(e)mergent Voyageurs

As the last week of our DTS lecture phase comes to a close and our students prepare to head to Uganda for the next two months, I am excited to be able to give some extra attention to "The Dusty Cover" project. For those who are not familiar with it, we are working to create a missional "third space" in our neighbourhood, a used bookstore to serve the community and build relationships. Over the last several months we have been collecting books and nearly at our goal of 5000 titles. In the midst of all of this, I have also been seeking to develop and refine the vision more clearly.

Perhaps the biggest shift in this process has been to move away from being a traditional used bookstore. Rather, we are wanting to develop it as a free community space- a place to people to hang out, chat and have a coffee; a place for local university students to study; a place where neighbourhood kids can stop in to visit, do homework or even be tutored; a free reading room and a place for the exchange of ideas. While people are still welcome to buy the books, they are also free to read any of the books in the store without any obligation to purchase. We also hope to be make available other resources to the neighbourhood to help meet the challenges that are common to our inner city neighbourhood.

So why this shift? Urban sociologist, Ray Oldenburg, author of the brilliant book "The Great Good Place", challenged me when he said:

“In the absence of informal public life, living becomes more expensive. Where the means and facilities for relaxation and leisure are not publicly shared, they become the objects of private ownership and consumption.”

By shifting from a business to a community free space, we help to create space where people can relate without financial obligation. In our inner city neighbourhood (and our larger city, for that matter), such spaces are few and far between. The city and province can only do so much with such places as community centres, therefore we need to invest as neighbours. In my recent post "Pattern Of Missionality - Part 1: Neutrality" I explored the importance of making this space safe to build relationships, with no duplicitous intentions either religiously or commercially. While we hope the space will contribute to building genuine and mutual relationships through which we can share the Gospel, we are committed to allowing this to naturally develop through the neutrality of the store.

Oldenburg continues by saying:

“Life without community has produced, for many, a life style consisting mainly of a home-to-work-and-back-again shuttle. Social well-being and psychological health depend upon community. It is no coincidence that the ‘helping professions’ became a major industry... as [urban] planning helped destroy local public life and the community support it once lent.”

This is why we are reworking the vision of the space to driven by community, not business. In addition to this, we are also reconsidering the name of the space to reflect something with a broader definition than just a bookstore, which The Dusty Cover obviously suggests. I am still leaning towards "The Rendezvous" (for reasons I'll elaborate on later), but have not fully decided.

Our biggest challenge, something with which we need your help, is to raise committed financial support to sustain the space. We are within a few months of needing to secure the space we have chosen, but lack the much of the start up costs, as well as enough support to cover the overhead (freeing us from having to make the sales a priority over relationship and service). Our goal is to reach a minimum of $1000 CDN per month in support. We hope to begin more formal fundraising soon, but with our small team, we are hoping for a more grass-roots response.

For those who are interested in supporting this project, feel free to contact me with any questions. Canadians can receive tax receipts for their donations by sending their support to:

Project Funding
PO BOX 57100
2480 E Hastings St
Vancouver, BC V5K 5G6
Canada

donorservices@shaw.ca
(604) 436-4433

All cheques should be made out to "Youth With A Mission" with a separate and attached note saying "Designated for YWAM Urban Ministries Winnipeg - Bookstore". Americans who wish to give cannot be issued tax receipts through Canada, but may find alternatives. Again, feel free to contact me with any questions. Thanks to all of you who have supported this developing vision with books, money, time and energy. We are excited! Keep us in your prayers.

Missional