Church planting and fresh expressions resourced by Incarnate Network

The story of a baptist church that moved out from their own building to work with Costa Coffee and see church emerge in a cafe. Cafe church.

Cafe church:
a dream ticket for Costa Coffee and the Church?

One day we could see a cafe church in every high street coffee shop across the UK. It is already beginning. Churches are taking faith to be about adventure and leadership to be about acting with humility and are therefore positioning themselves to connect with their community’s right where communities meet. Many churches have taken up the challenge to step into a ‘secular’ space and re-imagine church in a culture that predominantly has few ties with the church.

How can the church connect with its community? This was the dilemma that Christchurch Baptist faced in Welwyn Garden City. A vibrant Baptist church situated on the edge of the town centre, we already had a number of community projects which fully utilised our own building but we wanted to do something that got us out of the walls of our church. We decided one day to ask the manager of our high street Costa Coffee if they would mind if we used their building to host an event. We were surprised when we were given permission to use the shop ‘after hours’ for two hours on a Sunday evening. Costa would staff the evening so we set about thinking what kind of event we would do. We decided to book two events; one on the environment the other on the Da Vinci Code. In the lead up to these events we shared the vision widely and hoped and prayed someone – anyone! - would turn up. We were amazed to find that events were packed drawing people from other churches too. So we booked monthly meetings from June 2006 and have consistently seen sixty to seventy people enjoy an evening to relax and engage in conversation.

Each evening covers a different issue and runs with a set ‘menu’. Someone starts with a welcome and introduce the topic of the evening and encourages people to do a quiz that is on the tables. We find this is an easy way to begin conversations that help people make friends. We always give a prize for the winning table, which adds to the fun. Then there is a short talk and an interview which leads into discussion time around tables as the coffee flows.  There is a round-up at the end of the evening, suggesting how people can get involved or get help with any iss{mosimage}ues raised.

We may offer opportunity to talk with someone, get some prayer or even link people with other church activities such as an Alpha course. This very simple ‘menu’ has worked well because it is completely flexible and adaptable.

It was while running one of these evenings that I got into a great conversation with a Regional Manager for Costa Coffee - Sandy Gourday. We had invited him to come and speak about the Costa Foundation which is the fair-trade arm of Costa Coffee. When Sandy saw what we were doing and the way in which we were creating and engaging with the community he immediately invited us to talk further about doing the same in other Costa Coffee stores across the UK. As we talked we could immediately see the potential of such a partnership. The church knows much about building community but is often in the wrong context (the church building itself may be the biggest hurdle). Costa Coffee has a great context but needs community to survive. Together we see a win/win partnership.  I have often called this a ‘dream ticket’ for Costa and the church. It goes beyond Costa coffee simply seeking to make money and the church trying to hoodwink people into a cold building.

There is a special something about this I’ve not entirely put my finger on. I guess it has something to do with God’s timing to meet people in a way they can understand. The incarnational nature of cafe church requires the disciples of Jesus to go beyond simply asking people to sign up to a code of beliefs by asking us to discover what it means to live out those beliefs.  Hence an emphasis on sharing values through conversation. It is true that ‘people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care’ and by listening to other peoples’ stories and sharing our own we find people see that we care. Something of the life of God seasons our words and it is this aroma of a very present God that I believe is the biggest draw for all types of people. The success of any cafe church is not the ability to encapsulate the latest gimmick or sales tactic but to make sure we are keeping as close to God as we can.

It is our hope that one day we will see a high street cafe church in every town, village and city. The Church will have not only sensed the opportunity but will have seized the moment to act. We have therefore set up the ‘cafechurch network’ to resource and help churches that have begun to ask us to help them set up a cafe church. Some will be in Costa Coffee stores – and any church wishing to start a cafe church in a Costa Coffee store should come through the cafechurch network - but it’s not just about Costa Coffee. There are many other coffee shop venues where a church could set up a cafe church and we can still help churches set up in other venues too. We encourage people to visit the website www.cafechurch.net or call 01707 390246 for more details.