A Gospel-centered community will be a space in which the human and divine can meet in creative encounter. One aspect of cultural change that accompanies the reshaping of the urban landscape is the unprecedented growth in places that intentionally create a 'third space'. The online journal In Third Space defines this construct as 'a conceptual area that exists beyond conventional categories...a state of hybridity and fluidity'. More prosaically, Starbucks...has applied this terminology to its own stores, promoting them as a third-space experience where people can spend time creating and enjoying a new community that is somewhere between work (where relationships are generally highly structured and McDonaldized) and home (where isolation and boredom are often the norm). Their introduction of coffee cups bearing wise sayings under the banner of 'the way I see it' serves to underline the ever-present search for meaning and purpose in life by offering customers something to talk about that will lift their conversations beyond the mundane and everyday. Starbucks describe this as 'a way to promote open, respectful conversation among a wide variety of individuals'. When I first came across these cups, and engaged in precisely that sort of conversation over coffee with others who happened to be there, I instantly thought to myself, 'But isn't this what church is supposed to be like?' - or, maybe with greater theological accuracy, 'Isn't this actually church, but it's happening outside the boundaries of what we think church is?' Christians who want to make a difference will be a part of the third spaces of the culture, either by operating within such spaces where they already exist (typically city centers and rural locations), or by helping to create them where there is no common meeting ground for lonely people to find community (typically the suburbs). Jesus knew how to occupy the third spaces of his culture, and always operated in a setting where he would naturally bump into people. That is where discipleship was nurtured and the lost were invited to be a part of the conversation. Without this kind of space, it is hard to follow the apostolic injunctions to build one another up in faith. The inherited paradigm has given us structures that model Sunday services, but few third spaces that can model discipleship (2008:56).