Editor’s Note: The following is an update to a previous article Orchard Alliance published about the launch of Compassion Coffee in Anoka, Minnesota. Since then, the ministry has experienced notable growth and impact, thanks to Orchard investors who make this and other gospel-advancing ministries possible.

 

---

 

Most of us seem pretty clear about our morning Joe’s ability to get us adequately ignited for the day ahead. But I think we’d all agree that its powers go far beyond metabolic acceleration. It also offers unmatched potential to bring people together.

Several years before Compassion Church in Anoka, Minnesota, was planted in 2021, Pastor Rob Bergfalk began dreaming about a way to minister to people experiencing homelessness in the northern Twin Cities suburb.

 

 

“God gave us this vision back in 2018,” recalls Rob. “There were homeless camps along one of the busy highways toward downtown Minneapolis, and the news stories were covering it throughout the summer. They called it a tent city because there were hundreds of tents with up to 500 people living there. We sensed God’s call to start a church for the homeless population. We originally thought we would start it downtown, but God brought us to Anoka. We’re a five-minute drive from a homeless shelter that houses 66 people at any given time. Most residents stay there for months at a time.  After a period of prayer and discernment, we felt this was where God wanted us to be.”

 

 

A Vision Brewing

Even though Compassion Church was established with the homeless population in mind, it became clear that it would be increasingly difficult to get this underserved population through the doors of the church, let alone care for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. That’s when the notion of a coffeehouse came into play—not only to create a place for people experiencing homelessness to gather but also to engage in the workforce. As Rob explains, “We started the church in 2021 with the vision of opening a coffeehouse to employ people affected by homelessness. We started with a coffee cart in 2022 and sought funding to gradually grow the ministry. In 2024, Compassion Coffee was fully launched with the opening of a coffeehouse. The church meets inside the coffeehouse on Sundays, and the coffeehouse is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday. We’ve hired eight people affected by homelessness since we started the cart. Lilly serves as our Operations Director and has done an incredible job running the coffeehouse and caring for those we employ.”

 

 

“We want to provide not only barista and work skills but life skills as well,” adds Rob. “We sat down with one individual, reviewed his finances, and helped him establish a monthly budget. We have talked with others about conflict resolution and how to respond to someone who’s angry at you, and those sorts of real-life issues.”

 

 

Why “Compassion?”

Although initially started as a ministry to people experiencing homelessness, Compassion Coffee welcomes all who face adversity and hardship, whether suffering grief, loneliness, financial hardship, or a broken relationship. As Rob explains, “We get our name from Matthew 9:36, where Jesus saw the crowds harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd, and he was moved with compassion. The coffeehouse is furnished and decorated in a way that anybody feels welcomed and invited. People are going to walk in and, regardless of their beliefs and backgrounds, they’re going to feel embraced and accepted. Compassion means becoming aware of someone else’s suffering and choosing to suffer alongside them.”

The ministry has also had the opportunity to extend care and compassion to refugee and immigrant populations that have been traumatized over the threat of ICE deportations. As Rob recalls, “The level of tension that was here in the cities was palpable. Everyone felt the anxiety. You could see it on the faces of those entering the coffee shop. The owner of a different shop stopped in to talk to us about what was going on in the Twin Cities and wanted to see if there was any way she could help us as we cared for those impacted. She mentioned how caring we are on her Facebook post and encouraged people to visit us.” While a lot of the ICE agents have left, there is a lot of work to do to provide practical needs like rent and groceries, along with spiritual needs like healing from trauma that refugees have re-experienced.

 

 

Making Jesus Visible

“God has also opened doors for us to care for our neighbors in the strip mall where we are located,” adds Rob. “The owners are Mexican, and the last few weeks have been really hard for them. After hearing that their landlord was taking advantage of them on a new lease because they don’t speak English, we helped get them in touch with an attorney. We also started a GoFundMe page that raised over $6,000 for their expenses. The owner told us that while she believes in God, the way we have cared for her has inspired her to explore who He is more deeply.”

