A Job I Would Like When I Grow Up

The Life Group we host at our house is working through Outflow by Steve Sjogren and Dave Ping. The subtitle is pretty descriptive: outward-focused living in a self-focused world. We've had some good discussions so far, and I'm looking forward to this week's session as we look at practical ways to impact our community.

As a part of my preparation, I've been re-reading some of Sjogren's earlier works, and one in particular - Community of Kindness - has some really good nuggets in it. Like this one:

Become an "atmosphere artist" - in other words,

build a place where Jesus is warmly encountered.

Architects are primarily artists - they design buildings that are things of beauty. The most famous architects design buildings that people never forget. Church leaders need to have that same kind of mindset, but in a much more important way: where architects bring beauty out of bricks and mortar to the world, church leaders bring great gifts that change the world. Those gifts are the communities that bring the Kingdom of God to Earth.

Church leaders have the opportunity to design the atmosphere - the feel, experience, and environment of all the various areas of church life. It's a great opportunity - and also a large task.

How are you at being an "experience architect"?