In preparing for today’s Café Church, I was using a discussion starter from Youthwork magazine, and I was quite suprised at how the questions as written used language that I wouldn’t consider accessible for a non-Christian, or even those from a low education background.
This has made me quite conscious of how we pitch our public worship:
- How much of it should be geared towards newcomers?
- At what point do people become able to make the transition from seeker services/alpha etc and fully understand & engage in worship, particularly “wordy” liturgy?
- Can church services ever be culturally relevant & accessible to everyone?
Using café church as an example, it is a bit easier because there’s no formal liturgy, but the whole concept of sitting round a table and discussing things with people isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Some people do like to come into a church building to meet with God and focus on Him without distractions from other people
So while café church may be a good way of making church accessible to some, the very same format is likely to alienate another group of people. In that case, what is a fresh expression of church? It may well be that in some churches/areas/cultures, a BCP Evensong could be something fresh that would make church more accessible to some. To use ++Rowan’s catchphrase, we need the mixed economy!
