New City Coffee Club Will Have Chapel

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31080, 8 June 1966, Page 22

New City Coffee Club Will Have Chapel

A new coffee dub, equipped with its own chapel, will open in Christchurch at 9 p.m. next Friday. Called the “Coffee Tree,” it is being run by the Methodist Central Mission with the interest and support of the central ecumenical youth group.

The dub will have a “nonchurch emphasis” and will aim to fulfill the needs for friendship and understanding of people in the dty, said Mr N. A. Evans, a member of the organising committee. Through the club people who are lonely will be able to make new friends, be entertained with folk singers and other artists, or gain assistance in their personal problems. In cases where personal help is required they can be put in touch with officers of the Central Mission. Modern Decor

Situated in rooms above the Cambridge Terrace Methodist Church, the duib has a simple, modem decor. Planklike seats around low tables provide seating in two rooms, while part of another will be used as a games room with chess, draughts and other

games provided. A “Poet’s and Artists’ Corner” will also be induded, as well as a noticeboard, for which contributions will be welcomed from those using the dubThe small chapel leading off one of the coffee rooms is simple. A white cross against a blue wall is the centrepiece. The altar is a wooden plank supported on black iron legs. A Bible in the centre of the plank-altar and two cushions complete the furnishings, apart from seating. Place Of Quiet

It is intended to use the chapel as a place of quiet, and counselling if necessary. There will be no attempt to make the chapel the centre of the club. The dub will be open from 9 p.m. till midnight each Friday night and will be staffed by eight hosts and eight hostesses whose job will be the introducing of people, and serving of coffee. They have been spedally trained for their tasks by the Rev. A. R. Bowden, who emphasised that the club’s aim was to show friendship, and not to “push Christianity down people’s throats.”