Sep 15, 2011

Longing for the Church to be Like Starbucks...

Image borrowed from
http://www.randomoriginal.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/starbucks-cup.jpg
I love Starbucks.

I mean it.

I'm not sure what it is about Starbucks but I find that I can think more creatively and clearly there than pretty much anywhere else on planet earth.

When things get hectic and my mind gets cluttered, I long to take my Bible, a journal, and my Kindle and head out to a Starbucks.

Why is that? What is it about Starbucks that makes this happen?

I am intrigued by this longing for Starbucks thing...

Would it be possible for church to become a place where people would "long" after?

I don't mean church in the sense of a building or an address on a street, but church in the sense of the community of the people of God.

Could the gathered people of God, the church of Jesus Christ, ever become the type of place where people our world would hunger for? long for?

How can the church and the gathered people of God create the type of space and environment where people would do their best thinking, their best dreaming, and their most creative and clear discerning about their future?

What would we have to change and alter about the way we're being church today to make this "longing" a reality?

Hmmmm.....I need to get to a Starbucks!

3 comments:

teacher_deb said...

Church.. maybe we need to stop thinking about that building the church...maybe we need to utilize that small group idea MORE. When we are more relational, maybe we can better become what Jesus had in mind as "The Church"?

momlet said...

Is it the coffee? Don't think so. Maybe it's the expectation of the coffee? What if we had that same expectation of something yummy, something enjoyable, something that we long for in the Godly fellowship of others. But not everyone enjoys people the way God enjoys us. May be grow in God to love as He loves

Unknown said...

Deb, you're spot on. The church is not the building. It's about building the type of relationships that people are hungry and created for - genuine, authentic, life-giving.

Evelyn, wouldn't it be something if people longed for fellowship and the presence of God as we long for Starbucks.