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Guadalupe Cumplido
Professor Santosh
English 113B
17 May 2016
Church and Facebook
The complex idea of a third space is any place in our lives other than work or home. This place is
used as a focus point of restart. As human beings, we need a break to be able to function with our
daily duties. Most adults have many duties such as work, school, or family, with all of these
responsibilities the third space is a place that can help greatly. Finding a third space can help
many maintain consistency in their duties because a third space is a place where they can rest,
reflect, and reset their priorities as they continue with their day. A third space can be found in
Church and Facebook. These two places can balance the hectic lifestyle of many. Most view
Church as an asset of well-being and encouragement for their lives. In Facebook, people find a
comfortable space for them to stay connected and share posts with people that matter to them.
The first thing that comes to mind when people talk about church is a place where only
religious people spend most of their Sundays. However, for many church members, church has
become a place where they found their third space. The goal of Church is for people to find
peace, unity, and love with members. Church is not only gathering each Sunday but also
volunteering and doing fun events for its members and community. An example is found in the
Shepherd of the Hills Church. They offer so much to its members and community like their
sports for all ages such as basketball, softball, volleyball, soccer, surfing, martial arts. On their
sports website they state their purpose for each of their sports programs. An example is found in
the Adult Sports program page, they state; at Shepherd is geared for adults who love to play

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sports no matter what level it is. Please join us- all are welcome! (1). They invite the community
to be part of all of this as well. Another thing the Shepherd of the Hills Church provides to its
community members is wellness. The offer Health and Fitness classes such as Zumba and
Pilates. They state on their web page; The Health & Fitness Ministry provides programs that
helps you to increase your endurance, strength, and overall health. They go out of their way to
make their members feel their best and pursue a healthier life style. Lastly, the church gives
encouragement to its members. Each Sunday Pastor Dudley Rutherford gives sermons of
encouragement, motivation, and inspiration. My roommate and I attend every other Sunday and
we believe that Pastor Dudleys preaching are therapeutic. For instance, last Sunday he preached
about What is your Purpose?. It was a very inspirational message because he said people have
a heart to give and to help, as some like help the homeless, but everyone has a heart for
something. What is your motive in life? (Rutherford, 3/27/2016) With this one question I
thought about what my motives and goals were at that moment and I was encouraged to continue
strong in school and at work. Church is a great third space for anyone who enjoys going to
church.
Facebook is an online space people use for connecting, sharing, and collaborating with
others. It allows users to create a network of people with whom they wish to share profile
information, photos, comments, status updates, news (Lonnqvist, JE, and FG Deters 1). For
example if you are an online user and have a Facebook account you can share what you are
doing at the moment or share a photo of something you liked, then type a description of it, soon
people you have as friends will comment on your post. Having friends is an important source of
emotional and practical support (Kim, Junghyun, and Jong-Eun Roselyn Lee 360). On
Facebook, you can easily make friends with one click. Some people use Facebook to only have a

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better communication with people they know like family members and close friends however,
others use it to meet new people and have more friends on Facebook to boost their status. In a
study for Subjective Well-Being levels, with Facebook visualizing and displaying the friends
connections, a large number of Facebook friends could remind users of their social connections
and boost their self-esteem, which could, in turn, enhance their SWB levels (360) Some people
enjoy knowing how many friends they have or how many people add them as their friend on
Facebook. Although Facebook can become a big distraction, it can be a good one because all day
doing many things can make you feel overwhelmed but when you are on Facebook you can feel
less stressed out. Every time I log in to Facebook I like to see funny Vine videos people post on
Facebook and I also like to upload pretty pictures of a trip, things I buy and my good scores on
anything because I like to feel that social support from others. I also like to think Facebook as a
great third space for anyone.
Nevertheless, Church and Facebook are great third spaces but different people have their
own third spaces. For instance, people that dont attend church or are not religious use other
places as their third space such as the library, a coffee shop, the gym and other more. Similarly,
for people who dont have any social media like Facebook because they dont have access to the
internet or a smart device. They do other things to keep them distracted. An example would be
people in rural areas of Mexico use soccer as a third space. They encounter excitement,
encouragement and support from their teammates which most build incredible friendship bonds
throughout the years (Quintana 1). This is similar to social media because they have all the
emotions get on their social media spaces.
Lastly, we have explored some of the aspects that make Church and Facebook great third
spaces. Church involves members and community in great events for wellness and health.

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Facebook is a great social space for people to communicate, share funny videos, and post about
their own life to others and forget about the many duties that bring pressure to them on the daily
basis. However, there are other spaces people connect with other than Church and Facebook,
because of their own free choice or personal situation.

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Work Cited
"Adult Sports." Shepherd Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
"Health & Fitness." Shepherd Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
Kim, Junghyun, and Jong-Eun Roselyn Lee. "The Facebook Paths to Happiness: Effects of the
Number

of

Facebook

Friends

and

Self-Presentation

on

Subjective

Well-

Being." Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking, 14.6 (2011): 359-364.

Lonnqvist, JE, and FG Deters. "Facebook Friends, Subjective Well-being, Social Support, and
Personality." Computers in Human Behavior, 55 (2016): 113-120.
Quintana, Chris. "The Gift of Soccer. "The Santa Fe New Mexican, (2013).
Rutherford, Dudley. What is your Purpose?. Shepherd of the Hills Church, Porter Ranch. 27
Mar. 2016. Preaching.