What's Gospel Coffee Club?

a vague explanation

Hello friend,

You’re here reading this, probably wondering what this “Gospel Coffee Club” thing is all about.

What is it?

How will it work?

Can I be a member?

Do I want to be a member?

Will this make my life better?

What is the meaning of life?

And we are right there with you. We are not sure of all that Gospel Coffee Club is and will become. It is an idea that we have been developing, but is still very much in a state of infancy. We have many ideas and aspirations for Gospel Coffee Club (one of which will be unveiled very soon), but this initiative will be one that continues to unfold over time, as we have more capacity to invest in it.

Story time:

We started Gospel Coffee almost 5 years ago, a slightly wild time to start a business (I’m sure you remember 2020). Our aim was not to get rich. It wasn’t even necessarily to make a great product that people would love, though I think we do that well. Our aim, fundamentally, was to create a space and context for discipleship.

You may or may not know the term “discipleship”. But here’s what we mean: a disciple is essentially an apprentice. One who is on the job, following the master, spending time with him, learning from him. And the disciples we are interested in being and making, are disciples of Jesus.

Jesus said in Matthew 28, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

There are 2 aspects to this making disciples, or “discipleship”. The first is a person initially becoming a disciple by believing the gospel, receiving the Holy Spirit, and being baptized. The second is the ongoing work of learning to “observe all that I [Jesus] have commanded you”. This is spending time with Him in prayer, hearing from Him through the Scriptures, answering His call to go and make disciples yourself, among other things.

And with these 2 aspects in mind, our fundamental aim in starting the shop 5 years ago was discipleship. Because we believe that man was created with a glorious purpose, being made in God’s own image. This idea of Image Bearing is deep and beautiful, but simply it is to reflect God’s character in the world: to love and have fellowship with God and man, to live according to what is Good and True and Beautiful. And because of our sin, we are unable to fulfil that purpose and are destined for Death. But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus bore the wrath of God for our sin on the cross and raises, restores, and renews us by his resurrection! By turning from our sin and believing this gospel, we are saved and become a disciple - forgiven of our sin and restored to bear God’s Image rightly and live eternally united to Him, our highest good.

Our hope with the shop was that within that space, Jesus would use his disciples to share his gospel and make more disciples. In tandem with that hope was also that the space would be used by disciples to invest in other disciples - to sharpen one another and encourage one another toward following Jesus more faithfully.

All that to say, the aim of Gospel Coffee Club is the same: discipleship. This will be a branch of our business where we more intentionally invest in initiatives that directly foster discipleship. Some current initiatives that fall under this umbrella are our in-shop library full of great resources, the Bibles we have to take yourself or to give a friend, and the books we give away at the shop for free like, “Mere Christianity,” “Knowledge of the Holy,” “Knowing God” and others. The aim of these being to know God deeply and follow Him more faithfully. That is what we want for each and every person that steps into our shop and falls under the sphere of our influence: to know God. And this happens through the gospel.

While we can’t share all that we have planned yet, I can tell you the first official initiative of Gospel Coffee Club will be announced very soon. And we want Gospel Coffee Club to be community oriented, a people gathered around the same vision with the same aim.

Community and discipleship - that’s the name of the game.

So, if this vague and ethereal description of what Gospel Coffee Club is, excites you - join the club, friend! You can do that by “Subscribing” which is essentially clicking Subscribe and entering your email to receive notifications with updates, information, resources, events, ect…

And you can get the Substack App, which allows you to engage more personally in the club through chats, comments and discussion around the content.

That’s all for now. Talk to you soon.