High school students connecting with God in a local café
- 11 minutes ago
- 2 min read
A new ‘Table Church’ in Helensburgh, run in partnership with the Helensburgh Baptist Church, is seeing a number of high school students connect with God.
Shire Salvos Helensburgh Mission Leader Lauren Martin partners with Helensburgh Baptist Church Minister Brad Blacker in the ministry that involves dinner, a short teaching, and a connected Bible study or facilitated workshop.
Table Church is held at The Cupbearer, the Helensburgh Baptist Church’s missional café.
“We wanted to engage with people that we had gotten to know through the cafe, or through my ministry as a Salvation Army community worker,” said Lauren.
“People who have expressed interest in faith or spirituality but weren’t connected with existing faith communities and don’t express interest in attending a Sunday service.
“We invited several adults and, all of a sudden, there was interest from a few of the invitees’ teenage children to also attend. Now, we have a lovely group of about 18 people, half of them in their senior years in high school, all sitting together discussing faith and what it means to be connected to God and to follow Jesus.”
Brad admitted it was encouraging to see how relationships formed through the coffee shop have grown.
“I love the connections that we make through our Cupbearer ministry,” he said. “It allows us to invite people into the Kingdom of God who don’t necessarily want to walk through the doors of a church on Sunday.”
The small Table Church is one example of the way God is creating different forms of discipleship-focused faith communities across Shire Salvos.
‘Soul Food’ evenings at Shire Salvos Miranda and Shire Salvos Heathcote take place on weeknights and involve community members connecting over a meal and a faith discussion.
Shire Salvos Panania has a Bible Study that meets on its cafe deck, and Shire Salvos Helensburgh runs several Discipleship groups during the week, mostly with new Christians or those who aren’t connected to existing faith communities.
“I love how God weaves a beautiful tapestry of different ways to connect with and worship him,” said Lauren.
