There is a church in my town that has a coffee shop in the lobby.
It’s a big church, with a soaring entrance, and the coffee bar is set up right in the middle, with comfortable tables and couches arranged in groups along the edges of the space.
This is ideal for parishioners to catch up and socialize before and after worship - and get their caffeine fix as well!
It’s a brilliant use of all that space during the week: church staff and groups have a built-in place to meet. Members of the larger community also have a great place to work, study, and socialize - my kids used to do their homework there after school when they were in high school.
It’s also built-in evangelism. It gives people who aren’t members a reason to enter the space. The coffee shop brings people into the church space - which is set up with attractive promotions for the congregation.
There are post cards with service times, and QR codes for signing up for daily spiritual inspiration, etc.
(I’m emphasizing this because it makes me think of all the churches I’ve encountered with sad, dusty entrances, no signs (or any sign at all this is a vibrant community), and no real welcome for visitors).The coffee shop is a separate business (LLC) that pays rent to the church.
The church is benefitting financially - and spiritually, through evangelism to all those who enter their space.
The coffee shop is benefitting from all the customers the church brings them - plus a cool location.
In fact, the coffee shop is so successful that it has opened several other branches throughout the community.
And even though the coffee shop is its own business, they gladly promote the church, host their small groups and special events in their locations, and share their post cards and sign ups.
Many of us think that church must be a non-profit.
After all, we’re not in business primarily to make money.
But it’s also true that we must be able to sustain our ministry in an era where ‘stewardship’ and pledging are no longer supporting budgets.
There’s no rule that says that churches themselves cannot be LLC’s (limited liability companies). In fact, some of them are!
The real opportunity in today’s world is using the model of LLC/non-profit partnership (like this coffee shop) for other ministry-related businesses: spiritual direction, teaching, blogging, podcast, music, art, etc. Either in-person or online.
LLC/Non-profit partnerships support innovative - ‘Cage Free’ - ministry, as well as traditional congregations.
Join me tomorrow (September 9th at 5pm Eastern) for a nuts and bolts ‘Cage Free Ministry’ workshop:
How to be a Free Range Priest
and we’ll talk about this in detail (It will be recorded, so if you can’t make it in person, sign up to get the workbook, slide deck, and link to the video)…
Paid subscribers, get the ‘LLC or Non-Profit for Ministry?’ guide below…