This morning we went back into Oregon and worshiped at Ceder Hills Baptist Church. Cedar Hills is a beautiful Suburb of Portland The Pastor is REV Christine Roush. came to this area from Upstale NY where she worked in the ABCNYS camping program for several years. She left NY shortly before we got there. CHBC which is ABC/USA, has a nice church plant with a sanctuary that seats around 150 with space for perhaps 40 more Also a nice Educational building. They have plenty of parking and additional landscaped area, part of which is used for "community garden plots" used by nearby apartment dwellers. Maybe 60-65 present this morning some where out of town in all directions for Graduation events at some of the many Colleges and Universities. The college aged regulars had already headed to Downtown Portland with food to distribute the homeless. Music was contemporary.
Ages where probably from 45 to 90 with a majority between 55 an 70. The only draw back for us is that it is 23 miles from here,and a surprising volume of traffic for a Sunday Morning. From observing license plates I would guess 90% where from either Portland or Vancouver
The most unique thing was that they hosted "a coffee hour" after church, and probably 45 stayed to have snacks and chat for an hour or so.
To which I replied,
...what is unique about coffee hour? I don't think I've ever attended a church on an ongoing basis that didn't host coffee hour after church.
To which Ed replied,
I have also attended after church coffee hours but in most cases they where to celebrate some ones 100th birth day or a couples 25 wedding anniversary or some other event honoring members of the congregation. As I understand what we experienced at Ceder Hill is standard procedure just because this family of God enjoy being together.
In response whereto, I expatiated:
The church I grew up in had coffee hour every week after the Sunday service. So did Mrs. H's starter church, where I went as a teenager. So did Friends Memorial Church and even the Church of Religious Science, both of which I attended during my "AA discernment phase" (a term I just made up), and so do Fremont Baptist (where I'm a member now), and Japanese Baptist (though perhaps the tea is a bit more prominent than the coffee) where Mrs. H is a member and where I most frequently attend. So does St. Paul's Episcopal, where I go when I have to work Sundays. So did the vast majority of the 48 churches I attended in 2011. Maybe it's a regional culture thing? I don't know. I find the idea of a church without coffee hour if not a full-blown potluck like we used to do at the Fremont evening service when there was one rather uninviting. When and how do the members get to know each other without it? Of course if you have big anniversary or birthday celebration, that means the coffee hour will have more and fancier cake. And day before yesterday JBC dispensed with the coffee hour in order to have their Music Ministry Appreciation Luncheon, which only music ministry folks and spouses were invited to. Not sure if others had coffee elsewhere in the building, but we had the gymnasium to ourselves. But that was an atypical Sunday.
And Ed came back with
I think you have hit it with " Maybe it's a regional culture thing?". In 60 plus years of attending churches of a dozen denominations though predominantly Baptist (ABC,SBC,CBF,INDEPENDENT, GARB) most East of the Mississippi, although I have, even before the current trip visited churches in Texas, Missouri, and Oregon in addition I was a member of a church in Arkansas. And for me Ceder Hills practice of regularly having a coffee with most of the attendees of the day staying around aparently just for the fellowship, was unique .
This might make for an interesting discussion on the more general Baptist Faith and Practice board.
Hence this thread. So what say ye all, brethren? Have ye Coffee Hour, Social Hour, Coffee Fellowship, or something along those lines in your churches? If not, have you ever experienced it, or would you call it a "unique" feature if you attended a service where it followed?
And Mrs Haruo wrote a further comment on the subject after Ed suggested moving it here, to which he has now replied...