Identity Spaces
What role do physical spaces play in our spiritual experiences? This article was written for the print publication The WaterStone Journal.
“Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.” - James 1:17 (MSG)
900 North Street has been a desirable and beneficial gift to each and every one of us. These four walls have seen flocks of people leave differently than when they come in. One of the things I love most about our staff is how much value we put into even the smallest matters. We decorate the tight spaces and shine the weathered floors. We try to live out Luke 16:10, “Whoever can be trusted with small things can also be trusted with big things.” Delight is the daughter of gratitude, and we delight in 900 North.
With that said, I think many of us take for granted the versatile nature of our space. Our church is a living, breathing, Swiss Army Knife. Every inch of this space is used to it’s utter capacity. We are now unable to provide quality working and gathering conditions for our attendees and staff. Each room in this building has a complete identity swap almost every day of the week. We have offices shoved in storage closets and no space for volunteer training or support, much less a school. While the skillful swapping of rooms is something to celebrate, it also illuminates something we lack entirely: identity spaces. Identity spaces are places tailored to certain demographics of people.
Buildings were not meant to be one-size-fits-all all. Every genre of gathering requires a different genre of spatial needs, so by conforming every gathering to the same space, we are effectively depriving every people group of essential supportive elements that allow them to feel at home, as ease, and connected with the group. For instance, our Young Adult ministry meets in the Kids rooms, which is also WaterStone Academy.
Adults are then stepping into an environment they immediately know isn’t meant for them. Our God is a master environmentalist, making spaces for us here on Earth, and above in Heaven, for us to experience His glory. We, as stewards of His people, should do the same. Prepare excellent places for people to find refuge and focus. Specialized spaces means that we reach specialized needs. Building for life isn’t an aspiration to become bigger, it is a present need that we need to fill. We believe that one day, our campus will be a space for people to experience the intentional ministry of Jesus in intentional identity spaces.
