Cafe Worship Experiment

Big Issue 1 - Credit Crunch

2008-10-20T15:34:00.002+01:00

So, after an unofficial summer break, we're back with a new series, made up of 4 independant sessions, on topical issues, the first being the Credit Crunch.
This will take place on Thursday 23rd October at The Edge, 7.30, and be run by Rev. Liz Childs.
The plan is to go for a discussion format, following a short presentation - I'm rather hoping Liz will furnish some more detail on exactly what's going to happen. But the main thrust is to widen the appeal,and change direction to a format which will hopefully help us engage more with the village, and build on some of the friendships we've been making through the coffee shop, and hopefully make some new contacts and friends along the way......so, as ever, watch this space, and hopefully we'll get some feedback this month.

How Well does God Know Us?

2008-05-05T15:40:00.004+01:00

So, our third foray on Tuesday 6th May 2008.
The plan is to introduce the theme with a song - 'Nobody knows me at all', by The Weepies? then follow that up with an activity/ice breaker around getting to know each other, and how well we know each other, based loosely along a 'Mr & Mrs' type theme for couples, or just getting to talk to each other for everybody else, a bit of gentle relaxing fun - hopefully! With a bit of luck some brave volunteers might be prepared to share their in depth knowledge or otherwise about their partners with the rest of us...
This to be followed by an informal chat around tables about how well do we know each other.
Then we plan to watch a video clip, called Superfan, from Worship House Media, then listen to a song by Kathryn Scott, called 'Search Me, Know Me' (from the excellent album 'Satisfy'), over coffee, to be followed by some more chat, hopefully about 'how comfortable is it for anyone to know us that well?'.
This was followed by another Worship House Media video, of Psalm139, followed by another 'Scotty' song - 'Devotion' - this time from the excellent Vineyard CD - 'Surrender'.
Then more coffee and home.
OK, so that's the format, with this one we're just trying to build up the informal atmosphere, into something you could bring a non-church friend/partner to, to meet up with some other christians in a non-threatening environment, for coffee and a chat, with a touch of the gospel. Let's see how it measures up. Some comments this time would also be good guys!

When the Gospel meets the Real World

2008-04-03T09:50:00.004+01:00

Probably not the official title, but as far as I can remember it!
So, for our second foray into the genre, we decided to choose a different night (Thursday 3rd Aril, 2008) and, as planned, a completely different format....
In terms of what is supposed to happen, we've planned coffee and chat for gathering, a brief intro to what's going to happen, then watch one of the 'Nooma' DVD's, called Luggage, about forgiving others and putting down our own hurts. After this, the idea is to browse through the selection of newspapers on the tables, to pick out stories that speak to us in some way, and just talk about them (it doesn't have to be from a faith perspective) on the table, with the option to make a collage from the cuttings to go up un the cafe window.
So, that's it really.......mainly aiming to provide a safe space to interact, share each other with each other in a safe environment around current affairs, with the opportunity to share a little of our faith or not as seems appropriate, along with some good coffee, good food, and good company.
So, once again, if you were there, please share your comments, we'd love your input.

New Beginnings

2008-02-29T20:56:00.004Z

This was the title of our first real foray into cafe worship, which took place on Saturday 1st March at 7.30 in 'the edge'.
The theme was based around a liturgy we found in ther November 2007 'Mucky Paws' mailing, called 'One More Dream'. (I'll try to figure out how to post it in a 'resources section, but it might take a while...). We thought this was particularly relevant to where we feel our church is at the moment, standing on the edge of a new beginning, following the opening of 'the edge'. It also seemed particularly relevant as we embark on a new beginning of regular monthly cafe worship...
So, what happened.....bearing in mind that I'm writing this the night 'before' it happened, and anything can happen at Keelby, so if it didn't quite go as planned, this was the plan (I think!)...
After receiving people into the coffee shop, and probably starting late (a Keelby tradition, when they all said we weren't traditionalists!), Rev. Dan Haylett welcomed everybody, explained what we hoped was going to happen, and ran a dreaded 'ice breaker' of hymn consequences. Now at this point, if that sounds interesting, it does to me too, but I have absolutely no idea how it's going to work, so here's hoping for some feedback on this bit! We then presented the liturgy (sounds posh, but not the way we did it - promise). I think at this stage the plan was then to re-present the first section of the liturgy, and listen to 'Justice and Mercy' by Matt Redman (Father's Song). We then let people wander off to various other parts of the building, where there were installations to hopefully prompt worship, and a response, based around the themes of the different sections of the liturgy ('Font' in the chapel, 'Shoes' in the schoolroom, and 'Cushion' in the coffee shop. (More detail and hopefully some piccies of how we did this if I can get that 'resources' section up and running. After some time (to be decided) we brought people back, and ran through the liturgy in reverse, removing the symbols, and then for the final section 'Bread and Wine', we shared food and drink informally together, with no liturgy, just background worship music and image, and then hopefully milled around for ages, chatting and drinking the excellent coffee.
Please, if you did attend this event, come an dleave us some feedback, remember, this is the top of a steep learning curve for us, and your help to improve would be greratly appreciated, and of benefit to us all. And unless we change the date (which is up for grabs), the next cafe worship at 'the edge' will be on the first Saturday in April at 7.30.

