At our last Local Preachers and Worship Leaders meeting we talked about alternative worship, and in specific café worship. But what is café worship, and how might we prepare for it? I have some empathy with this, since I think I have only attended one or two different cafe worship services myself. Thankfully, there is plenty of information on the Fresh Expressions website outlining how café worship can be a valid expression of worship and church. As I reflected on how I would plan my own cafe worship at a local church, and what worked in practice, I am minded that there are some things that can be done in this environment that would be harder to achieve in our usual settings.
I began preparing by questioning how the layout of, and activity in café worship might improve the quality of engagement and depth of teaching that we aspire towards on Sunday mornings. This is not to say that one is better or worse than the other. It is to say that each has their own strengths. I began to suspect that, done well, café worship might provide:
- A helpful space in which the fellowship of the church and the likelihood of building relationships becomes easier (meeting for food and drink always brings people together).
- A means by which we can encourage people to share their faith, and enter into discussion (because people can sit face to face in smaller groups).
- A way of incorporating tactile activity such as craft (tables provide a surface, whereas pews/chairs do not).
- Learning at greater depth, because different groups of people can reflect on different aspects of a story/theme, and their findings can be collated with ease.
- In general, a greater willingness to reflect in creative and fresh ways. Whilst I hope that this would be the case in any service, it is helpful to have a space where ‘permission’ for this to happen has been given by the congregation.
Planning Café worship – linking with a worship leader
It has been some time since I have led café worship at Brookside Methodist Church, but I was able to offer myself on Easter Sunday. Brookside offered a worship leader to assist. She shared earlier in the week how she had been thinking about the ‘stone from the tomb being rolled away’, and what ‘stones’ might symbolise for those who would be present. She had already thought about how café worship could use a prayer activity which symbolised how, by the power of the Holy Spirit, God could remove that which burdened us. I think that this is significant; café worship began with a member of the congregation who was already thinking about the theme. This naturally matched the Easter story in the gospels. We agreed that I would lead the opening worship and the teaching, and she would select the songs and lead a prayer activity.
Planning Café worship – thinking about teaching
Introduction
I was mindful of Hope Revolution and their link with Guvana B, a Christian Gospel/Rap Artist who has won major awards. As part of his ministry, Guvna B has produced a music video entitled ‘Cannonball’ that incorporates powerful sketch/art cartoon illustrations, and some stunning lyrics. I asked the Church to prepare and play the video by passing the internet link to them. Anyone who uses a PC or a tablet can search and find material (but I appreciate that not all local preachers are skilled in doing this, or that all churches are able to do this – but I am sure that there would be help available provided you plan in good time). I printed the lyrics out separately – because they flowed so quickly.
Teaching
I have been studying John’s gospel as part of the Lent Course – and I found myself naturally comparing John’s version of events with the other gospel writers. In terms of where the teaching might be headed I thought it would be useful to focus (a) on the ‘supernatural’ signs of God’s presence that were present in each account, and (b) to ask people the question, ‘In spiritual terms, what might the ‘stone’ represent?’ This would be the core of the teaching and reflection.
Café worship at Brookside takes place around tables, and as I thought things through I realised that it would be easier to (a) print out different gospel accounts in different colours and cut away all margins – this simply makes life easier, and (b) each table could have a different account and work through these questions independently, in two stages; so we took the first question; people discussed on their own; then we collated all of our thoughts from each table. We then repeated the process with the second question.
This is a good example of where we allow the congregation to feedback, and our job as preachers is to ‘fill in the gaps’ that are missed. In my case I also wanted to set the second conversation on the right trajectory by pointing out what John in his gospel omits; no earthquake, no temple curtain split, no guards (I drew from my earlier preparation for morning worship here, where I had noted that in Matthew, the resurrection miracle begins the minute Jesus dies, with the earthquake opening the graves and the dead being raised to new life). I make the point that whilst these things are significant, John omits them because he does not need them to put his argument across – and that indeed, if he did include them they may well have complicated his presentation. John is interested in telling us that Jesus is the Son of God (we remembered the ‘I am’ sayings), and that he wants us to do four things; recognise Jesus, accept Jesus, make our peace with Jesus, and follow Jesus’ calling. This then leads nicely into the second section, where we question what the stone might stand for – what prevents this from happening? I was also able to show how the fact that Jesus has been resurrected slowly dawned on some of the characters in the story (note how in Luke, the apostles did not believe the women – although the story is told slightly differently elsewhere. In John, Peter and the beloved disciple believed when they looked into the grave, but there was no evidence that they believed Jesus had been resurrected, they just believed Mary’s was speaking the truth when she said that Jesus body had gone!)
It may be worth noting that as well as the teaching having depth because we were looking and comparing four different gospel sources (this is something that instantly beings a level of maturity to our reading, treatment and interpretation of scripture), I was also minded link with the Old Testament as particular themes surfaced. For example, the concept of having a ‘heart of stone’ is within Jer 32 (and we also remembered how God transforming our heart of stone is a key lyric in ‘I The Lord of Sea and Sky’). If the theme of ‘oppression’ were to surface there are multiple entry points, but the most obvious is the release of Israel from slavery. As I spoke of John’s focus on the ‘I am’ sayings of Jesus, I referred to Moses experience of the burning bush.
