A lot of coffee shops have a lot of things going on. They offer great music. They create environments that could be another place to find happy times. There are special events and community mobilization. These and many other amenities draw all sorts of people to come to these dazzling coffee shops. But what fundamentally makes a coffee shop a coffee shop? Can it be a good coffee shop without these trappings? What is the irreducible, core principle and need to be a good or great coffee shop? It would seem that the central need is coffee. It is the foundation for any good or great coffee shop. These shops may have other elements, but never to the neglect of making and selling coffee. For if you took away coffee from a coffee shop, it would not only keep it from being good or great but it would fundamentally disqualify it as a coffee shop.
In a similar way churches often offer a variety of services and accoutrements. There is a live band, community involvement, inspirational words and lots of fun things to get involved in. There are no end of new and interesting ideas that people in church have about what services the church needs to provide. There is also a never ending stream of practical needs that break the heart of church goers and members demanding the church's involvement and attention. But what is true of good and great coffee shops is also true of good and great churches. Good and great churches must remember what is central to their existence and mission. They may have these other extras but they must be centered theologically and practically on their foundational need. It is not a principle and it is not coffee. It is the person and work of Jesus. It is the character of God and His activity that we celebrate and are fueled by. Having a live band is great if it makes much of Jesus. Community involvement is only good if it makes much of Jesus. All of these extra services and ministries are fine if they point to and glorify Jesus. But if they don't they need to be changed or scrapped. For if upon examination churches find that Jesus isn't really the whole point of what they are about from nursery to youth to preaching to parking lots, they need to repent and change by God's grace or close the doors. For if you remove the foundational person of the church, you cease to be a church.
A lot of people think that making churches more like coffee shops would be revolutionary and world changing. And they might be right. Coffee shops that keep or rediscover what is central to their existence can be good or even great. So can churches. As long as they don't make coffee the most important thing and keep Jesus Christ as the foundation and center of all they are. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Grace and peace,
Matt
