Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

I don’t watch E! television nor do I have a subscription to People magazine, but like anyone who’s mildly sensitive to popular culture I’m not immune to the images. And I’ve noticed one pretty consistent thing: whenever you see a shot of a ‘star’ out and about on the street, the celebrity is often holding a cup of coffee or some such coffee drink. Mostly Starbucks, let’s be honest. The white cup, sometimes the cardboard heat protector, the green logo; it’s all part of the image, all part of the brand.

I want to start with these simple cultural observations because this is only superficially a post about the church, and it is not at all about etiquette or proper manners or what is right or wrong to do in church. The title says this is about coffee in church. But let me hasten to add that I’m not saying we should rip out the back few pews and put in a coffee bar (that’d be hokey and silly); nor should we serve coffee in church (although, having said that, we could step up our game and serve better coffee at coffee hour); nor should we be drinking coffee or other drinks in church (I’m completely indifferent to this question anyway and whenever I’m a worshiper I really don’t do it, although I may have walked into the building with the cup I was carrying on my walk over and I’d like to find a garbage can).

What I am saying is that there is a popular culture, today, in which people bring their coffee wherever, whenever. They just do. More to the point, you should expect that if you have a growing church – growing with all kinds of people, including young adults and young families – and your church meets on a Sunday morning, say, you may very well have people who bring their coffee into the worship service. Not hordes of them, not all of them, but at least a few. Also, afterwards, they might not stick around for your “hour of coffee” and please don’t get your feelings hurt because they may only be there to worship God in Christ and, honestly, see my point above about the kind of coffee we’re serving in our parish halls.

I’m not saying this trend is right or good or that the church simply needs to accept the ways of popular culture and stop being so fussy. But this is, very much, something that gets church folk really, really fussy. I’ve heard back-biting comments, sometimes (unfortunately) just loud enough so the coffee-carrier can hear it: “A coffee cup?! Who would bring coffee into church?”

There is, on this question of coffee in church, a real and piercing generational divide. And yet having people with one set of generational / cultural expectations complain about those who practice other ways may also be one of those barometers by which we measure church growth. That is, if the dominant culture and cultural norms, including etiquette and manners, are being questioned and perceived, by some, to be threatened than it also means other, newer folks – people from different generations with different expectations and norms are showing up. And then, as pastors and lay leaders, we can begin to have a really good, really rich, really theological (and, yes, really hard) conversation – not about coffee or church manners but about the ways of God and the communities we form in Christ’s name. 

Don't miss a blog post! Subscribe via email or RSS, using the grey box on the upper right.