Open For Business...

Hillsong Church Copenhagen

Coffee with Katie, the Barista

We took our seats on the train leaving Copenhagen, Denmark headed toward home in Malmo, Sweden.  We reviewed the photos of beautiful Copenhagen that we had taken that day and reflected on our time spent with another Mission Corps Barista volunteer, Katie, from San Francisco.  Then, we opened this calendar that we had picked up at Hillsong Church Copenhagen and began to flip through its pages.  "Did you attend Hillsong today?" the lady sitting across from us quietly asked.   Conversations on trains and busses in Scandinavia are almost unheard of.  Most passengers sit plugged into earbuds or headphones.  Some actually read newspapers.  Yes, we had attended Hillsong services that morning, so our conversation was open for business.  That's where she attends, taking the train across the sound from Sweden into Denmark each Sunday.  She asked us if we had met an Asian greeter that morning.  "Yes," we replied, "Michael and his wife, Karen."  Out of hundreds of church goers that morning, we had met her daughter and her son-in-law!   Out of hundreds of people boarding that train that late Sunday afternoon, we had sat across from a lady who, along with her daughter and son-in-law, were heart-deep active in not only Copenhagen's Hillsong church, but also a part of planting a Hillsong church in Malmo, Sweden.  In fact, as a result of an announcement in church that morning, we had planned to attend one of their first church-planting meetings in Malmo this Wednesday night.

It was not a chance meeting that we had sat across from a lady who was part of this church-planting team.  She asked us why we were in Sweden, and we told her that we were working in coffee shop/cafe ministries.  She agreed with us that this ministry is one powerful way to reach the young generation in Scandinavia.  "Our country has lost an entire generation, but God is working through different ministries to reach this younger generation and bring them back to Him."  Coffee ministries are strong and are open for business, too.  We were encouraged to have this conversation with a total stranger, yet, not a stranger in our circle; instead, a fellow believer.

Both of her children are believers and witnesses for Christ and her husband, a captain on Norwegien Cruise Lines, is a strong believer who has organized Bible studies with fellow believers. Again, a little church open for business.  She asked about our family, and we shared that our son and family are sincerely involved in their church.  We shared that he was in the hospital.  She took his name and will take him to the prayer warriors at Hillsong.  Certainly, their church is open for business. 

Now, with European nations opening their borders to thousands of refugees, the existing church must be more than prominent and boldly multiply itself everywhere.  The church has to turn up the volume and be seen as stations of difference, hope and ministry.  They must be open for business!   Believers have the responsibility to seek ways in which we can be a part of something bigger than ourselves.  After all, we have the reason for our hope and our testimony should always be open for business.

Keep Looking Up...and thank you for reading our blog.
J:m and L:nda