Our great friends at Cowplain Church in Hampshire organised a wonderful outreach ecent at The Exchange restaurant. It really was a memorable evening!
A couple of weeks before the event I spoke to the church pastor Phil; Brown. At that stage he was mildly concerned because the numbers of people indicating that they were coming were a bit low. He sent round a “come on folks” email, and the church really responded. By Sunday afternoon we were into the 50s, and by Sunday night the final number was 61.
The restaurant itself was amazing — a brilliant converted bank building, a really fun venue, and great food. The key to this kind of event is making sure people genuinely enjoy themselves, and they really did. You could hear the buzz of conversation all around the room. People were talking, engaging, and enjoying themselves. The tables were arranged really well, so the whole thing had clearly been thought through carefully.
Of course, the non-Christians weren’t there randomly — they had been invited personally by Christian friends — so it was wonderful watching people connect and engage naturally.
We then moved into the content part of the evening. Dave Hutchings and I sat on bar stools at the front and had a conversation around the evening’s theme: “A Leap of Faith.” We explored the question: “Is Christianity just a leap of faith?”
We talked about what faith actually means — trust and confidence — and the reality that everyone lives by faith. You can’t get through life without it. The moment you get on an aeroplane or eat food in a restaurant, you’re exercising trust. So the real question isn’t whether you have faith, but whether there are good reasons for your faith.
We also talked about the fact that atheism requires faith too. If you don’t believe in God, you still have to make assumptions about how the universe began — you simply place your faith elsewhere. I used what I think is originally a Michael Green line: that ultimately you have to choose your miracle — the virgin birth of Jesus or the virgin birth of the universe.
We discussed how science works, reasons for believing Christianity is true, and ultimately landed on Jesus himself. One of the questions Dave asked was about the many different religions in the world: if someone wants to explore spirituality, why choose Christianity? That led us into talking about the uniqueness of Jesus and the difference Christian faith makes.
After that, Phill came up and hosted a Q&A session. We had three or four questions from the floor then afterwards had a whole series of really meaningful conversations with people – who perhaps didn’t want to ask their question publically but were thinking deeply about faith. Dave had a long conversation with a gentleman who I think is very close to faith and is just wrestling through a few final questions. I had a long conversation with another man who was struggling with the question of suffering because of things he had personally been through. It was great to be able to engage with those questions thoughtfully.
Phill and I also had a really good chat with the owner of the restaurant, a lady called Steph. She was incredibly friendly and open. I gave her a copy of Have You Ever Wondered? and she was genuinely delighted that we had thought to do that.
We also said we would encourage as many people as possible to leave the restaurant a five-star review, which I think thrilled her. It’s still quite a new business, only a few months old, and I think that meant a great deal to her.
Actually, that highlights another form of outreach: the church has clearly built a really positive relationship with the business. That means there’s real potential for future events there — and that’s exactly what Phill is talking about. He’s keen to do more events like this, perhaps two or three times a year, so that Christians develop the habit of always having something to invite their friends to.
At the end of the evening, Phill explained some next steps: Alpha is starting soon, people could come along to church on Sunday, and they could continue conversations with the friend who invited them. Overall, it was just an amazing evening. I absolutely love this kind of pre-evangelism event, and on every level it was excellent. We came away hugely encouraged.
Phill Brown from the church noted: “The outreach event in the restaurant was a first for us and it was a brilliant evening. The food was great, and so were Andy and Dave as they dialogued about what faith is. We had a number of people invite unchurch friends to the event and lots of good conversations took place after the talk. We continue to pray for these people that they will connect with us further. The restaurant owner was also really impressed and we are now in conversation with her about future events at the restaurant. All in all a great weekend and we are looking forward to the next time Solas can come again.”
