Simon Werrett

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Pointing Beyond Itself: Coffee Shop Sunday from Costa to Digital Spaces through a Barthian Ecclesiological Lens

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This paper examines Coffee Shop Sunday (CSS), a worship initiative within the Coventry and Nuneaton Methodist Circuit, and considers how it reflects the ethos of the “common table” while directing participants toward Jesus. CSS was launched in December 2019 as an in-person worship service in a Coventry Costa Coffee shop, intentionally creating an opportunity to “meet God in an ordinary place.” However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this physical gathering and forced a transition to digital platforms. Facebook and Zoom became the new ‘ordinary places,’ enabling CSS to develop from four weekly online sessions to daily activities that now engage participants across five continents. The paper explores three key themes. First, it considers how the internet functions as a space for encountering God within an intercultural and multi-denominational community. Second, it examines how fellowship is expressed through Russell’s ‘round table ecclesiology,’ where all participants contribute from their own journeys of faith and struggle. This dynamic is analysed through Karl Barth’s four dimensions of authentic relationship: communication, visibility, activity, and emotion. Third, the paper investigates how CSS aligns with Barth’s insistence that Christian activity must point beyond itself to Jesus, evaluating whether its practices succeed in this theological imperative. Through critical engagement with these themes, the paper argues that CSS offers a compelling model of digital ecclesiology. It demonstrates how worship and Christian community can be sustained, and even deepened, in digitally mediated environments. Ultimately, CSS illustrates how online spaces can function as transformative contexts for inclusion, fellowship, and Christ-centred witness in a post-pandemic world.