Just Give Me Space!

On the flight home from Prague, I was reading a French Magazine called, Aeroports*. (I don't have to translate it do I?) In the magazine was an article that talked about the growing fad of themed cafes. It seems that in Europe more and more coffee shops are opening up that provide more then just coffee, they provide space to both hear and share ideas. Some cafes are philosophy cafes, some literary, others poetry, and some are even a cafe and Shiatsu massage! The thing they share in common is that they each provide a space where people gather who share similar interests. It is like putting faces, and personal contact together with themed chat rooms. As Megan and I were taking the taxi to our flat in Scotland, I was thinking if this sort of thing would catch on in the UK. It has only been in the last 5 years that coffee houses really started booming here. But would coffee houses with themes catch on? My first thought was of our staff meeting over the past 2 years at a coffee house to do our Bible read through. In that time, not only have we read through the Bible twice over, but every person working in this particular coffee house knows what it is that we are doing there and even a local customer has recently joined in! We are not the only mission team doing this. Another team holds a theology discussion every Thursdays in a Pub that used to be a church. With the rich theological history of Scotland, I would not be surprised if more people would care to join them. Could this be a way for us missionaries to prepare in advance for a swell of cultural interest? Or would we just catch a wave that is destined to crash on the shore of empty words and no action? For there are those who ignore sound teaching and just want to hear themselves talk. In any case, there remains a need to create a space where spiritual conversations can be had. If people are not going to churches anymore to have such conversations- we need to go where they are, or at least provide a place where they will come!

*PARIS Aeroports Magazine July 2005 p28 Article by Jacques Diament.