Cafechurch

It’s important to start thinking about Cafechurch’s mission from Scripture, so here is a good place to start.

Jesus said to them again ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ John 20:21-22

At the Lenten Caravan in 2014, we used a video of T S Eliot reading the start of Ash Wednesday. I have uploaded the video, below.

Because I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn
Desiring this man's gift and that man's scope
I no longer strive to strive towards such things
(Why should the aged eagle stretch its wings?)
Why should I mourn
The vanished power of the usual reign?

Cafechurch is a church that meets in a bar in Fitzroy, in inner city Melbourne. But why? Is it just that we like drinking beer and talking about God? The first in a series, this presentation attempts to describe the spiritual situation in Australia, and more broadly in the context of modernism, secularism, and the post-Christendom situation. These processes are not entirely distinct, but broadly, modernity has led to the loss of the taken-for-grantedness of Christianity, which has in turn led to the church(es), once central to society and culture, becoming increasingly marginalised.

This is presentation I did for participants from the Fresh Expressions - Mission Shaped Ministry gathering, on 30/1/14. It talks a bit about the history, but a lot more about what we have been learning together.  

One of the most helpful books I know about the journey which Cafechurch has been on is New Zealand pastor and sociologist Alan Jamieson's book A Churchless Faith. In it he attempts to explore the journeys on which people go after the leave Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Charismatic (EPC) churches. That story seems resonant with many people in Cafechurch, so I recently wrote a blog post about it, outlining Jamieson's stages, and pondering how well it fits Cafechurch's story.

Welcome to the new Cafechurch website! This is the first proper site upgrade we have made since I don't know when. Years ago. I hope you will check back periodically to check out what we are up to here in Cafechurch Melbourne.