God and Starbucks

For several days I've had this concept for an ongoing series of blog entries mulling around in my head. So I'm gonna get on that...and maybe I'll get them all done...perhaps even in the same day...Here begins my "God and ___________" blog series...

I've spent a lot of time in coffee shops lately. Unfortunately in our smallish town, we have just Starbucks and Hard Back Cafe (the coffee shop affiliated with Hastings), so it's been alternating between those two. Those places have, in a very real sense, become something of a getaway, a refuge, a sanctuary of sorts for me, a place to get out of the office, away from the church, and think, write, read, listen to music, etc. In recent months I've thought a lot about why coffee shops appeal so much to so many people, myself included. I mean, you pay way more than you should for drinks, whether it is regular coffee or one of the fancier drinks. So what exactly is the appeal, and what can we learn from it that helps us as believers and churches? I think there are a few things that draw people to Starbucks.

Starbucks excels in customer service and creating a sense of community. They are warm and friendly. They want to make your drink your way. They make you feel not like just another body paying them a little bit of money, but rather like an important part of their day. They call you by name when your drink is ready, made exactly the way you want it. While the church shouldn't be tailored to every individual's wishes, the idea that every person matters and that every person that graces our doorways should be made to feel important, is so huge in church circles. It is something we in churches tend to believe we are doing a lot better than we usually are. if people don't feel important and wanted, it won't matter much how good your music or preaching or youth group or children's ministry or whatever else is. If they don't have a sense of belonging, of being a part, of being significant to the Body, they won't stick.

A huge part of what keeps bringing people back to places like Starbucks over and over is the fact that they know they are wanted. They know they are accepted there. They know they belong there. They know they matter to the people in charge. They know they will usually get quality customer service and will feel like they are in a place of community. The early church in Acts did a phenomenal job at this. The modern church could learn a lot from it. Why don't we purposefully commit to making an intentional effort to make every person who chooses (because it really is a choice most of the time, a choice among many options) to be a part of our ministries feel as if they matter, as if they are important, as if they are a significant part of the community. The church as a whole could do a lot better job, like the coffee shops (or for that matter Chick-Fil-A, and even bars) do at making people feel warm, accepted, loved, and needed. We need to be, as the church used to be known, the most loving place in town.

Soundtrack for a Note: Sufjan Stevens Christmas boxed set