Jesus and java fuel Episcopal coffee shop

The Abbey, in bustling Avondale, is a coffee shop and has all the usual features of such establishments.

Customers enjoy lattes, mochas and cappuccinos. They eat soups and baked goods made fresh at the shop. They read or chat with friends in laid-back surroundings. The shop’s walls display work by local artists.

Despite that, The Abbey, which opened in February 2015, is not just any coffee shop. 

Established by the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, The Abbey is also a mission church.

The purpose of The Abbey is to break down the sometimes forboding walls of old-line churches, become a vital part of a growing, diverse neighborhood and carry out a social-service mission. But, most important, the church also wants to attract younger generations to the message of Christ’s love, according to the Rev. Katie Nakamura Rengers, the Abbey’s vicar.

“We wanted to reach out to younger people, especially millennials who are jaded, disappointed and detached from traditional church models,” Rengers said. “I think younger people see traditional churches as really focused on how many people they can get on a Sunday morning. They don’t want to be just another pledge card or another check in the offering plate. They don’t want to be just a number.”

Rengers, 31, who grew up in Avondale and serves as associate rector for young adults at St. Luke’s, leads a Sunday afternoon worship service at The Abbey.

Especially in the Bible Belt, Rengers said many young people perceive Christians as being right-wing politically, as well as “anti-gay, anti-science [and] close minded.”

“Maybe people will come (to The Abbey) and not be converted but will experience Christianity in a positive way,” she said.

There’s a Wednesday night service at The Abbey led by Margaret Franks, a lay missioner who co-manages the coffee shop with Rengers. “She and I also spend time behind the coffee counters,” Rengers said. “I’m behind the counter at least 20 hours a week. That’s just as much ministry time as anything.”

A lot of The Abbey’s patrons describe it as a neutral space but a holy space, Rengers said.

“It’s not like walking into a church,” she said.

Because of this, The Abbey has the freedom to host unusual discussion groups and special events, according to Rengers.

“Last year we had a series of theological debates — mostly clergy,” she said. “That’s not something you can stage in a traditional church. You’d get some pushback.’

The Avondale move has been fruitful, according to Rengers. “Our decision to be here and participate in the authentic community has paid off,” she said.

In fact, the crowd The Abbey has attracted is more diverse than Rengers expected.

“I thought most of our customers and our worshipping community would come from over the mountain — millennials, but over the mountain,” she said. “But I would say it’s more like 75 percent of the people who are really invested in the community piece of The Abbey are from this neighborhood.”

The friendliness of The Abbey’s staff highlights what Rengers calls an overlooked aspect of Christianity — hospitality.

“I tell my baristas and our worshipping community that the assumption we make is that every person who walks in here is a beloved child of God, whether they’re Christian or not or can pay for coffee or not,” Rengers said, referring to the homeless or other low-income people who visit or worship at The Abbey. “We treat people with that same dignity. We have a lot of people who come in here and are hungry and can’t pay for food. Out staff has done a good job of not making a big deal of that. They discreetly make a sandwich and present it as to any customer.” 

Along with social concerns, Rengers also has something practical she’s working on. 

“I’m still trying to perfect the latte arts,” she said, laughing. “Several of my baristas are good at it. I still have some practice to do.”

The Abbey, at 131 41st St. S., features products from Red Bike Coffee and Birmingham Breadworks, as well as Piper and Leaf Tea in Huntsville.