Emmaus Reunion 08/12/07 - Rev. Liz Childs

2007-12-15T23:07:00.000Z

Worship indeed started at 'the edge' on Saturday night as a Walk to Emmaus gathering met there. It had a variety of elements of worship. We praised God in song, led by Carol & Dan; shared a meal together; talked together of our present walk with Christ - sharing our high and low points; and we shared an informal communion together. Everyone present at this event had a desire to be a more effective disciple, so there were no concerns about engaging with those who are exploring but not yet Christian. It was a very worshipful experience and reminded us that 'the church' is wherever Christian people meet together. 'The edge'was not just a coffee shop last night, nor will it be tomorrow when it opens to serve drinks and snacks - for it will still be the place where Christians are gathered to serve God and the community. They may not be singing, but they will be worshipping God by their actions and in their conversations.But I pray Saturday night will be the first of many and various worship experiences in the more accepted sense at 'the edge'.Liz

Up to speed...

2007-12-09T12:29:00.001Z

So then, things move on, but mainly time...
'The Edge' opened at the end of November 2007 as a coffee shop. As yet we have to plan, arrange and execute any kind of 'formal' cafe worship based out of it, but we had some worship in the coffee shop last night (8/12/07), courtesy of Rev. Liz Childs, and hopefully she'll contribute an entry soon to document it....

Name

2007-06-03T19:11:00.000+01:00

And while we're on the subject... what to use as a name for the place.....(the coffee shop that is).

All suggestions welcome, but here's a starting point, courtesy of one of our visiting local preachers from a few weeks ago. It was interesting that a few of us hurriedly came together straight after the service and almost went 'Oooooh!' together - just heard a great idea for a name......see what you think.

'THE EDGE'....as in
'the edge...the sacred space where God is known in all His untold possibilities.'
Seemed to kind of sum the whole thing up rather nicely really, as a mission statement of what we're hoping to achieve with the coffee shop.

Introduction

2007-06-03T18:25:00.000+01:00

Well, here goes......two bold new frontiers, blogging, and cafe worship.....

But to go back to a beginning soewhere before now, for the sake of some clarity.....
For those of you who don't know me, I'm a member of Healing & Keelby Methodist Church in Keelby, Lincolnshire, and we are in a very exciting, if scary place at the moment as a church.
Sometime in the next 2 months, the new chapel extension, aka 'Coffee Shop', will be finished (subject to finishing touches), and then we need to use the darned thing like we said we would, to further our mission into the community, which is going to involve all sorts of new, sometimes scary things, but God has a funny way of honouring what we do when we meet these scary things head on, so bring it on.

Anyway, one of the things we plan to do which will involve hopefully lots of people, but initially, probably me and some mates, is cafe worship, of some description.

Now I know there are quite a few people 'doing' this now, in different forms, in different places, and we have to find our own way of doing it, but (and maybe it's just me), but there doesn't seem to be much info 'out there' from the people who are 'doing it' about how and what they are doing, and how it's going - so, I thought it might be an interesting experiment to set this blog up, to record the progress, from a few months before, until.....

The idea at the moment, is to get the people who are going to be involved in this to contribute as we formulate plans, try things out, post some materials, ideas, resources etc we find useful or otherwise along the way, just to document the process for posterity (and to keep a record to learn from).

So, hope somebody out there finds the idea interesting, and worth keeping an eye on, but if not, at least it will be useful for those of us trying to keep track of how it goes....and I might even get to grips with the whole blogging thing along the way, you never know.

So for now, I need to go find some pics of the building work to post, and figure out how to get some fellow contributors up and running.....so please....watch this space, and join us on the journey.

ANd if anybody happens to read this and can tell me where I can find something similar from other people doing this, please let me know.

THanks.

Mark