A square outside the box (why we started Cafe Church)

Our Church-plants main meeting is called Cafe Church.  We didn't set out to do a cafe style meeting.  We weren't unhappy with our normal church services, in fact we loved them.  Our mother church (Bonny Downs at The Well) has a family atmosphere with lively charismatic (but not too charismatic) worship and relevant, encouraging and challenging teaching.   It was a real battle to leave and start a new church only a stones throw away.  We only went because we were called to do so, not because we were unhappy.

To make things more strange about our new style of church meeting, I am what most people may think as a traditional evangelical.  I'm not trying to be emerging or radical in my theology.  I hold a traditional evangelical view on the Bible, God as trinity, original sin, salvation only in Jesus through repentance, judgment and hell, yadda yadda yadda...  you get the point.   I remember after being told for the millionth time, "In order to plant a church you need to be radical thinker who thinks outside the box!" thinking, "then why has God called me?"  Actually when I looked at the people who deeply had a call to the church-plant we were all the "traditionals".  I was getting frustrated, if the radical people want us to be more "radical" then why don't they join us?

It took us nearly two years to come up with the idea of Cafe Church.  Our vision was to make church easier for people to step into.   Yet we didn't want to just scrap everything and start again.  We prayed and studied the Bible looking for what church was boiled down.  What we found was that people who love God want to get closer to Him are the church.   I remember getting so stressed out on Sunday mornings trying to get the music sorted and the projector working and noticing every little thing that didn't quite work, that I missed opportunities to chat and pray with people.   So the idea of Cafe Church -to us- came out of a desire to make people central to what we do.

One of my big hang ups about Cafe Church before we actually did it was that we'd go soft on the Bible.  I had this idea that a relaxed style of meeting meant a relaxed approach to the Bible.  Boy was I wrong!  The Bible is central to what we do.   We read it aloud together, study it around our tables and then feed it all back to the group.   I have found that together we can get really deep into God's word.  As the teacher/preacher it keeps me on my toes because I'm not always sure what people might say.  I find this keeps it all fresh and relevant.  When I just straight preach, no matter how much I research and pray I am never 100% sure I'm scratching where enough people are itching.  But in Cafe Church people say where there itches are.  If anything I need to know the passage better than ever because I never no where the roller-coaster will lead (and yes there are times I feel sick and want to get off).

I still love preaching and am passionate about it's importance and power.  However, preaching shouldn't be a one way thing.  We need to allow ourselves to be in conversational teaching with people.  That's how this generation has been taught to learn, though asking questions.   So lets give them room to ask them and give them opportunity to find the answers.   I am still traditional in my theology but believe the way I teach my theology should be relevant to my mission field.


All cafe style church meetings will be different.  Some are like normal services with comfy chairs, some are in Starbucks, some are in sports pavilions.  They should be different because the people they are trying to reach are different.

I am a square outside the box.  I most naturally fit into a traditional church setting.  I feel comfortable there, singing modern songs and listening to a good 30 minute preach.  But to reach the people God wants me to reach I need to leave my nice, old, comfortable box and move into shape that fits the people in my culture and community.  The second to last thing I want to be is radical but the last thing I want to be is irrelevant.

If you want to find out exactly how we run our take on Cafe Church then visit our website.

Ben