Who is My Neighbour? Please take and use this as you want. Change it, build on it, adapt it to work for your Church. Service Welcome & introduce theme Light a candle: A moment of prayer to start the service and invite Jesus to be part of the conversation around our tables. Activity: Build a house! Each table will need a bag of materials to build a model house with. Some of the materials will be good for building houses (i.e. lego), other materials will be bad (cotton wool). Some will have additional materials (scissors, salotape), some wont. Materials can include: lego; cottonwool; playdough; tissue paper; card; cocktail/lollipop sticks; sticklebricks. Each table will be asked to build a house out of the materials they have. Some will find this easy, others will find it more difficult. Feedback: At the end people will be asked to show of their efforts and invite lighthearted feedback from other tables. Whose house is best? Talk/Though: 2 mins. Note the way our world is so unfairly balanced in favour of those who have all the resources. Light a candle: Prayer of thanks that we have so much and forgiveness that we take it for granted. In the quiet invite people name in their hearts one thing that they are grateful for. Activity: What do these celebrities have in common? Each table needs envelopes with pictures of the six celebrities (below) in. Ask people to discuss what they know about these people and decide they have in common. The answer is they have all been homeless before they were famous. Use this activity to talk about the way we treat people. Showing that we like the idea of celebrity but would not have given them a second look when they were homeless. Perhaps find out their stories. Reading: James 2:1-8 or Matthew 25:34-45 Talk/Though: 5 mins Talk/Though: 2 mins What can our hands do? When we feel overwhelmed by big problems what small actions can we take to make a difference? www.simc.co.uk 1
Prayer: Invite people to look at their hands. Lord, we see our hands. We see our finger prints. Each unique. Help us to use them in our own way for you. Show us who we can reach out to. Who we can lift up. Who we can help. Lord, let our hands and hearts be one with you. Lord teach us to heal rather than hurt. Guide us to help rather than hinder. Equip us to build up rather than tear down. Lord let our hands and hearts be useful for you. Lord when our hands are tired, when they are broken, when they ache from years of toil. Let us feel your hands, warm and strong, holding us fast, lifting us up and leading us on. Lord let our hands and hearts be close to you. Amen Blessing Readings James 2:1-8 Matthew 25:34-45 Talk & Thoughts Ideas This service challenges us to reflect on justice in our world. What wealth and resources do we have? Finance? Education? Health? And how do we use our power and privilege to help others? What does God expect of us? Global: reflections on justice and poverty. Personal: Who do we dismiss? Who do we pass by? Individual: What can we do? What does God want from us personally? Food Food and drinks at Café Church are really important. The café side of things is an event to be savoured and enjoyed. It s all about building community and family around the table. We try to think like the coffee shops and steer as far away as possible from the cliché Church biscuit and a stale cup of tea. These are our non-negotiable basics: Good coffee is a must. If you possibly can, have ground not instant. It makes the whole event feel extra special and gives a delicious smell in the air. Tea, maybe have some herbal tea for people to choose from as well as normal. Breakfast pastries. Croissants, pain au chocolate, pain au raisin, cinnamon swirls, etc. Anything you see at breakfast time in the counter at your local coffee shop could be used. www.simc.co.uk 2
Fruit. Always try to put out a fruit option. A big bowl of berries in the summer; some melon slices or grape bunches for people to nibble on; a bowl of apples and pears in the winter. It s good to offer something more health conscious. Drinks for the kids. We have cartons of fairtrade apple and orange juice. On the Tables For Café Church you need to set up your church space around tables for about 5-10 people each depending on the size of your congregation. On the tables: Sunday Papers. Yes. These are essential. Always put out a selection for people to relax and browse. There are lots of reasons Who doesn t want to read the paper over a coffee on a Sunday morning? It keeps us in touch with the outside world. It gives someone feeling a bit awkward something to do. It gives people a starting point for conversations. It means there s something to do for people who don t want to engage with faith and helps them feel comfortable. Candles in holders. A box of long matches. A pot of pens. Make sure they are all working. We use flower pots. Anything that is specific to the activities for this service needs to be prepared and put out before people arrive. We try to put them in envelopes, folders, gift bags or boxes that look nice. Thinking Visually In our Café Church we try to engage the senses with image, art and good design. We hope to create a space and experience that is inspiring, relaxing and allows people to come to Church and explore faith without feeling they have to leave their 21 st Century sensibilities at the door. Sometimes we fail miserably, sometimes we get things right. Here are a few things we do: A nice tablecloth says a lot. We got some lovely ikea fabric and made our own. They all match and they make our church flatpack tables look a whole lot more appealing. We ve got a special teapot. It s a giant spotty Emma Bridgewater one. There s a lot of love for it. People drink tea just to have a cup from it! It s a nice surprise when people are expecting an old battered thing whose best days are long gone. We use a video projector and powerpoint. We try to keep slides to pictures and images rather than lots of words and notes. When we re planning activities we try to ask questions like: How can we do this en mass? What would have a lot of visual impact? How can everybody see/hear/experience this? What would be interesting to open/look at/do/make on the tables? How can we use resources creatively? How does this make people feel? What does say to someone who has just walked in our church for the first time? www.simc.co.uk 3
Finally Café Church To do Café Church or a Café Service we would recommend the following: Café for us works best when it is the main Sunday service rather than an additional service that people are invited to. This is not for everyone, but we would encourage you to give it a try. At its best Café Church is a regular feature in your Church diary. Café Church is for all ages. We have found families appreciate being able to be together and talk about faith. We make some toys and activities, along with a couple of highchairs, available to keep the younger ones happy. Café Church is a good entry point to faith. We try to keep the tone relaxed but with opportunity to go deeper. So, from the front, we make sure people know that if they just want to sit and read the Sunday papers and drink good coffee that s just fine. Copyright Finch 2012 www.simc.co.uk 4
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