The Urban Abbey: A coffee shop with a mission

When I first walked into the Urban Abbey, a little coffee shop in downtown Omaha, I was immediately struck by the sweet smell of coffee, and the amount of color the cafe had. Books lined the walls and almost every table was full, by people doing work, students studying, a group of people chatting, and a book club. Even the owner herself sat at a table, chatting with people, and wearing the same apron the staff did.

The Urban Abbey is a church that doubles as a cafe and bookstore, and it is meant to welcome and accept people from the community, rather than just regular church-goers. They raise money for various nonprofit organizations, and offer a safe space for anyone who wants to go there. It’s a nice place to study, relax, or meet up with friends and hang out. They offer coffee, hot chocolate, pastries, along with books, stickers, pins, bags, and many other things.

The owner, Rev. Debra McKnight, said the coffee shop combined with the church creates a welcoming environment for the community. “Nobody has to wonder, ‘Am I dressed OK to go into a coffee shop?’ – where going into a proper church building, or traditional church building, can feel a little strange, and maybe reminds people of some terrible, kind of painful experience,” McKnight said. “I was looking for how we can be a part of everyday life for everybody, no matter what they need, no matter what they want, like a place where you can come and relax a little, or take a deep breath, or look at a book.”

McKnight found that churches aren’t always so accepting places, and wanted to create a safe space for everyone. “There was one other at the time, a coffee shop church … that was existing out in D.C., and they were super conservative though, so I didn’t tell them I was a woman, and they would help me with information about … how they operated, and so that was really helpful.” Women as worship leaders is sometimes seen by some churches as not good, leaving women who are worship leaders having a hard time finding a place to work, McKnight said.

“I’m part of the United Methodist Church, which has ordained women since the 1950s, but there’s still a lot of Christian traditions in general, and churches in particular, that do not value or accept or affirm women’s leadership. And not only don’t accept or value or affirm, but would actively oppose,” McKnight said. “That’s always been a tension in my life.”

As the Urban Abbey works to support LGBT rights, women’s rights, and various other things, they sometimes get protestors outside the cafe, among other resistance to the cause. “We have a Drag [Queen] story hour, which we didn’t start to upset anybody, but it really seems to upset people, and people protest,” McKnight said. “Some people will be like, ‘Well, I don’t believe in women pastors,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, you don’t have to believe; I exist. I’m not a unicorn.’” McKnight has even gone to the unicameral herself to help the fight for rights for various different groups.

“I really enjoy getting to see people and connect with people all the time. I get to meet people here that I think I would never meet or have a relationship with if I was in a normal church building or a normal church setting, so it just means so much to get to be an everyday neighbor and part of peoples lives,” McKnight said. “No matter how they feel about their faith, or wanting or not wanting to participate with us in that way, it’s about just how can we have relationships with everybody and not try to have domination in terms of, ‘You have to be this,’ and ‘You have to say this,’ … It’s just to be a safe space, and there’s meaning in being a safe space.”

The Urban Abbey also has a mission, and donates 10% of their sales to a local nonprofit every month, often supporting human rights or organizations that do other things.

“We started in 2011, and so we’ve given more than $120,000 away, and we do that without strings attached on how the nonprofit needs to spend the money,” McKnight said. “Sometimes people come in … and then they try to give us back the coffee, but for the most part everybody really appreciates that work, and wants to be a part of how we genuinely invest … time and money into our community.”

Even if you’re not a Christian, the Urban Abbey offers a place where you can feel safe, respected, and welcome for anyone who decides to stop by, and a lovely place to get a coffee if you’d like.