What is Connection Cafe?

I've got a new question to add to my Frequently Asked Questions series: What is Connection Cafe? Once each semester, we host a lunch after services to connect new NCCers to our pastoral team, ministry leaders, and small group leaders. The campus pastor of each of our location runs the hour-long Cafe, giving history of NCC, vision of NCC, and information on how to plug into a small group and ministry. Ministry leaders and small group leaders attend to greet newcomers, answer questions about NCC, and invite people to be a part of their group.

We schedule the Connection Cafe for the weekend of semester kickoff whenever possible. Otherwise, we do it the weekend before or the weekend after the semester kickoff.

We serve lunch. Usually, this is something fairly easy- like pizza and soft drinks. At our Union Station and Ebenezers campuses, we run the Connection Cafe at our coffeehouse. At the Ballston and Georgetown campuses, we run the Connection Cafes at a local pizza restaurant. Our campus pastors develop relationships with these establishments so we can get discounts/group rates.

As newcomers file in, they are greeted by our ministry leaders and small group leaders who grab plates and sit with folks as they eat. They are given a connection card and asked to complete it and turn it in.

About 20 minutes into the Cafe, the campus pastor gets up to give some history and vision of NCC. They also introduce ministry leaders and share how newcomers can plug into a ministry.

Then, the discipleship pastor or zone leader talks about small group opportunities and introduces the small group leaders present.

Finally, the participants are given an opportunity to ask questions. The whole thing lasts about an hour. We collect the connection cards and follow up with each participant later that week.