This post is about that journey; the thrills and the spills and the lessons learned along the way.
Glamorous Beginnings
Reverb was truly epic. An iMac loaded internet cafe, a full sized pub-quality pool table, a bar serving non-alcoholic cocktails, a giant screen Nintendo Wii and decor to make Costa Coffee weep into their corrugated cardboard cups.
Match this with a professional logo design, staff hoodies and branded pub coasters - we had it made!
Our team of agile and able youth workers were fully versed in the ancient art of discipleship through ping-pong, and could effortlessly turn a game of Jenga into an anecdote about the wise man building his house upon the rock.
Each term the Reverb package would include themed nights, costume play competitions, karaoke and mini cinemas. We had more fairy lights than Blackpool prom and went through more industrial dishwashers than an Army mess hall in peace time.
The Price You Pay For Popular
Reverb got popular. Very popular. At one point our Friday nights would attract 80 or 90 young people to a room that could comfortably fit about 30. They’d spill out onto the street, mingle with the patrons coming out of the three local pubs, and cause havoc with our neighbours. Our shopfront became a skate park, our car park became the most awkward single-mingle imaginable, and the local police adjusted their patrol routes.
Every week gave us another story. I remember once having to lock the young people in while I was outside alone trying to reason with a very angry man who identified himself as a member of the Welsh Mafia - perhaps even the Godfather! Another week I was slapped in the face by a drunk mum who was trying to force her way inside to find out where I was ‘hiding the drugs’ (I wasn’t btw).
We were lucky to have more than three minutes of conversation with any young person that didn’t end - sometimes literally - with egg on our faces. Our team of agile, able, ninja leaders began to get extremely tired and eventually burned out.
Something Had To Be Done
This is unfortunately not an uncommon story. Francis Chan once said that if you have some talented people then it's the easiest thing in the world to fill a room. If you build it they will come! However, as we had lots of investment in this space, we had to somehow make it work.
We made a decision to limit the age range of those who could attend on certain nights, deliberately knowing that this would create a drop in numbers. We then made a second decision to put more of our time, energy and resources into developing relationships in the local schools rather than in Reverb itself.
This was the beginning of the end of the Reverb Cafe, and the first scary steps of our organic journey towards a very successful relationship-driven youth ministry.
Reverb 2.0
Reverb gradually became an amazing space for acoustic coffee shop style worship, for small groups, for classroom away days, for a fundraising cafe and for training events. It was just like a Japanese Car - everything got much smaller and much more efficient. Everything also got much, much deeper! Within a few months young people were connecting with God on a whole new level, and were using what we did to bring their friends to Christ.
We noticed that this new community and relationship-driven approach completely changed the direction of the cafe. It was no longer the first-contact drop-in place. It was instead the home and sacred space for the young people that we got to know in school.
This, however, left us with another set of problems.
People who came back from Uni or who were in College loved the coffee shop vibe - but truthfully they loved Starbucks and Nero around the corner much more! We just couldn’t compete.
Younger guys and gals also enjoyed the novelty for a couple of weeks - but then they got bored. Reverb provided no space to run around, and no modular room for any game that needs more than cards.
Coffee shops are simply not designed for teenagers in small towns.
When you add to this the enormous expense of renting and resourcing a high street building you need to start talking afresh about stewardship, strategy and what might be God’s next big idea.
Stepping Away In Faith
With all of our cards back on the table, we broke down what we did and who we did it for. We looked past the ‘cool’ and asked ‘what do we really need?’ It was gruelling, humbling and totally liberating.
We decided we needed somewhere that could still function as a coffeeshop but have more space to run around in. We also wanted somewhere safer by being further away from the late night town centre.
We decided that branding and name recognition were far less important now because we planned to get to know young people first in school. We would also bring our now well established community along with us for the journey.
Our new community centre is far more missionary as it's centred in a local school estate. It comes with a very fun retro diner, a couple of halls, office space and an outdoor basketball court. We have the right zones for small groups and intimate worship. We have big spaces that we can utilise for events and games. As we are also in walking distance from the biggest local school it can still function as a drop-in youth club, but with a far broader age appeal than before.
Although the space isn’t ‘ours’ and we have to fit in with a timetable, we are saving a significant amount of money. This can be stewarded back into more needy parts of our growing schools work.
Some Questions To Ask
We lived the youth worker dream with an amazing high street youth cafe. We are now living God’s dream with a growing community of young people who are regularly giving their lives to Him. I know which I’d pick again!
Youth cafes and coffee shops can be incredible, but it's definitely worth asking some strategic questions before you jump in. Here’s a few, in no specific order:
- Have you already established yourself in your local schools and churches and built a small kernel of relationships there?
- If not, do you have several local feeder schools that will regularly pass by your cafe to make a drop-in worth while?
- Are there already youth groups and spaces used by other churches and groups that you are able to work with and dovetail into?
- Do you have a plan in place to train and equip enough leaders in the multifaceted and unique work of running a cafe?
- Have you spoken to your local council and police about what needs they see in the area and whether a cafe speaks to those?
- What resources has God given you, and is a youth cafe the best way to spend those? What else could you do with those resources?
Final thoughts
I’ve been a youth worker for 11 years (my whole adult life in fact!) and it's still easy for me to be blindsided by something that looks cool. Reverb was absolutely the right thing at the right time.
Now though, we have matured and allowed God to lead us down a path that looks a lot a lot less glamorous to the outside world. It is however much, much more effective for the Kingdom.
We thank God for where we’ve been, but we thank Him more for helping us to make the tough decisions that moved us forward. We thank Him now for where we’re going.
Tim Gough is centre director at Youth For Christ Llandudno
