What's The KOG Cafe?
The KOG Cafe is located in a 100+yr old building on Parnie St. in the Merchant City district of the metropolis of Glasgow. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and the 3rd largest in the UK with a population extending 1.2-2.3 million people (comparable to Seattle).
In 2000, part of the building on Parnie St. was leased by a small church (The KOG Church: formally Glasgow Central Vineyard) for the purposes of creating an establishment that would be a combined non-profit coffeehouse, art gallery, bookstore, meeting place, outreach to the people of Glasgow, and a center for art groups and Christian ministries to be housed.
Several short-term mission teams & longer term missionaries from churches around the US (along with individuals from all over the world...including myself) have traveled to Glasgow for the purpose of aiding the small church to renovate the building to become a cafe and so much more. As I have written in some previous posts, I traveled to Glasgow in 2000 with a handful of people from Boise, Idaho to go partner with the church there and help out with the renovation of the building. And I also moved back to Glasgow for 9 months during 2001-2002 to continue serving with the church there, attend a leadership/ministry college that the church offered, work on The KOG building, and help to start an artist collaborative called "InKOGnito" and I had several paintings displayed in the KOG's first ever art exhibit that opened in May 2002 called "Going Somewhere".
Being a professional artist, part of what I got to do on my first trip to Glasgow, was paint a large wall mural in the entry hallway of the KOG Cafe. I spent the greater part of a week prepping and planning my design (which was a colorful abstract of raining cogs) and then an entire day painting it on the roughly 16-17ft high 20ft long wall. It was one of the most amazing days I've ever had as I hung out on ladders and danced on scaffolding. I found my creative zone painting as I listened to loud music and the sounds of the other team members hammering, sawing, singing, and building stuff in the room nearby that would be the cafe.
The building's location has a lot history rooted in Christian revivals for the city of Glasgow. But in recent years it sits in the midst of a dark and oppressive area of Glasgow and the building has gone to ruin. The church has vision that "God has assigned (them) to the Merchant City, pinpointing it as a key area in taking back Glasgow for Jesus and ushering in His Kingdom." (*). The cafe is called THE KOG...an acronym for The Kingdom Of God. The City of Glasgow is undertaking a huge project to turn that area into a thriving area of artistic culture. And The KOG Cafe longs to be part of the plans for the future.
A lot of work has already been done over the last 10 years...but there's lots more to do.
Unfortunately, The KOG Cafe is unfinished. The main ground floor housing the cafe, the art gallery, and a back room (for bands to play, open mic to take place, movie nights to happen, and church worship services to be held in) was finished & opened to the public around 2003. The basement is still unfinished (practically dirt floors, old musty brick walls, & lots to be done) and an upper floor that has yet to be released for lease to the church. "Since first obtaining the building in 2000, (the) work at KOG Cafe was met with many and varied problems, to the extent that the Cafe closed to the public in 2005 and (the) church temporarily moved to West Hurlet House in 2008 (this is a building located in the city limits of Glasgow). (They) have maintained (their) lease at the KOG Cafe in the hope of restarting the work, and other groups have been using it during this time." (*). (*)quoted from a newsletter from the current Project Manager for The KOG Cafe Project 2009
I have been blessed to be a part of the beginnings of The KOG Cafe in Glasgow...and I continue to partner in prayer and support for what they do and represent in their city. I got to visit Glagow in 2005 (3 years after I had lived there) and I was able to see The KOG Cafe after it had been open to the public for business and also for church services in the back room. I'm pleased to know that though it's been closed for a few years now, they were able to re-open the cafe in October 2009 and get the place fully functional again. Renovation plans continue in order to finish the basement and hopefully acquire the top floor. I look forward to the next time I get to travel to Scotland and hang out in The KOG Cafe in Glasgow!
The KOG Cafe website: (you can see a couple of photos here & learn more about it)
www.kogcafe.co.uk
