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In October 2022, Grandview UMC expanded our ministry to reach new people in new places. As of October 1st, 2022 we established a second campus at the Cuyahoga Falls Gateway to Connection building (the Gateway) in Downtown Cuyahoga Falls.
Since 2017 the City of Cuyahoga Falls has revitalized its Downtown area, especially Front St. along the Cuyahoga River. In the course of this time many new businesses have opened drawing local residents to the area, and at the end of 2022 every available space has been claimed by a local business owner.
Since my arrival at Grandview in July 2017 it’s been weighing on my heart the potential of a second campus along Front Street. However, the cost of opening a storefront second campus on Front Street was not feasible.
Grandview has been a member of the Falls Chamber since 2021 and I’ve been developing relationships with several Chamber members and Chamber director Kamelia Fisher. In August 2022, under the guidance of Fisher, the Cuyahoga Falls Chamber of Commerce relocated its office to the Gateway building in Downtown Cuyahoga Falls, located at 111 Stow Ave. This building also serves as a Co-Working space for Chamber member businesses. In September I took a tour of the facility and I was overcome with excitement. The opportunity for a second campus in Downtown Cuyahoga Falls had presented itself. Furthermore, to be a church coming into the beginning stages of something new in our community was an opportunity we couldn’t miss. With the blessing of the Grandview church council I drafted a proposal to request TAP grant funds to rent a cubicle at the Gateway.
As the request for TAP funds were approved I began thinking of the possibilities. Establishing a campus at a Co-Working will bring people to Christ as it will provide a church space in one of the rapidly growing workspaces in the U.S. in addition to providing a church presence in the Gateway building and Downtown area.
Co-working spaces are rapidly growing in the United States. CNBC reported the following regarding co-working spaces pre and post pandemic. “Prior to the pandemic, co-working spaces were the fastest-growing type of office space in commercial real estate. While they currently comprise less than 5% of the market, they’re expected to make up 30% by 2030, according to real-estate company JLL.”
Zippia.com reports incredible statistics regarding coworking spaces:
- There are more than 6,200 coworking spaces in the U.S. as of 2022
- There are approximately 933,000 people in the U.S. who use coworking spaces.
- The U.S. only had about 4,000 coworking spaces available in 2017, meaning the number of coworking spaces has grown by roughly 55% in 5 years.
- The average age of coworking space members around the world is 36 years old.
The definition of coworking is when people assemble in a neutral space to work independently on different projects or in groups on the same projects. It’s different from a typical office workspace because the people in a coworking environment generally aren’t working for the same company. https://drop-desk.com/what-is-coworking
A church campus at a coworking space is an opportunity to share the Gospel with working professionals, remote workers and others as co-worker spaces are community and human spaces, as this this excerpt from smallbizlabs.com indicates: “They (co-working spaces) are places where members work, network, learn and socialize together." In other words, coworking spaces are human spaces.”
It is in the human and community spaces that Jesus ministered and to which the church is called to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We all need a return to human spaces since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since our second campus opened at the Gateway, Grandview UMC has been able to share God’s love with working professionals. The Gateway building hosted our Senior Adult Ministries Christmas party in December. We also were asked to decorate for Christmas and were able to provide a tree and decorations. In addition, we handed out gift cards to a local coffee shop to all current Gateway tenants as Christmas gifts. Our Acts of Adoration Advent challenge also had a tree at our Gateway Campus which drew in people from the community to pick up an ornament.
How can your congregation reach new people in new places? The best way is to be like Jesus and get out into the community and see what opportunities the Spirit opens up.
A special thank you to Rev. Angela Lewis and the Canal District TAP Grant Committee.
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