Nothing has stopped moving around here since moving worship services from the living room to the second floor of the Aroma building. Here is a visual scope of that whirlwind, from the Sunday night that marked one year of monthly worship services to the morning of the coffee shop’s official opening, set to the sound of worship from Sunday night at the Aroma Church that now meets weekly on the second floor of the Aroma Coffee Shop Church.
We are the aroma.
Here’s a look at what happened the night before Christmas at the Aroma Church building. It was an extremely successful event that initiated the use of the new building and introduced the future coffee shop to our community and the general public that passed by that evening.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,900 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 7 trips to carry that many people.
One year ago, we experienced our first night of monthly madness. People packed the Red Theater apartment’s living room and ate bowls of chili that Sarah had cooked with love. After the meal, there was worship, prayer and the Word. It was overwhelming. It was awesome. The the monthly Ximen Worship Night had begun (read previous post). That was last November.
The next month, the house was packed with people again, and this time we were eating Filipino food. The month after that, the “cooking class” had begun, and people began COOKING together, THEN eating together, followed by worship, prayer and the Word. This was January of 2011.
In February, our Taiwan Dad and his family prepared a Taiwanese feast. In March, we ate burritos without tortillas, aka Mexican food! In April, our friend Ariel hosted the preparation of the meal. In May, Sharon made spaghetti. In June, we went picnic style with an American array of cold sandwiches and salad. In July, Lindsey blessed our taste bud with flavors from Indonesia. In August, Chris prepared a summer meal of American style salads.
September marked our last worship service to be entirely held in the living room of the Red Theater apartment’s living room (watch video). We ate Korean food prepared by our Korean friend Ethan and enjoyed another packed evening of eating, singing, praying and the Word up on the 8th floor.
In October, our friend Hans, who has been a monumental help in the renovation of the new building, made curry for everyone. October was special, because we ate the meal at the apartment, but then brought everybody over to the new place to hold the first ever worship service on the second floor of the coffee shop. The transition had begun.
Pictured above: People gathered for the first worship service on the second floor of the new building
Yesterday, the transition was complete. The Ximen Worship Night turned one year old. The four walls of the new building surrounded new faces and old faces, and first and second floor was filled with the sounds of family: laughter, eating, conversation, music, prayer. One year ago, people were squeezing onto couches and foot stools. Yesterday, people were spread out at tables and chairs on the renovated second floor of the Ximen Ding church building.
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Slideshow above: the faces of the first worship night at the new building
One year ago, worship night looked different. The team looked different. We were different. Our friends were different. God is changing all of us, and God is changing Ximen Ding. As we look back on this year of change, we move into this next season with even more joy and more faith, because God is the God of this city.
Above is the logo of The Aroma Coffee Shop located in Ximen Ding, Taipei, Taiwan, The World. This logo is going to represent a place where it’s just not a cup of coffee you experience, but a place where people from all over Taipei will encounter community, worship, truth, and the love of Jesus Christ poured out for them on the cross.
After 6 months of meetings, conversations, more meetings and more conversations about the three-story building we were watching take baby step after baby step of becoming something close to The Aroma Coffee Shop, it’s happening. In fact, in the eyes of Taipei City, it’s already happened. The Aroma Coffee Shop became a legal and officially ready to open business today, November 2, 2011, thanks to the hard work of our Taiwanese partners in the Gospel who have been working hard to see The Aroma Coffee Shop happen. Mugs have even already been made with the logo on them to be sold for fundraising (see picture gallery below).
Speaking of Taiwanese partners in the Gospel, another recent praise in coffee shop renovation is the sponsorship of a large chunk by another Taiwanese Christian who is interested in our project. Casting our vision and communicating the dream for Ximen Ding to the community here has been key in making these connections and building up these partnerships with Taiwanese Christians, as the goal of the Aroma Project is to see the Taiwanese saved by the Taiwanese.
Pictured below (click on image to view larger size): top left – the aroma logo, top right – mugs with logo design, bottom left – a beautiful sunny shot of Ximen Ding, bottom right – one of our first customers holding an aroma mug
