Coffee is the best thing about 10 o’clock church
I was kind of hoping they might say the preaching was the best thing about morning church, or the quality kids program, or any number of other things. But they said the coffee was the best thing!
- It’s not because the coffee is the best you’ll get in Roseville (although its not the worst any more.)
- It’s because they realised that over coffee was where they were really connecting with people. This was the time they could get to know people, hear how their week was, make real connections.
- When you read the bible you keep coming across accounts of the early church sharing meals together. Eating together, drinking together, doing hospitality and life together – are vital ways for us to be healthy and growing
I hope you have great coffee at church. I hope church can be a place where you can grow in relationships with the other people. Some churches have coffee as you come in to church. What would you think of that?
July 6, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I’ve been thinking about this a bit. Do we really ‘really connect’ with people over coffee? Aren’t we TRULY connected to them by sitting in church, hearing the word, singing the praises of God, and taking the sacramental word together? Isn’t Jesus present by his spirit when we open the Word together? Don’t we need a better theology of fellowship than this? Implicit in prefering coffee (and no dissing your church – I prefer coffee too!) is the feeling that we are not really connected by meeting formally, but only by the informal time.
July 7, 2009 at 8:33 am
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July 7, 2009 at 9:38 am
Yes Mike, church should be all the things you say – and there are certainly times when I’m conscious that it is. And I wouldn’t want people missing the significance of our gathering for all the reasons you put. If I were to describe a theology of fellowship then coffee alone wouldn’t cut it – but we ignore it at our peril!
I’m not sure the issue is formality v informality – I think its more the relational strength of what happens at coffee.
Teaching, prayer, prophecy, eating doesn’t end with the close of the formal time. OK we may not sing – but there is one-another ministry that takes place. Sometimes it is just weekend footy & weather talk. But I’ve seen people challenged & rebuked, I’ve seen people confess & pray together, I’ve seen people weep. Not every week. But most weeks people will stay for an hour just to talk to people.