Middle of the Marketplace
There is an old saying I try to live by: give credit where credit is due.
We're about a month away from the completion of our coffeehouse and I came across a website for the Potter's House. It is DC's original coffeehouse started in the 1960's by one of the cutting edge churches of the 1960's--The Church of the Saviour. I remember reading about it in one of Elizabeth O'Conner's books long before we moved to DC. It must have gotten into my subconscious.
I read some of the backstory and it's pretty inspiring. I feel like we're following in their footsteps. The idea for The Potter's House came during an out of town speaking engagement. Gordan Cosby, pastor of The Church of the Saviour, spoke at a church that was "dead." No life. And that night he and his wife stayed at a motel and slept in a room right above a tavern. The noise from below kept them up most of the night. The contrast between the somber church and camardarie of the tavern gave him an idea--a coffeehouse.
Cosby said, "It could be a church in the marketplace which would say to the city: we will serve you, we will be with you in the way in which you naturally gather."
Genius. Do church where people naturally gather! That's what being a church in the middle of the marketplace is all about. That is why we meet in movie theaters and clubs. That is why we're building a coffeehouse.
We're creating a marketplace where the community can gather.
We're about a month away from the completion of our coffeehouse and I came across a website for the Potter's House. It is DC's original coffeehouse started in the 1960's by one of the cutting edge churches of the 1960's--The Church of the Saviour. I remember reading about it in one of Elizabeth O'Conner's books long before we moved to DC. It must have gotten into my subconscious.
I read some of the backstory and it's pretty inspiring. I feel like we're following in their footsteps. The idea for The Potter's House came during an out of town speaking engagement. Gordan Cosby, pastor of The Church of the Saviour, spoke at a church that was "dead." No life. And that night he and his wife stayed at a motel and slept in a room right above a tavern. The noise from below kept them up most of the night. The contrast between the somber church and camardarie of the tavern gave him an idea--a coffeehouse.
Cosby said, "It could be a church in the marketplace which would say to the city: we will serve you, we will be with you in the way in which you naturally gather."
Genius. Do church where people naturally gather! That's what being a church in the middle of the marketplace is all about. That is why we meet in movie theaters and clubs. That is why we're building a coffeehouse.
We're creating a marketplace where the community can gather.
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