A "cafe service"

During the last three months I have been on an horrendously busy assignment that has involved quite a lot of long distance commuting. One of the joys of working around the country is that I get glimpses of Christians at work well away from my own circuit and Sundays.

Over the last few months I have worked near to St Paul's Hammersmith, an Anglican Church, serving a thriving area of West London. They open at lunchtimes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays making a welcome oasis of tranquility in a busy commercial centre.

On Wednesday's they hold a short lunchtime service for the nearby business community. Before Christmas they used the tradition format of rows of chairs facing the lectern. This proved to be difficult because fitting in lunch (especially important after a long early morning commute) and worshipping somehow didn't always work.

Over the last two weeks they have used the "cafe format". Last week I wasn't expecting it and had made arrangements for lunch elsewhere. I must admit that juggling a hymn sheet whilst drinking a cup of tea didn't seem to work.

This week though, better prepared, I took my sandwiches into the church about ten minutes before the service and was able to combine the two.

Better still, the church officials had apparently picked up on the difficulty of hymn sheets mixing with food and drink and used a powerpoint hymn screen, making everything much more easier.

Now that I've tried the cafe format twice, I must say that it can work. This was obviously helped by the quality of the music (good) and the short talk (also good).

However I think it has to be in context - during a busy working day it seemed appropriate, I'm not certain it would work on a Sunday morning at the Tat Bank Road Methodist Church.

If you are working anywhere near Hammersmith on a Wednesday, pop in to "St Paul's at One" and don't be afraid to take your sarnies.