Future directions?

>Tasmania; it’s not exactly the first place you think of when looking for innovation and cutting edge developments. It’s the home of Cadbury chocolates, King Island Cheese, and yes, the Tasmanian devil. It’s also the birthplace of one of the most well thought out hubs for the movement of Jesus I’ve ever seen.

The tailrace centre (www.tailracecentre.net.au) sits on a prime piece of land 5 mins from the centre of Launceston. It contains the seals café, uniquely positioned to adjoin Kids Paradise. Parents can enjoy a coffee or a meal, while the kids run wild through a multi-million dollar world designed with them in mind. Dress up rooms, two pirate ships, an aquatic room, and a slippery slide that joins the bottom floor. And the bottom floor is quite a site; three inflatable rides, an x-box gaming room and an outdoors zone complete one of the most amazing concepts I’ve ever seen. I want to be a kid, or have a kid, just so I can go there. Parents pay $18 to have their kid explore and enjoy this amazing place. On site is also a fully-fledged conference centre, which can cater for 5-500 people. The seals café does the catering, and it’s used for weddings, football functions, local government meetings and also a church.

The church is called New Directions. They started several years ago, and they own the whole building. Their elders lease the spaces to run Kids World and seals café as independent business, removing the church from the day-to-day operations but providing them with a risk-free income, and the use of their space for a majority of the week. Rather than laying dormant for 75% of the week, this building is in use every day. It’s also seen 100,000 people pass through the doors in the first 18 months of business; staggering when you consider the population of Launceston is only 75,000. The venue is staffed by church leaders when booked out for functions, who are all trained in serving alcohol, which is key in creating an environment where alcohol is consumed in moderation.

The New Directions team have succeeded in creating a hub that frees them from the trap of an internally focused church. Their resources have been strategically leveraged to meet the needs of their community, not propel the machinations of the church. They are the waiters and child-carers of their city, and their resources are generously available for any and every community member to benefit from. Their church offices are not on the site of the Tailrace Centre, so even church groups have to book in before they can use it, creating a neutral space that is Church owned.

The New Directions team also has plans to create residential space on site to house the down and out; families in crisis, orphans, run-away’s, single parents and others who cannot on their own find adequate housing. The team runs intensives for emerging spiritual leaders and church planters, assessing them in core areas of competency and development. Theirs is a holistic approach that assesses gifting, character, experience, theology and history.

A community that in the present is defying the past and creating the future. What would happen if we were all brave enough to leverage our resources in such an innovative and strategic fashion to cultivate repour and relationship with those who inhabit the same postcode as us?