A YOUNG PERSON’S VIEW OF THE COTTERIDGE CHURCH
Café Church
As a young person visiting a Church or moving on from Junior Church provision, traditional services can seem quite daunting. Long sermons and lots of hymn singing are not always top on the agenda: this is where Café Church comes in. It is a unique mix of worship, in a relaxed environment with hands-on activities alongside prayer and meditation. The ‘café’ part can be seen with an element of choice given to all attending; after an introduction to the night’s theme, everyone picks what they want to sample from the night’s menu. This is the really appealing part of the worship and definitely showed me, as a young person, that it is not all about sermons! Worship is expressed in many different forms including the following: through creative activities, using mediums such as art, drawing and even Lego, through discussions and debates with probing question starters, through meditation in a quiet space with thought-provoking images and soothing music, through writing and reading poems showing how important using words can be, through food, especially on the ‘Jesus is the Bread of Life’ themed night, through games such as balloon tennis, and friendship and celebrating the Lord with others, in more ways than collective singing. Okay, so the balloon tennis may be pushing the worship theme a little bit, but the rest of the activities allow everyone a chance the find the Lord and worship Him in their own special way. Singing is not always totally avoidable though and has featured as part of the collective worship which brings the whole evening together at the end.
Café Church is just one way of showing young people the pleasure of Church and worship, which can often be lost in those latter teenage years. At the Cotteridge Church young people of all ages are supported and encouraged to grow in their faith through the Junior Church provision and involvement in Sunday services. The Cotteridge Church is a great place to be as a young person.
By Imogen Sprackling, aged 17