They are everywhere: Starbucks, Panera Bread, and all those
other coffee shops. We now know it isn’t about the coffee, or those hot cross buns. There’s something deeper, an underlying movement. Lyle Schaller captured it so well in the thumbnail here.
It’s shocking just how much the social landscape has
changed in America. Measure after measure suggests we are experiencing a real loneliness. We’re not actually alone but lonely none the less. As Randy Frazee suggests, it’s a “Crowded Loneliness”. A loneliness so intense the 8 top selling prescription drugs in America back in 2003 were for, you guessed it, depression. In fact we spent $1.4 million an hour back then on depression medication.
Check out this Randy Frazee video here
Depression and loneliness are the hungers of the 21st century in America. Any experienced African missionary knows they won’t listen when they are starving. They must address the hunger first. And any ministry today that doesn’t address this loneliness won’t have their attention or their heart in the end either. Its interesting a guy like Lyle, who has been around so long, sees it so well.
So what is your church doing to address this 21st century hunger……. this loneliness?
You’re so right, it’s not about the coffee. But coffee is often necessary, or some type of beverage that creates that common connection and stickiness factor.
Of all the roles I’ve played in the church, seems I’m best known as ‘the coffee guy’ or ‘the church bartender’ as I was once named by a drunk guest who would visit the church cafe I operated. And I’m always stoked when people see beyond the cup and to the connection that cup provides.
At my church people laugh that I always have a cup in my hand, though I don’t drink near as much coffee as people think. I’m not always drinking from the cup I hold, but two main reasons keep it in my hand: (1) I’ve got CTS – coffee tunnel syndrome and if I don’t put a cup in my hand people won’t stop shaking it and (2) holding a beverage created a bridge, not a barrier for conversation….