I’M EITHER A PLEASURE or a pain to go into a coffee shop with because of what I observe when I walk in the door. I often see untapped or unused resources. No matter how hard I try, my fellow drinker always looks at me and says, “OK, what is it this time?” But if you could see past my café criticism, you would find a heart that truly wants to see lives changed. Cafés, designed with purpose and functionality, have the potential to be environments where people can have an authentic, life-changing experience.

Most churches today have fallen in love with the idea of a café in their church, but few have understood the investment and return on investment. It’s our responsibility as leaders to use what we’ve been given to unlock this potential. Intentional third places have amazing and unlimited ability to connect people, develop leaders, and fund ministries. And the return on investment is internal, external and eternal.

Blended Connections

Church cafés are able to connect the members of the body to one another, providing an opportunity to slow life down and enjoy a comfortable environment, a cup of coffee and a meaningful conversation. I think we used to call this “fellowship.” Church people need to connect, too. By creating the right environment, churches can have a place that says, “Hang out,” rather than “Get out” – a place where the body connects and iron sharpens iron.

Cafés can also connect church members with first-time guests through the commonality of coffee, the familiarity of such an environment, and the casualness of conversation. Yes, I’ve read all the depressing, mind-blowing stats about the unchurched and the ex-churched – and I get it. But let’s not forget to look at the positive side. There are millions of people coming to faith: the non-churched (my favorite group, due to their high levels of authenticity), the re-churched (those who need a rehab program due to traumatic previous church experiences) and the multi-churched (those who just can’t settle in, but whom we take anyway because, if they’re breathing, we get to count them).

Here’s how I roll and how I’d like you to roll, as well: Begin showing up to church 15 minutes early and staying 15 minutes late. Connect with just one person in a meaningful or casual conversation. Going to church at the national average rate of one and-a-half times per week will add up to 156 conversations per year. Being from Southern California but living in Birmingham for the past two years, I’ve used my come-early, stay-late rule to help me connect at an accelerated rate.

Here’s what Ray Oldenburg, the originator of “third place” as a term, wrote in his book, “The Great Good Place”:

“What attracts the regular visitor to a third place is supplied not by management but by the fellow customers. The third place is just so much space unless the right people are there to make it come alive, and they are the regulars. … Third places are dominated by their regulars but not necessarily in a numerical sense. It is the regulars, whatever their number on any given occasion, who feel at home in a place and set the tone of conviviality. It is the regulars whose mood and manner provide the infectious and contagious style of interaction and whose acceptance of new faces is crucial.”

In order for our faith to truly be infectious and contagious, we must connect not only with our church body, but be intentional about connecting to our communities. Cafés have the potential to connect people in the community to one another and to the church. It’s a difference in the church being a part of the community vs. the church expecting the community to come to it. Many churches today are opening their cafés to the public, creating a comfortable and safe place for people to gather and grow together. A café can serve as a revolving door for new relationships in the church and in the community. No matter how advanced technology gets, there will never be a substitute for human touch and connection.

Blended Leaders

Cafés can serve as learning environments to discover and develop leaders. They are ministries, businesses and live classrooms all at once – if you let them be. Business planning, research and development, negotiating, purchasing, accounting, customer service and leadership all occur in cafés. They are full of people who are happy or hurting, and who all deserve a kindness revolution of exceptional customer service.

Cafés are fertile grounds for life lessons that can take place through generational collaboration and transfer. This Web-2.0 world is about interactive community and open participation – and it’s not reserved for techno-geniuses only. There is no shortage of older generations that would say that today’s young people need to learn some basic leadership and life skills. I argue there is no shortage of young people that want to be taught. Never in history have there been so many generations alive at one time: gentexters, gen-nexters, gen-xers, boomers, builders and busters.

I’m not convinced the Church has fully tapped into a café environment’s potential for leadership development. I know that church bartending may not be one of the five-fold ministries or a specific spiritual gift, but in order to provide good business practices, exceptional customer service and ministry opportunities, you need a good blend of God’s gifts inside. There is a young man named Sean who we trained to be a church bartender in northern Michigan.

Before getting involved in the café, Sean had not found his sweet spot for ministry at the church. Since the café opened, Sean has come alive and feels closer to God because he has discovered a unique way to serve people and share his faith. He has discovered his gifts and unlocked their potential. Church bartending discovers another leader and saves yet another life.

To read this article in its entirety online, go to www.churchsolutionsmag.com and search “Blended Services.”