What Would Jesus Drink?
posted by Bob | 8:35 PM
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Bob Thune
Church Planter/Lead Pastor
Coram Deo Church
Will Walker
Spiritual Formation Pastor
Coram Deo Church
10 Comments:
Depends on the company. Will or ALi, starbucks. Me or t-lo, probably a samuel adams.
Published Saturday | August 25, 2007
Church beckons with a cup of joe
BY JOSEFINA LOZA
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
At All Saints Episcopal, you can be filled with the holy roast.
The church served free Starbucks coffee and breakfast in between its Sunday services this month. The church, near 90th and Blondo Streets, even put out a sign: "Now Serving Starbucks Coffee."
Free Starbucks is a way to get people through the door, said Linda Rafael, a church member who coordinates special events.
"People expect to see vacation Bible school and times of worship on church banners, but things like this really catch their attention," Rafael said. "We want them to come in."
The Rev. Bob Henrichsen said eight to 10 outsiders who saw the sign stopped in for a freshly brewed cup. About 60 church members also have attended. But the church hasn't drawn any new members because of the free joe.
Sunday is the last Starbucks breakfast, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Services are 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Starbucks donated paper cups, and the church buys the coffee.
All Saints has held other attention-grabbers. It's planning a U2 Eucharist, a church service that combines the spiritual lyrics of rock band U2 with traditional Bible verses to encourage social activism, in September.
It'll also kick off Sunday school on Sept. 9 with a tailgate breakfast on the front lawn.
The church is adding an 8:45 a.m. Sunday worship service in November. It plans to celebrate the addition on Sept. 9 — All Saints Day.
Pretty clever, Rafael said.
"We're really trying to think out of the box," she said.
I'm all for contexualization and outreach, but at what point is this sort of thing backfiring because folks don't need to be sold anything else. . . they need to receive the gospel. I actually think this might turn some folks off as coming across surfacy, and disingenuous. But, I'm sure there will be some level of success with this, because "we loves us some starbucks". . . . .uggh.
Aaron
That world-herald article is just weird. Proves all the more that dying churches will go to great lengths to try and claim some sort of success.
Sam Adams Light for me Patrick. I'm not much for the rest of their brews. :)
Though I am starting to appreciate coffee more and more these days.
And yes, that article is very odd. Kind of reminds me of the movie PCU when they're trying to come up with a name for their band and they decide on "Everyone Gets Laid." haha Maybe the church should try something like that!
Is the upcoming SNST still being held at the bar?
If so, we better be prepared to understand and articulate how our engagement with beer is different than All Saints' engagement with Starbucks.
Nick, good point. . . .
I'm not harping on any church's use of starbucks or the like. . . . per se. It's just how you do it, and what you tell folks have their coffee/beer. I don't care what the method is, that's obviously dependant on your context.
Aaron
Buddy Jesus looks like a wuss.
I agree, I am hoping for a new blog posting so that when I open this page, I do not have to look at that smiling face anymore.
If we served beer at our services, then we'd be doing basically the same thing as All Saint's. Instead, we are going outward into the culture. I think that is the key difference.
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