Can you really make a place?

06/29/21 • 50 min

In this episode, Sara Joy and Eric continue their conversation about place with Chris Elisara at Ormond Center to consider the various ways we impact the places we live, work, play, and worship. Placemaking can sound like an abstract concept, but it is essentially helping our places become places worth caring about. Anyone or any church can engage in placemaking.

Some key questions addressed in this episode are:

1. Is placemaking possible? Place is not just given, we contribute to our places in ways that honor God and in ways that dishonor God every day.

2. Is placemaking Biblical? Part of our calling as humans and as followers of Christ is to bless others through activities like placemaking.

3. Is placemaking ecclesial? Not only is it appropriate for the church to be involved in placemaking. The church has a unique role and perspective on placemaking.

4. Is placemaking scalable? Placemaking can be as simple as putting a dog bowl with water in front of the church or as complex as helping to design a network of sidewalks for the community.

In addition to talking about placemaking itself, we also discover that Chris’s actual job title is ‘Studio Lead for and Senior Fellow for Placemaking’ at Ormond Center. That definitely gives The Embedded Church podcast some street cred.

Access more Show Notes with pictures and resources related to this episode.

More information about this podcast and helpful church and urbanism resources can be found on The Embedded Church website.

Related Resources

Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life by Eric Klinenberg

Redemptive Placemaking Toolkit: Discerning your church's mission in the built environment by Sara Joy Proppe & Edward Dunar (Use discount code EmbeddedChurch at checkout to receive 15% off purchase price.)

Tactical Urbanism by Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia

Seaside City of Ideas - a documentary film about the making of Seaside, FL and the community design intentions behind this New Urbanist town

Parish Collective - an organization connecting people to be the church in the neighborhood

Placemakers - a group of planners, urban designers, form-based code wranglers, storytellers, advisors and advocates working on making places

Project for Public Spaces - an organization bringing public spaces to life by planning and designing them with the people who use them every day

Proximity Project - a consulting and education firm that helps churches align their mission with their property assets for the flourishing of their neighborhood

Find these Key Terms on The Embedded Church website

Place

Placemaking

Tactical Urbanism

Show Credits

Hosted and Produced by Eric O. Jacobsen and Sara Joy Proppe

Edited by Adam Higgins | Odd Dad Out Voice Productions

Theme Music by Jacob Shaffer

Artwork by Lance Kagey | Rotator Creative

Some key questions addressed in this episode are:

1. Is placemaking possible? Place is not just given, we contribute to our places in ways that honor God and in ways that dishonor God every day.

2. Is placemaking Biblical? Part of our calling as humans and as followers of Christ is to bless others through activities like placemaking.

3. Is placemaking ecclesial? Not only is it appropriate for the church to be involved in placemaking. The church has a unique role and perspective on placemaking.

4. Is placemaking scalable? Placemaking can be as simple as putting a dog bowl with water in front of the church or as complex as helping to design a network of sidewalks for the community.

Access more Show Notes with pictures and resources related to this episode.

More information about this podcast and helpful church and urbanism resources can be found on The Embedded Church website.

Related Resources

Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life by Eric Klinenberg

Tactical Urbanism by Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia

Seaside City of Ideas - a documentary film about the making of Seaside, FL and the community design intentions behind this New Urbanist town

Parish Collective - an organization connecting people to be the church in the neighborhood

Placemakers - a group of planners, urban designers, form-based code wranglers, storytellers, advisors and advocates working on making places

Project for Public Spaces - an organization bringing public spaces to life by planning and designing them with the people who use them every day

Proximity Project - a consulting and education firm that helps churches align their mission with their property assets for the flourishing of their neighborhood

Find these Key Terms on The Embedded Church website

Place

Placemaking

Tactical Urbanism

Show Credits

Hosted and Produced by Eric O. Jacobsen and Sara Joy Proppe

Edited by Adam Higgins | Odd Dad Out Voice Productions

Theme Music by Jacob Shaffer

Artwork by Lance Kagey | Rotator Creative

Previous Episode

Defining Place

Place is a key element of shalom because our identities are rooted in place and we connect to one another through place. In this episode, Eric and Sara Joy discuss the difference between place and space (and why place isn’t always good and space isn’t always bad), while framing both within a biblical understanding. They trace the theme of place from the beginning to the end of the Bible, noting how we are redeemed in place. They also talk with Chris Elisara from Ormond Center who shares about his perception and experience of place and its importance in his family life and community. And they find out where Chris’s cool accent comes from.

They also challenge the notion that we need to choose whether to care for people or places and note that we often are called to love people through loving their places.

Lastly, we find out yet, another reason while Texans are a peculiar (awesome!) breed.

Access more Show Notes with pictures and resources related to this episode.

More information about this podcast and helpful church and urbanism resources can be found on The Embedded Church website.

Related Resources

First and Main Films: Find out more about the films that Chris Elisara mentions in this interview

Better Cities Film Festival

Where Mortals Dwell: A Christian View of Place for Today by Craig Bartholomew

“The Work of Local Culture” in Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community: Eight Essays by Wendell Berry

Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America by James and Deborah Fallows

A Christian Theology of Place: Explorations in Practical, Pastoral and Empirical Theology by John Inge

Reclaiming Place in a Disengaged World: An Interview with Eric O. Jacobsen in Fuller Magazine: Issue 17

Find these Key Terms on The Embedded Church website:

Place (and Space)

Hospitality

Placelessness

Show Credits

Hosted and Produced by Eric O. Jacobsen and Sara Joy Proppe

Edited by Adam Higgins | Odd Dad Out Voice Productions

Theme Music by Jacob Shaffer

Artwork by Lance Kagey | Rotator Creative

Next Episode

Amy Sherman on Shalom

In this episode, Eric and Sara Joy interview Dr. Amy Sherman, Senior Fellow and Director of Center on Faith in Communities (CFIC) at the Sagamore Institute to gain her thoughtful insight on the nuance and meaning of the word shalom.

In particular, Amy shares about her forthcoming book, Agents of Flourishing, which centers around six endowments of flourishing (or shalom) that are identified as: the Good, the True, the Beautiful, the Just, the Prosperous, and the Sustainable. She discusses the role of the church in each of these and provides examples and strategies that churches can adopt to be active in these endowments. Her humble approach shines as she talks about the valuable model the church can be simply through advocating for and living out of a lens of human dignity. She laments how we have often failed in this realm and challenges the church to think creatively, be vulnerable, and take some wise risks for the good of their local communities.

Access more Show Notes with pictures and resources related to this episode.

More information about this podcast and helpful church and urbanism resources can be found on The Embedded Church website.

Related Resources

Culture Making by Andy Crouch

Playing God by Andy Crouch

Becoming Whole by Brian Fikkert and Kelly Kapick

The Shaping of Things to Come by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch

The Church and Its Vocation by Michael Goheen

Kingdom Calling by Amy Sherman

How God Became King by N.T. Wright

Simply Christian by N.T. Wright

Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright

Made to Flourish - an organization that empower pastors and their churches to integrate faith, work, and economic wisdom for the flourishing of their communities

Proximity Project - a consulting and education firm that helps churches align their mission with their property assets for the flourishing of their neighborhood

Sagamore Institute - an organization that builds and implements solutions to society’s biggest problems. Through research, consulting, and impact investing, they fight for a society uplifted by heartland policy innovation, business solutions, and citizen engagement

Find these Key Terms on The Embedded Church website:

<...