregation relates to its place and the rest of creation. They are a good place to think how a congregation embodies and embeds itself in its place.

I recommend that congregations should ponder their property and the activities therein, as a sphere in which members can grow into a deeper understanding for, appreciation of, and wonder at, creation.

Further, a church’s daily operations involve a flow of materials and energy – water, electricity, food, paper – from the environment and back into it again. Assessing the impact of the church’s premises upon the environment requires a deliberate act of consciousness raising and commitment, renouncing unnecessary use of non-renewable resources, non-recyclable materials, toxic cleaning chemicals and fertllisers, etc.

A Countercultural Sense of Place

A local congregation that celebrates, individually and collectively, the whole creation as the theatre of God’s grace in word, deed, and design; that cultivates an ethos of personal responsibility for the wellbeing of neighbour and neighbourhood; that advocates for a politics of compassion and an economy of care, is profoundly countercultural.

All of these are expressions of having a sense of place as a pivotal influence on ministry and mission. Against the current backdrop of global injustice and environmental degradation:

That sense of place may indeed become the yeast that leavens the whole lump (Matthew 13:33).

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

How does your church relate to the environment and creation?
Which of Wild and Bakken’s seven courses of action resonates most strongly with you? Why?
Are there any affirmations and renunciations that you would add or remove from those mentioned above?
How does the landscape around your church enhance or detract from deeper appreciation and reflection on the wonder of creation?

A Sense of Place (Part 3 of 3): Its Significance for the Local Church