I’ve been involved in running Cafe church experiences since the 1980s, when as a youth worker in Invercargill, NZ, I worked with a team to establish a conversation-friendly approach to youth group. In Katikati I worked with a team to establish what we called “restaurant church”, at first with three course experiences, later simplified to soup, pizza and buns. Since then cafe church has been an occasional offering in work I do with churches.
On Sunday night I explained to one of my colleagues that liturgical conventions were being set aside for the evening.
Most worship services begin with singing (praise and worship, or hymns), moving through corporate prayer, community notices, scripture readings and reflections, more corporate prayer, offering and more singing. All of the talking in a conventional service is done from the front of a building in which people sit facing in one direction, listening, or not.
In a cafe setting, the focus moves away from the front to the dynamics experienced at the table. I prefer to cut out the singing/up front performance and move towards an interactive experience in which people get to know each other’s stories and reflect on life and faith. Prayer is still there, but hopefully emerging out of the conversation. Table settings allow for kinesthetic approaches to learning, including jig saw puzzles, word games, reading the daily newspaper, drawing on the paper table cloth. If we sing at all, I prefer to have it at the end when it expresses the sense of what has come from the conversation. In fact at times I’ve gathered people together to sing as a chorale, rather than sing around tables (hard for many to do).
So how do you evaluate a cafe service? If you’re not focusing on what happened at the front, how do you know what actually happened? Normally people evaluate on the basis of content and excellence of presentation. In a cafe church setting, from where I sit at least, it’s more helpful to measure the quality of conversation. Was there free flowing interaction between people, both structured and unstructured? Did people have a chance to tell their stories, and hear the perspectives of others? Was there a chance to connect with God in a way that made sense and honoured the conversation partners? Was there a chance to read or hear the scriptures and reflect on their significance?
Another angle to focus on might be the quality of hospitality. Were people welcomed, and made to feel at home, relaxed and honoured? Was there space for the newcomer? Were children and adults able to relate to one another healthily? Was the food healthy? Did the distribution of food and drink enhance the gathering or was it a distraction? Was it affordable? Did we have enough options on the menu? Coffee (quality brew and decaf options), black, green and herbal teas, caffeinated and non-caffeinated soft drinks, cordial, water, flavoured milk? How about options for gluten-free?
Did people feel secure that the evening had a sense of dynamic emergence to it? Or was the evening too structured or chaotic?
Any other ideas?
I really like the idea of cafe church, as a means of connection/conversation with the non-church community. One of the difficulties is having a natural sort of environment where people would tend to congregate anyway. Easier in a city or perhaps even in some rural settings. Suburban churches are often not physically located where people naturally congregate. So, I’d love to read posts from people who have managed to create great cafe church experiences – ones that make genuine connections with the community, and not just another gathering of church folk.