Up early to catch a train, to catch a plane, to pick up a car, to drive to a church somewhere in Brisbane to perform an Anton’s Antics show for a kid’s holiday club. Post show, I’m ready for a great, great coffee. So I hit the internet and find a little place nearby the church.  Hallelujah!

The cafe that is about you

I walk in and this guy comes up to me, dressed quite sharply for a cafe as well; actually the whole cafe come to think of it, is sharp. Sharp lines, minimalist, clean, a little spartan.  He gets me a table, but I need the loo. Instead of that moment being awkward and him giving me the ‘but you haven’t ordered anything yet so you haven’t earnt the right to use our loo’ face, its no problem, no trouble, I’m shown the way and when I return, I start perusing the menu. But each entry looks a bit ‘original’. So the waiter comes over and I ask him for his recommendation, which he is able to give me with enough enthusiasm, that I take the bait and go for the toasted bagel with cured beef and...you get the picture. The long black arrives shortly after the bagel and both are excellent.  The price of the coffee was also very keen, almost as good as Sydney. A great welcome, helpful staff, good food. I’d come back.

Is your church like this?

Is it geared toward making it easy for new people to arrive, find their way and experience church? A lot of us think it is, but we overestimate ourselves. One of my most positive experiences of actually entering a church and finding my way was Hillsong at Waterloo some years back. Those guys went out of their way to help me park, find the right warehouse, be welcomed, find a seat and get a coffee after!

 Of course church is more than consuming food or enjoying a service like a cafe.  It’s a community, a gathering of people who have received God’s love in Christ and who now share that love with others. How much more we have to offer the world than a coffee or a bagel! So how we go about the weekly ‘table service’, matters.

The cafe that is about them

I tried another cafe around the corner from where I stayed one night between shows. It’s one of those hipster ‘let’s collect all grandmas old nick nacs and turn it into a cafe’, type cafes. I don’t mind these, but I do despise when they bring an exceptional cup of coffee out in a very unexceptional vessel. This place didn’t do that, but the coffee prices were high and I watched as the waiters shambolically served the customers. Orders went to wrong tables, takeaways went to sit down customers, “is that skim a milk large flat white or a full cream” ...”uhmm?” When I walked in no body said hello, everyone working there dressed like they were about to watch the tele on the sofa; I felt like I was entering someone else’s pad.  Would I fit in?

Now the food and coffee coming out of the place looked great and it was clearly popular, and all the decor and staff fitted the ‘old ye grandma’s garage vibe’. So that’s fine. I love a well defined business. But it can have its draw back.  As a business you can be too ‘into yourself’ and this means your customers have to bear with all your eccentricities sometimes at the expense of what they are there for, your service. 

 Is your church like this?

Are you self aware enough to be able to stand back and soberly ask whether you are too into yourselves? A church should have an identity, a vibe that people like to come and say is ‘theirs’. But it should not be at the expense of serving others and drawing others in. It must be inclusive and the bottom line, must be love. A good cafe will still put the customer’s experience of service above its eccentricities.  It's service should still shine through the eccentricities. How much more our churches?

Love has to be the bottom line.  Not our schtik!