Today my colleague Jan and I ventured over to Wishaw URC to experiment with Cafe Church. Jan had been to visit the elders and the Girls’ Brigade last week to explain a little of what would happen.
Because this was their first experience of something different from a traditional church service on a Sunday morning we kept a little of that familiar structure with an opening and closing hymn and a couple of responsive prayers.
The biggest change was the seating and the middle section of the time where we basically had a workshop type discussion about the 10 Commandments and rules for living with coffee and cakes.
I have to say for me coffee and cakes in church is definitely the way to go! People felt much freer to move around to talk and to take part. Everyone said they enjoyed it and would like to do it again. Perhaps not every week, but regularly.
They liked the chance to talk and discuss and contribute during the service, rather than only getting to talk to each other at the end.
We often complain that people don’t come to Bible study groups or that people don’t participate. Perhaps that’s because we don’t create the right conditions. A cup of coffee and a cake around a small table seemed to work for us today.
Why not give it a try sometime? What do you have to loose?