Thus, when I have led café worship, I both respond to what the congregation are saying by providing further explanation, and steering the conversation towards a focal point in prayer.
Café Worship: Enabling encounter
In a sense, the entire act of worship is designed to encounter God, but for the prayers, people were invited to hold a stone (originally people were going to write on a stone or paint it and to perhaps mark it with the symbol of an experience or feeling that was holding us back from God). As we remembered the opening theme of ‘Cannonball’ (that Jesus is like a cannonball from heaven who crashes to earth and destroys death and all that oppresses), people were invited to take their stone and place it on a bowl of water. The worship leader walked everyone through this activity, and shared how the stone was symbolic of the shattered (or moved) stones of the cemetery, and of how God cleanses us and removes the blemishes that are upon us.
The sample order of service
The service lasted about an hour and a quarter. I noticed how, rather like Messy Church, the adults helped the younger children to take part – and how their input at times was enthusiastic and profound. The order, with the songs interspersed, looked like this:
Intro to theme: Jesus as a cannonball/God longing to release us from all that oppresses. The stone was rolled away. Today we will think about how God was present in power, and we will also think about what the stone might symbolise for us
Cannonball video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI-ZtaSOGkA
Langley highlight the lyrics (which will be on the table)
Resurrection reading from Luke’s gospel
2 Songs on Video – God sent his Son (Because he Lives); Up from the grave he rose
…..eating cake and drinking tea is possible from now – note however, everyone munched all the way through, but I do not think that this limited discussion/engagement.
Encourage people to look at other passages (printed out) and discuss – Matthew 28:1-15; Matthew 27:50-54; Mark 16:1-20; John 20; 3-29 (Each can fit on a single sheet).
What are the supernatural signs from God?
Feedback and dialogue
What does the stone stand for?
Feedback and dialogue
Prayer activity – Worship Leader
Song – Rejoice Rejoice
Repeat of Cannonball video.
Refection: What was prominent and what was less so?
Whilst the teaching and reflection elements of the service were strong (I am not sure of any regular services where we have been able to present all four accounts of a single gospel event), prayer was focused, albeit concentrated, in one area. If I were to do this again, I would probably incorporate a prayer of confession and the Lord’s Prayer towards the end of the prayer activity. Even so, there were aspects of penitence in the stone exercise. Prayers for each other, or the needs of the wider world were also not particularly prominent. This said, the service would have been ideal for people who were exploring faith. In its current form the service is for leaders and churchgoers who are seeking worship that engages them differently. The service was also very strong on fellowship and avoided any notion or pretence that could get in the way – about wear people should sit, how they should behave etc.
Perhaps one of my ongoing apprehensions is how you lead worship, and perhaps work though some important teaching point whilst everyone is eating cakes. This said, my experience was that this did not detract. I did however have to think about how I minimised movement during the worship – because movement distracts when you are trying to prevent, and also makes noise. I did this by suggesting that people loaded up on coffee/tea at the beginning of the table exercises.
What surprised me?
I was most surprised by how the children engaged and how the adults enabled this, with the children highlighting the signs from God. I was encouraged (but not surprised) by the depth of analysis that came from each of the tables. There was a depth of contextual understanding which people had gathered from TV programmes – about for example, how the gravestones were designed. I was really pleased to be asked some direct questions; ‘Did the Jews believe in the resurrection’? I was not expecting (but welcomed) a sustained focus on how God brings healing – especially from past hurts, which came from one of our local preachers. This was particularly useful on the lead up to the stones exercise.
Closing remarks
This experience, and my subsequent thoughts, reminds me of the critique made by the Church Army (which is a mission arm of the CofE) about how established Churches have the tendency to overplay the importance of ‘function’ and underplay the importance of ‘relationship’. To put it simply, whilst I can ask myself questions about what the worship included (as if we need to complete all items in some checklist for an act of worship to be ‘proper’), this rather misses the point.
Café church, as it unfolded for me, was all about relationships. It begins with the relationships and fellowship that people have with each other. People reflect both individually and together. They gather (just as the first believers did) around the person of Jesus, sharing, and doing life together. There is a clear intent (as should be the case in any form of worship) to bring people to a moment of encounter with God. This raises an interesting question for all our worship preparation – how are we bringing our congregations to this place of encounter? When we share in communion, this focus is clearer, but what about how we move people to a point of encounter and response in our preaching. I must be honest and say that in my own services, the encounter is presumed and sits somewhere after the sermon and before the prayers of intercession.
I think that another important difference between how I approached this café worship service, and how I approach preaching services, is that often in my services (apart from all-age worship) a lot of the focus is on me – or rather (I hope) on God speaking through me. However, in café worship the role of the preacher seems to be to facilitate conversation, with a much greater emphasis on what God is saying through the congregation. However, to prepare for café worship, preachers will need to prepare just as hard (if not more) than they would if they were preparing a regular service. They will also have to be confident with their material to the point that they are comfortable answering questions.