The Pourhouse Cafe

The Pourhouse Cafe, located at 314 E. Kirkwood Avenue in Bloomington, is the vision of John Robertson and the Sherwood Oaks Leadership. When Sherwood Oaks was first approached about launching the Pourhouse, they answered the question of "why a coffeehouse" this way:

Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church, answered this best in the book unChristian by David Kinnaman.  He said, "So why did we build a coffeehouse instead of a church building?  Because Jesus didn’t hang out in synagogues.  He hung out at wells.  Wells weren’t just places to draw water.  Wells were natural gathering places in ancient culture.  Coffeehouses are postmodern wells.  To borrow the sociological term, our coffeehouse is a “third place” where the church and community can cross paths.  Too many churches expect unchurched people to come to them, but the church is called to go to unchurched people.  The church is called to compete for the kingdom in the middle of the marketplace.” 

Crossing the paths of culture and community means creating a place for the two to intersect—and for Sherwood Oaks, that place is the Pourhouse.  This name comes from the coffeehouse’s idea of “pouring global goodness.”  Their mission is to pour out the goodness of Christ to the world.  Any profits from the Pourhouse will go toward community and global outreach to help the poor and needy.  Currently, all tips, donations and profits will go toward organizations that help deliver women and children from the sex-slave trade around the world.  This ministry gives SOCC an incredible opportunity to serve others and benefit our global world in a non-threatening way by simply selling coffee.

Learn more about the Pourhouse here.

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