For just over a year, we met in the space for weekly and monthly rhythms of prayer. The more we did, the more we noticed all the people walking past our window. We all heard the same thing, that still small voice saying, I love these people. That sent us on an incredible journey that led to the opening Pilgrim Coffee House in Grenoble, France.

Jordan Abina from 24-7 Prayer France sat down to with Brian Heasley to tell the story of Pilgrim Coffee House:

After this conversation, Jordan sat down to write more about what God is doing at the Coffee House. Watch the interview, then read on to learn more:

What led you to start Pilgrim Coffeehouse?

In truth, there really was no idea to open up a coffee shop. My wife, Vanessa, and I had no experience with making coffee and had no real interest in that whatsoever. But, before Pilgrim ever let out its first breath, it was a place dedicated to prayer. For just over a year, we met in the space for weekly and monthly rhythms of prayer. The more we did, the more we noticed all the people walking past our window. We all heard the same thing, that still small voice saying, I love these people. That sent us on an incredible journey that led to the opening Pilgrim Coffee House in Grenoble, France.

We often talk about “breathing in” in prayer. How does God “breathe out” through the coffee shop?

We’ve discovered something that has shifted the way we do life here, not just at Pilgrim, but in every aspect of our lives. Most people we meet don’t have a Christian friend. Many people in our city, and perhaps in the country of France, don’t have one person in their life that they know loves Jesus, that they can trust. We’ve decided to become those people—a person who loves Jesus that a non-believing person can trust. Although Pilgrim is not a place to proselytize, it is a place for living out a life that bears the fruit of the Spirit with people. Every day, every time we remember a name or a story, every time we engage in conversation, every time we listen, we do so in hopes to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Jesus said in John 6 that no one comes to Him unless the Father draws them. So for us, we don’t ask, is Jesus drawing this person, we just assume He is and follow accordingly. It isn’t a perfect practice, it’s a posture.

What’s been your favourite moment so far?

As I first started learning how to brew coffee, most of the coffee I made wasn’t very good and I realized I couldn’t spend every day drinking shot after shot of espresso—at least if I didn’t want to have a nervous breakdown. So, after mustering up some courage, I knocked on the window of the office next door to our shop and asked the man inside if he would be willing to try my coffee. I shared the story of what we were trying to do and he was very curious and happily agreed to try my coffee when needed. I will never forget the first time he gave me some feedback, he told me it tasted like vinegar. Imagine a french man speaking English, with his strong accent, looking at me and saying, it’s more like vinegar. But he tried the coffee everyday and slowly but surely, as relationships often are, we became friends.

I shared about my family, hobbies, and faith, and he shared about his life as well. After a few years we had become great friends. We had meals together in each other’s homes and had many conversations about faith, and he made sure he told me at the end of these conversations, you know I don’t believe any of this stuff.

Some time ago, his sister died suddenly, leaving behind a son and a broken and confused brother. I remember listening to him, watching him struggle through his inability to reconcile the pain of the situation, but it was clear that Jesus had positioned our presence to bring the comforting hands of the father. I asked if he would allow me to pray for him—he agreed. As I lifted up his pain to Jesus, he cried to a God he doesn’t believe in, and I realized why were there and how ready Jesus is to comfort the people around us. 

As you look ahead, what are you praying for?

As Pilgrim grew, we moved the prayer space to the room directly next door to the coffee shop—a place open to the city and completely dedicated to prayer. It’s been an incredible blessing and has presented us with a new challenge, unity. The French revolution started just a few paces from our coffee shop, right here in Grenoble. Our prayer has been that another revolution would spark, one not fueled by injustice and pain, but a fire that billows from the prayers lifted by the saints of a unified church. We’re praying that our prayer space can play a role in that move—that believers across Grenoble will hold to the banner of Christ and join together in prayer. We don’t just believe that God wants to do something in the lives of French people, but in addition to that, we believe He wants to use the French to bring the rest of the world into relationship with Him.

How can we (people reading the blog or watching the video) get involved?

We would invite everyone to write the name of our city down somewhere, Grenoble, and our coffee shop, Pilgrim Coffee House, and begin to pray for a move of God’s Spirit. We have latched onto the prayer Daniel prayed in Daniel 9, echoing the words and asking that Grenoble would become a city and your people are called by your name.

We also believe that God is going to be doing something in France and we’ve seen it, with other coffee shops with a heart for prayer reaching out to us: it’s clear the Lord is at work. And because of that, we need more team members. If you have a passion for prayer, want to learn French culture or have experience as a barista, come serve with us. We can only go as far as the team we have—for example, our coffee shop is only open on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and that’s because we can only open it for so many days with the amount of volunteers we have. Pray about it, come give yourself to something incredible. 

Lastly, we fundraise to keep these initiatives alive. It costs around 12k a year to run the coffee shop and another 7k to pay for the prayer space—all of that has come from donations from people around the world. If you or someone you know would like to give towards these efforts and become a partner with 24-7 Prayer France, we would be eternally grateful.

May the Lord bless you and surprise you.