November 02 2011, 6:49 am | Dawson Jones
Pancakes speak louder than words, especially if they’re free and are being eaten by a hungry and poor college student in the Greenhouse. For those who are hearing the words “greenhouse” and “pancakes” in the same sentence for the first time, let me explain. For the fifth semester now, over 100 college students in Conway flock to this breakfast dish extravaganza every Thursday night. The Greenhouse, a ministry of the Summit Church where this weekly pancake party occurs, is a community coffee shop on the first floor of a large, green, 1940s house a block away from the campus of UCA.
Over two years ago, God gave us a vision of reaching out to college students through relationships built over cups of coffee and syrup lathered pancakes. Many people worked together investing their time, money, and possessions to help us make this a reality. As we salvaged the house from a beer-drenched fraternity residence, while perfecting our pancake art and advertising via word-of-student-mouth and Facebook, students poured in. The coffee shop is opened on Monday through Thursday, from 6:00pm to 10:00pm, which is study or social time for most young academics. We are able to let students use the space for their own interests; from local band’s shows and fraternity fundraisers to poetry slams and fireside bible studies.
On the second floor we house a few faithful young men; men committed not only to keeping the coffee shop in working and clean order, but primarily to be leaders in a disciple making movement, for that is what we believe is our mission. These men, together with 20 other volunteers, mostly from the Summit church, seek to live “in such deep love for one another, that all people will know that they are Christ’s disciples.” (John 13:35)
Jesus did not commission us to fill our house with college students.
Or even our churches with friends or strangers, for that matter. He said “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” (Mathew 28:19) And He is bringing the nations to the Greenhouse. Over 600 exchange students from over 60 countries are at UCA this semester. These students need a living room, since theirs is thousands of miles away. The Greenhouse is a living room for many of these.
It is not just our friends from overseas that need the community of a living room full of Christ followers. College is a time of questioning. The church has never been under more scrutiny than it is now, roasted by the current cynical collegiate generation. In the Bible belt of America, many young people have gradually built up an immunity to all things Jesus sounding, and many of the rest, who would call themselves Christians, have never fully embraced the joy of a life wholly committed to the Gospel in a community where this is celebrated.
I believe that the church will not reach the students of Conway as long as it is only a place we go, and they won’t even be reached by the church if it is something we strive to do. Church is who we are, together, throughout our daily life, empowered by Christ’s death and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
At the Greenhouse, we are still in the process of figuring out what God is leading us into. Dietrich Bonhoffer, a German theologian, church leader, and martyr for Christ during World War 2 said,
“Just as Christians should not be constantly feeling the pulse of their spiritual life, so too the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be continually taking its temperature. The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us, the more assuredly and consistently will community increase and grow from day to day as God pleases.” (Life Together)
We thank God for what he has given us, and we seek to live it out responsibly, knowing that he is Lord over our Greenhouse community where we serve, Lord over the Summit on Crystal Hill where we worship, and the ever faithful Cornerstone of his body in all the nations.
Dawson
If you want to follow what’s going on, here’s where we communicate all of the happenings at the Greenhouse with the students of Conway: www.facebook.com/GreenHouseUCA
We’ll be keeping the rest of the Summit body in the loop via this blog.