“Faith is our source of inspiration and our driving force”

“The idea germinated in November 2019, at the end of a meeting dedicated to youth ministry in Lille. The priest launched the idea of ​​​​creating a solidarity and Christian café in the image of Dorothy (an associative café run by Christians in Paris, editor’s note), but in Lille. My friends and I just regretted that there was not this type of project at home.

We then spent entire evenings dreaming and discussing the establishment of a place to create a bond and embody our ideas. We visited other solidarity cafes to think about the most faithful way to create this place according to our convictions. Today, Le Convivial is an associative café with activities around four main dimensions: conviviality, conferences and training, shows and manual workshops.

The notion of integral ecology has allowed us to put words to our intuitions and our desires. We all wanted a place to make her live in a Christian way of life, inspired by the encyclical of Pope Francis.

It is not only about the environmental aspect, which is reduced to sorting your waste and consuming organic products, but also about a social and spiritual dimension. Ecology invites us to reflect on all our relationships: to the world, to nature, to ourselves, to others and to God. This involves reclaiming manual know-how, taking the time to do things that are more sustainable and of which we are proud.

We are all believers among the fifteen members of our team, but we do not all have the same way of expressing it. On the other hand, our faith is our source of inspiration and our driving force. It guides us in the development of the place.

Thanks to her, we know that we want to welcome unconditionally the parishioners of the adjoining church, as well as all the inhabitants of the neighborhood in Lambersart. It is important to proclaim our Christian faith, to say that it is part of our motivations, without it being a filter at the entrance.

Faith has an important place in our programming, since we will organize theological conferences, including one on the relationship between man and nature. The first will be dedicated to the Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich, a figure who inspires us and who gave the name to the Convivial.

We want to share hope through our coffee. A life together is possible, other than what our consumer, technical and ultra-industrial society offers. Let’s try to create it and live it together on our scale! “

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