Christian Selvaratnam

Fresh expresso of church

Church of England services very often naturally lead into an opportunity for refreshments and conversation, but at one pioneering church in York, led by Christian Selvaratnam, the congregation is invited to embrace café culture throughout the entire meeting.

'Our hunch was that there were many people who were turned off the idea of a traditional expression of church,' Christian says, appropriately being interviewed in a York city centre café. 'They still wanted to find out, they had questions, they wanted to explore faith - but if we could get the environment right, then they would come along and engage with that.'

Serving quality tea, coffee and cakes, and affectionately referred to by locals as St Arbucks, the G2 café church offers informal times of music, singing, chat, and teaching.

'We do kind of have a talk if you like,' Christian adds, 'but it's very interactive because we want to be clear that everyone can express their opinion; the speaker's job perhaps is just to get us going or ask us the questions.'

Born in London, Christian was raised in Hull and went to university in Warwick, before settling in York; he works for Alpha International, helping churches in the North to get the training they need to host the renowned Alpha discipleship course, and is himself training part-time at Cranmer Hall, Durham, to be ordained next year to St Michael le Belfrey in York as a pioneer minister.

'I've got some young children, I've got a job which I'm involved in and is really valuable, so for me part-time training was absolutely ideal,' he says, sharing the thinking behind his training choice. 'It gave me a chance to learn some new things but also to reflect on some of the things that I’m doing day to day as part of that training.'

As the bells of York Minster boom in the background, Christian points out that he loves church in all its guises, but feels called to go on serving those who may feel resigned to the fact that church isn’t for them.

'My heart is really for those people who think they're really are turned off church,' he says. 'Maybe we can find a creative way to surprise them.'

You can hear this interview now by clicking here