Larry Terrell Crudup, MDiv student Perkins School of Theology, Dallas, TX
Across the highway from Southern Methodist University, where I attend Perkins School of Theology, there sits a coffee shop. It serves the University and the surrounding community great coffee, builds a great community, and takes up great causes.
What makes Union Coffee unique is its multifunctional space, for this coffee shop is also a church. I know! Take it in! Process it! It is a church of the United Methodist Church.
Now being Baptist I can tell you very little about how they pulled this one off, but what I can tell you is they do it well. They serve amazing coffee, engage us in amazing conversations, and compel us to join them in causes that matter. If we are to have a conversation about an Entrepreneurial Gospel, we must engage Churches/businesses like Union Coffee.
I have been observing this coffee shop since August of 2012 to find their missional framework. Allow me to paint a picture of Union Coffee using their three themes: Coffee, Community & Cause
Coffee:
Union Coffee is a place that covenants to bring you coffee that tastes good and is economically just. Their products are beyond fair trade standards in that they intentionally choose to purchase their coffee directly from the farmers. These farms are monitored to make sure they are paying their workers fairly and that the conditions in which they work are safe.
The communities that surround these farms have created schools and clinics to keep improving their living conditions. They value what they sell you and they value who they buy from. They are intentional about quality of product and quality of life. They follow their Methodist roots (again from a Baptist perspective and paraphrase) as Wesley taught that not sinning goes deeper than not physically harming someone. It means not being involved in systems of oppression, for that is sin.
It is being intentional in business transactions so that no one and nothing, whether the cashier, the farmer, the community of the farmer, the coffee beans etc., is harmed and sinned against. The embodiment of the Gospel can be found in their gospel calling forth the kingdom of God through ethical business practices.
Community:
Union is concerned about community. When they opened their doors the first thing they did was not a worship service, or to put a cross outside the door, or play “Christian music.” The first thing they did was to listen. The pastor is called the Community Curator. His primary job is to spark, and sustain the community that organically grows at Union.
Community Curator Michael Baughman goes around the coffee shop introducing himself and listening to those who come in. He has trained the barista’s not only in making great coffee, but also in being great conversation partners. Their role is not only to make coffee, but also to make community by being in tune with the joys and frustrations of those who come in. They seek out those who look lonely, connect those who searching, and offer a platform for those who have something to say.
About this platform: they call it the Naked Stage. It is literally a naked wooden stage that has pillows and a table on it.
On Friday nights this platform is turned into a stage where stories are told and poetry is performed. Stories are to be real life, unscripted, and connected to the broad theme of that week. The story can be about some crazy trip that someone took, some spiritual moment, some mission trip, some socially conscious business…whatever you like. As long as we are learning more about who you are.
There is another centerpiece made out of wood. It is a large wooden table that often looks out of place. There you will find people who have never met sitting and talking, or studying. It is the place that draws your attention to the emerging community.
So central is this table that when they have worship services (their first worship service was held today 3/25/13. There were around 50 people in worship, most of which took communion, which is the central act of worship in the United Methodist Church.
The business side was still open, which drew people into the worship space.) This table acts as the Alter where the elements of the Eucharist (communion) are placed. It is as if they have listened to the actions of Jesus and sat amongst those left out of the church and began a conversation that is beginning to bear fruit.
Cause:
Union is committed to social justice. Every year they choose a cause to support. These causes are chosen based on themes that the staff is hearing in their created community. They are a tithing business. Ten percent of their proceeds go to the chosen cause.
In 2012 they chose hunger for their cause and gave ten percent to the North Texas Food Bank. Although they are not Christ who fed 5,000 men, not including women and children in one day, they did feed over 5000 people in a matter of 4 months. Not only do they give funds, they give their time to help the food bank sort through the food they get. They also allow those with causes to use the space to talk about their cause.
One cause was the struggle of the people of Syria. Injustice trumped doctrine, and Christians, Muslims, agnostics, and probably even a few atheists were in the room to talk about Syria. We heard poems in Arabic, prayers to Allah, Negro Spirituals, and all of this was to join together to learn more about what we could do to help the Syrian people. Just as the prophets cried for justice, and Jesus proclaimed and inaugurated a Kingdom of Justice, Union embodies that Gospel of Justice.
Coffee, Community, and Cause is how the Gospel is entrepreneurially embodied. It is Union Station for the trains of Church, society, justice, and all the gray areas that don’t fit into the rigid categories we use to define God’s footstool. May we carry the Gospel not only when we step into the pulpit, but when we create businesses and non-profits, and schools, for this is the vision God has for some of you.