I58-Network

As anyone who's been involved with the previous camps will tell you, you can't plan it all in advance. And we don't want to: we want to make the cafe work the best way for all those involved. But here's a taste of what tasks will be involved.

The cafe idea essentially serves two roles: First, its a great way to contribute to the camp itself, and to provide for something that has been lacking in the last two events. Second, it provides the Christians on site an autonomous space that we can use for worship and prayer. How well it performs those will be down to those involved.

If you're a Christian thinking about coming to Climate Camp, but not wanting to run a cafe (or you're doing something else during the camp), we'd love it if you still dropped by, whether to say 'hello' or for the nightly services.

Sunday 3rd

We get on site, and start setting things up. We should have a space marked out, and the whole site will be a hive of activity. Once our marquee is up, we'll figure out how many people we need to finish things off, and how many can be spared to help with the rest of the camp.

At some point, though, we'll have two events: One, a Communion Service, to gather us together, to commission the cafe and to pray for the success of the camp, and the other, a meeting to introduce ourselves to each other and to figure out how the cafe will run.

Hopefully we'll then get the stoves on for some tea and coffee, before a quick night prayer, and then bed.

Monday and Tuesday

As neighbourhood meetings tend to take place over breakfast time (about 9am), we won't be doing anything until those are over. If people want to organise it, morning prayer can happen, but you should definitely get along to your neighbourhood meeting, as, despite being tedious at times, they really are the best way to stay informed and find out what's going on around the site, and what needs doing. Listen out for possible prayer points!

The first team on the rota will need to meet at the cafe at about 10am to get things set up. If people organise it, there might be a bible study (or even a series of studies) in one corner of the cafe, and space for morning prayer. The cafe will then open, and hopefully it'll remain open right through until about 8pm, with at least 2 changes of team.

A few times during the day, it would be nice to get round places like the medics caravan collecting drinks orders, then returning. A sort of delivery service for the hardest working groups and definitely one way we can really bless those who bless us!

Ideally we'll have about 5 people on at any one time, and we'll switch over at about lunch time (which might be quite quiet) and late afternoon. We'll have a cafe meeting at some point, sorting out the next day's rota, worship and anything else that needs doing. We might even have a discussion workshop or two, and people will be around planning services and creating art work.

Then, at around half eight in the evening, we'll start to wind down the cafe. The crew for the worship that night will step in and hopefully all the Christians from across the site will come and take part, and maybe a few curious folks will drop in as well. When we've finished, the cafe might re-open, and prayer may well continue into the night.

Wednesday

The bio-fuels action will be a big event for the camp, and we'll try and arrange it so that anyone who wants to take part in this can take part. The cafe will run, but expect things to have a bit of a different feel to them. Its really hard to predict how things will be working by this far into the camp, and we'll be making some of it up as we go along.

Thursday and Friday

Much like Monday and Tuesday, these will be normal days (if anything in a field full of climate protesters can be considered normal). However, we'll have time to pray for the big action on Saturday, and for people to prepare for it. Again, 3 teams of 5-6 running the cafe, and Worship at 9pm. Want Bible Studies, Discussions or anything else? Plan it yourself!

Saturday

The camp will run on a skeleton crew, and we can expect to be doing more delivering of drinks than serving over the counter. Kitchens may need extra pairs of hands, and assistance will be needed with getting food to the 'front lines'. We'll make sure that everyone who wants to take part can do so.

Sunday and Monday

Its hard to tell what will happen at this stage, but a party will be had at some point. We'll have a final Communion, and then prepare to pack up. The actual end of the camp is the Monday, when take down will happen in earnest, and at some point we'll have a debriefing meeting.