Helping
people find
a better
way to live

Third Place Chicago is a community center of Redeemer Church, a small Christian congregation with locations in the city of Park Ridge and here on the Northwest Side of Chicago. We believe that God is already at work everywhere, putting the world back together into a place of peace, love, and joy. We believe that actively following Jesus lets us participate more fully in that work God is doing. And we believe that following Jesus and being a part of that work simply makes life better, for everyone.

Spiritual Growth Coaching helps you discover your personalized path to a better way to live. Your trained Spiritual Growth Coach asks questions that help you explore the biggest questions in life: What do I want? What am I here for? Is there more to life than this? How do I live well? Is there hope for this world? What’s one practical step I can take this week? Coaching is not counseling, mentoring, or consulting. Coaching is a series of question-based conversations between a trained coach and someone open to exploring growth and change in his or her life. The coach’s questions help the person being coached to clarify goals, discover resources, explore options, and decide on a plan. The focus is on what one or two things a person could do to take the next concrete step toward a life of greater love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

A first meeting usually takes 90 minutes. Your coach will provide more information about the coaching process, answer any questions you have, and start to ask questions to get you thinking about what growth is most immediately important to you. You may have a pretty good idea when you start or you may come in without much of a sense of what you want to change. Either way is fine! There’s no commitment to continue in coaching if you feel that it’s not a good fit going forward.

Nope. We’re Christians, and we’re not trying to hide that or to pull a bait-and-switch. We believe that it’s the way of life Jesus taught that allows us to live better, but you don’t need to share that faith commitment in order to get coaching. We invite you to put a new way of living to the test even if you think the theology behind it is nonsense! A spirit of openness and exploration is really helpful, and the decisions about the changes you want to make are always in your hands.

There’s no commitment needed to have a first meeting. If you want to continue coaching going forward, the frequency of meetings really depends on what you’re working on, what kind of support and accountability is helpful for you, and your schedule. It’s a good idea to meet with your coach at least quarterly (four times a year). Many people find it helpful to meet more frequently than that, but it all depends on the goals you establish with your coach.

Just some time, openness, and effort.

Third Place Chicago is a not-for-profit supported by financial donations from individuals/families and short-term grants from partner organizations. In order to be sustainable long-term, we’ll be dependent on financial support from people who participate and find our work together to be transformative. Our purpose is to build a Christian community (church) of people who are growing together and becoming more than the sum of their parts through God’s work. We’ll never be fee-for-service, but we absolutely do need the financial support of committed participants to make this work!

A first meeting is about 90 minutes. (If you need to be sure to keep it within a certain timeframe, just make sure you let your coach know when you start!)

Click here to schedule a Spiritual Growth Coaching Conversation.

We know how it feels to go through life feeling unseen and anonymous. We know how it feels to have “neighbors” we couldn’t pick out of a lineup. We know how it feels to get manipulated into despising people we don’t even know. But it’s hard to despise someone when you know their story. It’s easy to like someone when you know who they really are. And it’s possible to really feel like a neighbor when you’ve had a conversation.

You can build real peace and community, right here in your neighborhood. Land of 1,000 Conversations is a project to build a better life together through the simple act of listening to and sharing our stories.

We’re going to keep a spirit of experimentation with this, but our initial plan is to hold some gatherings on evenings and weekends when interested people can get together at Third Place Chicago for one-on-one conversations. Over the course of 90 minutes, you’ll have two conversations with people you don’t know yet. Some questions will be provided to prompt good conversation, but you don’t need to talk about anything you don’t want to talk about. This will be a safe space for brief, hopeful, authentic, mutual, uncensored, respectful, curious, personal, open, and confidential conversations. You can be a part of putting the world back together through the simple act of listening and sharing!

Safety is crucial. This isn’t an opportunity to judge or attack. Nor is it a place to speed date. If you ever feel uncomfortable during a conversation, please don’t hesitate to tell a staff member, who will promptly intervene. This can only work if we all feel that it’s a safe space to share.