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Coastal Church has launched a new type of service, customized for business people who have scheduling conflicts or family obligations on weekends. The new service is offered every Friday at lunch hour—between noon and 1 p.m.
About 8,000 people walk by the Coastal Church at 1160 West Georgia Street every day, Pastor Dave Koop estimates. The church draws admiring looks from passersby in downtown Vancouver’s bustling business district—the architecture is striking, and the year-round white lights cast a warm, soft glow. And while most passersby don’t have the time to walk in, Koop says the ones who do come in nearly always return.
“We have tremendous footprint—our walk-in score is 98 out of 100,” he says.
Coastal Church is comprised of a younger congregation with a median age of 30, and is non-denominational, multicultural, and welcomes people from all walks of life who want to meet other professionals, or who may have never been to church before.
Koop was a businessman himself, a former engineering consultant in the oil and gas sector in Alberta, prior to joining this ministry.
The church is part of Vancouver Board of Trade and Koop, with his background in business, wants to build bridges in the business community in Vancouver.
So Coastal Church has launched a new type of service, customized for business people who have scheduling conflicts or family obligations on weekends. The new service is offered every Friday at lunch hour—between noon and 1 p.m.—and includes music, a welcoming space to eat lunch, and guest speakers aimed at motivation within business.
“It’s a different energy, a different audience. We’re off to a great start,” Koop says.
Coastal Church is helping to build bridges in the business community by providing support frameworks for those who may be facing challenges in business or at home.
The networking can lead to business opportunities, and small groups meet regularly in boardrooms to discuss business, and to find support through challenges.
“That’s where they really get encouragement, they can share their challenges, the guards come down, a lot of that happens in the small groups—they connect and they encourage each other and share business ideas,” Koop says. “We find it’s one of the best solutions for isolation.”
Koop says people in the business world can ultimately benefit from having faith in their business and in life, and that the purpose of faith is banishing fear, which can then lead to business advantages.
Koop says faith can help improve financial sustainability and social development in both family and business, and it can give clarity on decisions that have to be made.
“Faith is like an anchor, or a compass on the inside,” says Koop. “What we lose when we are fearful is our ability to think clearly—what faith does is it removes fear so you can have power, you can have clarity.”