I thought one of the hallmarks of 'the emerging church' is hospitality. All our problems would be solved if a company perfected a portable Italian coffee machine with a 'nest' for mugs! Just fill up with water, milk and beans and go! Virtually every home in Switzerland has such a machine - we just need a bigger version for a church.

In an emerging church, I daresay with a younger generation, cold drinks may be more important to the oiling of socialisation than hot ones.

Also, there is the issue of using rented premises where time may well be of the essence. Put that with limited or lack of on site storage and all of a sudden Paper cups make a huge amount more sense than china.

Cheers

Maybe we should dispense with free coffee and tea!! Shock...horror!! I have been in a number of churches that actually have a proper espresso machine and charge people for decent coffee. I cannot stand the 'free' instant stuff in styrofoam.............. You can get away with instant in china (just about) but not in styrofoam...

I understand the arguments. But isn't it interesting that your humble evangelical chapels that have an old piano - or even unaccompanied singing - for worship, will at least serve tea in nice china cups. But your full-on, cinematic, theatrical, multimedia contemporary emerging church will have all the latest gizmos for sound and vision, and serve tea in paper cups. When will we get the balance right?

Yes - cardboard with a plastic lid is far more acceptable than styrofoam and would be a better bet in a large church............

In a church with a high turnover, china is simply not an option.

That said, these days,cardboard cups are as likely, if not more likely than Styrofoam and probably offer a better taste, which we are now more used to due to the ubiquitous Starbucks.

Cheers

Maybe we could encourage everyone in our churches to purchase a simple white china mug and one for a visitor. (If the church bought a large quantity they could be quite inexpensive.)

Then we each bring our own mug and a spare every time we meet. Simple!! No more styrofoam which makes the coffee taste hideous. Think how much money we would save, as well as being kind to the planet........

Ideally, every church should offer freshly brewed tea and coffee in white china mugs, straight after the service. But not all of us have our own buildings, so then the logistics become challenging. If anyone comes across a portable Italian coffee machine, that doesn't have to be plumbed in, and can cope with masses of servings, let me know!

Wow....people who agree with me! I've been trying to get rid of those cups for years but noone will listen because you can get 100 for £1!
They're tacky, bad for the environment, ugly and the coffee never tastes good in them!
Preach excellence...live it in EVERY area I say!

Prayer, preparation, presentation, attention to detail..... as much an act of worship as cleaning/tidying the church, or wherever it is we meet.

Anyone can get out the instant and a styrofoam. Hideous. Get out the best china! I'll do the washing up.

As with preparing a worship set.....imagine Jesus is coming to preach the sermon....how would that influence the way we prepare and choose our songs & hymns, and welcome our guests?

Apologies to all manufacturers of disposable cups.

Hospitality is as important as the music. Both are part of our worship.

Surely nobody actually uses styrofoam cups in church