“Our desire is to walk alongside people who are facing adversity, hear their stories, and encourage them in meaningful ways. We find that they usually just need someone who believes in them. One of the first youth we hired lost both his parents within the last year. Another one’s dad went to prison when he was 10, and his mom left shortly after. There are a lot of stories of people who just need someone to give them a chance, speak encouragement over them, challenge them, and show them the ‘fatherly love’ they may never have experienced. It’s an opportunity for us to make Jesus visible to them.”

 

 

From Coffee to Communion

A number of people coming into the Compassion Coffee become curious about the church. On a daily basis, the coffeehouse welcomes not only people from the community and the homeless shelter but also from the workhouse for inmates finishing their prison sentences. Most have a year or so left to serve but are able to be released for work and to church. Some have been experiencing renewal and transformation as they attend. Rob writes, “One of the guys grew up Catholic and never cared much about church. He started coming here and renewed his understanding of who God is and the love He has for him. He told me he’s never been part of a church that he actually liked. Now he’s found a job—the best job he’s ever had! As time goes on, we’ll see more and more people from the coffeehouse transition into the church and discover the depth of the Father’s love and care for them.”

 

Partnering with Envision

In addition to serving as lead pastor of Compassion Church and executive director of Compassion Coffee, Rob serves as the site leader for The Alliance’s Envision Twin Cities, which exists primarily to create partnerships and environments that support and empower refugees and immigrant populations. The Twin Cities has become home to many displaced people groups, with one out of three people being first- or second-generation immigrants from Somalia, Burma, Iraq, Ethiopia, Bhutan, Congo, Ukraine, Syria, Liberia, the former Soviet Union, Afghanistan, and more.

In addition to helping churches reach out to the immigrant and refugee communities, Envision Twin Cities extends the love and care of Jesus through various other compassion-based ministries and has chosen Compassion Coffee as one of the sites where interns and short-term missions teams can engage in hands-on ministry and extend Christ’s love in tangible ways. Through Envision and the support of Alliance’s North Central District, Rob hopes to replicate the Compassion Church/Coffee model in downtown Minneapolis and other urban areas.

 

 

Partnering with Orchard Alliance

In 2024, Compassion Church/Coffee began talking to Orchard Alliance about the potential for loans to expand its ministries, knowing it would be a riskier venture for Orchard than some of the other ministries Orchard considers in providing loans. As Rob explains, “We are a church of maybe 30 people on a Sunday morning, and a quarter of the church is made up of the poor. When we started out, our coffee ministry consisted of only a cart, and we needed a significant amount of money for renovation and the equipment needed to move forward toward our vision.”

Seeking that funding had yielded a series of dead ends, as no source seemed eager to take on the financial risk. But Orchard was willing to take a closer look, seeing the ministry’s potential for growth and impact, and allow our district to sign off and secure this loan. But in qualifying for a loan, Rob admitted, “There was a lot we needed to do, which I appreciate, because it showed us that Orchard was wise and discerning in how it assesses ministry potential and viability.  Ultimately, Orchard provided a loan and a line of credit that enabled us to put in the coffeehouse and to make this our church home. We’re close to a year and a half into this and should be breaking even by this summer—a process that normally takes a coffeehouse three years to accomplish!”

Rob concludes, “So we’re very grateful for the ways Orchard and our district leaders believed in us and what we are doing. We now see over 100 people come into the coffeehouse every day, and that’s 100 opportunities for someone to experience the love of Christ by being welcomed and heard, getting hands-on employment skills and opportunities, and of course, high-quality coffee.”

Orchard Alliance thanks our investors for making compassion-based ministries like this possible. Your investments fund the loans that enable and empower ministries like Compassion Church and Coffee to establish a vibrant gospel presence among struggling and overlooked populations throughout the U.S.