‘Meeting God in an ordinary place’. What can we learn from Coffee Shop Sunday about meeting God using the internet to encourage and develop fellowship?
Authors
Werrett, SimonAffiliation
University of ChesterPublication Date
2024-10-13
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
All are welcome at the ‘common table’ to enjoy the ‘table talk’. How does Coffee Shop Sunday (CSS) (Coventry and Nuneaton Methodist Circuit Project) reflect that alongside pointing people to Jesus? CSS began a worship service in a Coventry Costa Coffee Shop in December 2019, this was severely disrupted with covid-19 restrictions and their concept of ‘meeting God in an ordinary place’ moved online. The internet through Facebook and Zoom became the ordinary place they met God. Since March 2020, the online work has grown from initially meeting four days a week to daily activities with participants from five continents. Two of the principles of CSS are encouragement and fellowship. The paper will explore (1) How the internet became the ‘ordinary’ place to meet God for people from different denominations and cultures. (2) How fellowship is experienced, using Russell’s ‘round table ecclesiology’ model where those present participate in a way which reflects their own journey of ‘faith and struggle’. (3) How does CSS point other people to Jesus through its activities. Barth emphasises that churches or a Christian’s activities should not focus on themselves but ‘point to Jesus’. By reviewing CSS activities, I will demonstrate that they point others to Jesus.Citation
Werrett, S. (2024). ‘Meeting God in an ordinary place’. What can we learn from Coffee Shop Sunday about meeting God using the internet to encourage and develop fellowship? Practical Theology, vol(issue), pages. https://doi.org/10.1080/1756073X.2024.2403204Publisher
Taylor & FrancisJournal
Practical TheologyAdditional Links
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1756073X.2024.2403204Type
ArticleDescription
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupISSN
1756-073XEISSN
1756-0748Sponsors
Unfundedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1080/1756073X.2024.2403204
Scopus Count
Collections
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/