The Gospel According to Starbucks: Living with a Grande Passion

You don't stand in line at Starbucks just to buy a cup of coffee. You stop for the experience surrounding the cup of coffee.

Too many of us line up for God out of duty or guilt. We completely miss the warmth and richness of the experience of living with God. If we'd learn to see what God is doing on earth, we could participate fully in the irresistible life that he offers.

You can learn to pay attention like never before, to identify where God is already in business right in your neighborhood. The doors are open and the coffee is brewing. God is serving the refreshing antidote to the unsatisfying, arms-length spiritual life---and he won't even make you stand in line. Let Leonard Sweet show you how the passion that Starbucks has for creating an irresistible experience can connect you with God's stirring introduction to the experience of faith.

Studies show that fewer Americans than we thought attend church, and Sweet, popular author (Soul Salsa) and professor of evangelism at Drew Theological School in New Jersey, thinks that the church should take cues from an institution that isn't suffering a lack of customers: Starbucks. For all his hip cultural sensitivity, Sweet hasn't shed one standby of church-growth books: the acronym. His is EPIC, which stands for Experience, Participation, "Images that throb with meaning," and Connection. Starbucks has mastered EPIC living, and the church can, too. The successful coffee corporation recognizes that people are drawn in through visual icons, and it beats competitors because its design sensibility is superior-indeed, its imagery is shot through with "spiritual significance." The church should take a hint and, instead of focusing solely on its written mission statements, devote some energy to design. Starbucks understands that people hunger for "authentic experience." Finally, just as people like to drink coffee together, people seek community and connection in religious settings. Sweet's bottom line? Christianity must move beyond rational, logical apologetics, and instead find ways of showing people that it can offer "symbols and meaningful engagement." This whimsical and insightful book offers a fresh approach to a topic of perennial interest. (Apr. 17) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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Reviewed by Dan Griffiths (Hazard, KY), November 26, 2007

I enjoyed reading this book. I admit that I was a little defensive when I read it. Sweet is not a conservative. I am not a fan of coffee and have never been in a Starbucks myself. Sweet states that we should have passion for our churches like the customers of Starbucks have for Starbucks. I agree with that.

Sweet uses the word EPIC to describe this passion. The acroymn stands for:
Experience
Participatory
Image-rich
Connecting

Sweet makes the point that as leaders of the church we are not appealing to our culture to the degree that Starbucks is impacting their culture. Sweet does not exactly say what the church should be doing, he only points out what the church is not doing.

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