by Charlotte Evans

Would you like a decaf cappuccino with your devotions? A Perrier water with a prayer? It's not as far-fetched as you think. Café churches are a mode of worship proving popular with adults in the mid-20s to 40s age bracket.

A café church workshop was held in Auckland in July, organised by Simon McLeay. Simon, the Mission Resource Co-director Northern for the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, wanted to provide a forum for those churches exploring ways of connecting with people other than in a traditional service.

Four churches gave presentations to around 26 people from primarily Auckland parishes. But the idea isn't to see some sort of saintly Starbucks franchises opening up in churches about the country.

"The variety of different experiments was really quite exciting. In the past we've often had a lot of worship that's been very similar, but in the four or so different models we looked at, they were all distinctly different and locally-aimed," says Simon.

Of the four churches involved who spoke - St John's and St Philip's in Papatoetoe talked about its experiences with an occasional Sunday evening café worship service; Kohimarama Presbyterian Church uses a model focused around a meal followed by a presentation or discussion; St Andrew's in Howick runs a weekly café@eleven programme for young adults (see case study below); and Wadestown in Wellington operates a monthly Sunday morning café service with a variety of structured elements such as times of prayer, worship and images for reflection and meditation.

A commitment to quality hospitality was universal.

"Our expectations of hospitality in New Zealand are higher than they used to be. An average cup of tea doesn't express what would be considered even ordinary hospitality now - and it reflects badly," Simon says.

He believes café type worship could become increasingly significant in New Zealand as generations grow up.

"Leonard Sweet (the American author and theologian) talks about an acronym EPIC in relation to postmodern generations - Experiential, Participatory, use of Images and a focus on Connecting people to each other - I see that coming out in café worship."

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Howick

The popular café@eleven programme began just over two years ago, catering specifically to the changing tastes of those in their 20s to 40s. The church already had a café space on its premises so set-up costs weren't an issue.

The 90-minute programme, café@eleven, is tied around a different theme each week (one was lessons we learn from movies). Aspects of the programme vary accordingly, with a mix of discussions, guest speakers, a band, praise and worship etc. The mood is very relaxed and informal, with people sitting at café tables with coffee and café-quality food available at the start and in the middle of the programme.

The associate minister of St Andrew's Rev Ron Bennett, who is very involved with the leadership team of café@eleven, is pleased with the group and its flow-on contribution to church life.

"It's certainly given people a lot of opportunities to use their particular gifts. The planning and the services are not minister dominated."

He says the St Andrew's Session was very supportive when the idea of establishing such a service was raised.

"From the ministry point of view, yes, there has to be some risk-taking and some letting go and let's see what happens. But we're very grateful that the young people have really risen to it." Phil Guyan, one of the people behind the initiative, is part of the 12-strong leadership team now involved with café@eleven.

"It took 18 months of slogging it out week after week with not really big numbers (about a dozen or so) but we did persist with it and suddenly this year everything's clicked into place. We've had 40 or 50 people consistently each week for the last six months," says Phil.

Phil's advice to people keen to set up something like this is to work to their own strengths rather than trying to copy someone else. He'd also recommend being clear about your target group and being clear about your mission.

And when you're trying to figure out the "sacred stuff" to include from the negotiable, he comments that US pastor and author Bill Hybels has a useful phrase to keep in mind.

" He says to say to yourself 'what would I take a bullet for?' Now I would take a bullet for the fact that Jesus Christ is God but I wouldn't take a bullet for 'we have to have an organ'."