Cafe church
The Cafe Church, a Christian church model that can be associated with alternative worship and the emerging church movements, seeks to find new forms and approaches to existing as a church in the 21st century. These churches are often heavily focused on relationship aspects of Christian fellowship and outreach to their local community, and use the modern gathering place, a Café, in their ministry.
Cafe Church philosophy and history of church-sponsored coffeehouses
The cafe church can be viewed as an organically based philosophy for planting churches, centered around the idea of making the message of Christ's love relevant to the needs of the local community that the church seeks to serve.
For example, the Alma Mount Hope Coffeehouse Church, of Alma, MI, says "the ministry statement for AMH Coffeehouse Church is found in Acts 2:42: 'And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.'"[1]
The goal of cafe church endeavors is to impact their local community with a message of God's love and the transforming power of Christ's love.
Cafe Churches often reflect an underlying theology and philosophy that is a Seeker-friendly model, and may also incorporate radical levels of personal discipleship and life commitment for followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Depending on the leadership, some cafe church leaders will provide a clear doctrinal perspective, while others may be more open-minded and comfortable with members and visitors asking questions of speakers.
Churches using the cafe as a model for their organization can take different forms. Some cafe churches maintain a permanent cafe or restaurant, which offers the local community a high quality array of coffee, sandwiches, and food, and provides a venue where the members of the church fellowship meet. Church members may also volunteer their time to support the enterprise.
Church-sponsored coffeehouses have a long history in the United States. For example, Nameless Coffeehouse has operated for over 40 years on the site of The First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Cambridge, MA. Fifty years ago, it was The Sacred Mushroom coffeehouse in Columbus, OH that hosted Phil Ochs; a local fan reminisced, "One of his first public performances as a solo artist was at the First Unitarian Universalist Church on Weisheimer Road, where he performed for a ladies luncheon," she said with a laugh ... "God only knows the songs he performed there."[2]
Other churches simply use the cafe model it as a way of facilitating variation within their normal service structure and within the confines of their building, for example serving coffee throughout the service in a predesignated area, or holding a coffeehouse event.
Churches which operate coffeehouses
Ebenezer's Coffeehouse, in Washington, DC, operated by the National Community Church, is one example of a cafe church. Its website asks, "How much more comfortable can you get sipping a Chai in church?"[3] Also located in Washington is the Potters House, an outreach ministry of the Church of the Savior. Its website states, "We, the members of that church, asked ourselves, 'Would Jesus want to hang out with folks at a traditional institutional church? or would he want to hang out over a beer in a bar or coffee in a restaurant?' The resounding answer was the latter. We chose coffee over beer because of our support for the budding AA movement in 1960."[4] The Loft coffeehouse, a project of Alamo Heights United Methodist Church, San Antonio, TX the includes "a food bank, thrift store and a resource center for the needy."[5]
References
- ^
"Alma Mount Hope Coffeehouse Church". Alma Mount Hope Church. 2011. Retrieved Feb. 17, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^
Chordas, Nick (Feb. 15, 2011). "'60s voice of protest had roots at OSU". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved Feb. 17, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ "National Community Church, Locations and Directions, Ebenezer's Coffeehouse". National Community Church. 2011. Retrieved Feb. 17, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^
"Home, Potters House DC". Potters House. 2011. Retrieved Feb. 17, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^
Gosnell, Lynn (2011). "The coffeehouse church, Faith & Leadership". Leadership Education at Duke University. Retrieved Feb. 17, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help)