Waterbrook

DAYTON, Ohio — When people think of Starbucks, they usually think of rich aromas, chic music, friendly baristas and smooth coffee drinks. But for author and professor Leonard Sweet, Starbucks is also a bold reminder of the Gospel.

"I'm a big coffee lover, and so I thought, let's do a book on Starbucks and how Starbucks really understands how to reach this emerging culture out there," Sweet said.

In "The Gospel According to Starbucks" (Waterbrook, $13.99), he probes the inner workings of the Starbucks experience and provides relevant lessons for connecting the Gospel to today's world. Sweet is the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University, Madison, N.J., and the author of numerous books on Christianity and culture. Before serving at Drew, Sweet was president and professor of church history at United Theological Seminary in Dayton.

He believes that the image-rich, experience-oriented Starbucks world we live in calls for an equally evolving perspective on how we do church. "The culture has changed and people's brains are wired differently by this new technology. It's creating a whole new way of living and moving and being in the world, and some people get it and some people don't, and Starbucks gets it," Sweet said.

Much more than a purveyor of coffee, Starbucks is an inspirational connecting space, Sweet said. The Starbucks gospel is about building community and authentic relationships, and in some ways the church has been shortsighted about these things.

Sweet said, "People need a place for relationships, and we've turned church into a place where you deliver points and propositions and principles, and not a place where people can really be authentic, where relationships can take place."

And if there's one thing that Starbucks does well, it's create an experience. Our culture is hungry for experience, Sweet said, and it's the job of the church to guide people in an authentic experience of who God is. Sweet said he believes churches should invite people to engage in a life of passion and participation in what God is doing in the world around us.

In many ways "The Gospel According to Starbucks" is about connecting with God in a genuine relationship; one that drives us to carry the message of Christ to others. "It's not about getting more people to church, but going outside the church," he said.