Originally from Canada, Grace’s family has a very effective tool to spread the gospel in the Czech Republic: Manolo café. Although it looks like any normal coffee shop from the outside, people have conversations about Jesus inside. Behind closed doors, this family deeply loves Jesus and that changes the whole atmosphere of the café. So much so that non-believers say: ‘’I don’t believe in God, but I know that that God that they talked about, is there. I felt His presence, and whatever they’re doing, they’re doing it right.’’
Grace Rector’s parents (Rachael and Jody) met at a Discipleship Training School (DTS) in the Czech Republic, which brought their family deep connections with the country. After years of going back and forth between Canada and the Czech Republic, the Lord called the family to move to Europe full-time in 2017. Since then, God has placed different dreams on their hearts.
‘’God supernaturally called my parents to open up a coffee shop’’
Ever since their first time in the Czech Republic, Rachael and Jody deeply desired to have a drop-in center. ‘’Many Czechs do not go to church because it is a barrier that they do not want to cross’’, Grace explains. For years, this idea remained a distant dream. Things changed three years ago, when ‘’God supernaturally called my parents to open up a coffee shop’’.
In the fall of 2021, Rachael and Jody revisited the idea of a drop-in center in the form of a café. Without telling anyone, they started to look at places to potentially rent. Surprisingly, a good friend of theirs called, saying: ‘’I had a dream where an angel told me that you guys are supposed to open up a coffee shop.’’
Provision in Every Detail
Long story short; they signed the contract with faith, having no idea how it would come together financially. Later during that year, a team from Switzerland and Germany came to the Czech Republic to do ministry. They randomly asked Rachael and Jody whether they had any practical needs, and Grace’s parents openly told them: ‘’We have a coffee shop and we have no one to do the practical work for us.’’
The team came and spent the whole week building the whole café without charge. Grace enthusiastically testifies: ‘’God literally put the coffee shop there within half a year. He basically said: I called, and I provided, go for it!’’
Manolo café: God with Us
Today, Manolo café is a well-known coffee shop in Jihlava, Czech Republic, popular not only for its North-American cinnamon rolls but also for the atmosphere that is tangibly different from outside.
Manolo is the Spanish version of Immanuel, which means God with us. ‘’We have that name and its description on our wall, and people can catch our testimony in the menus, but from the first walk-in it is just a normal coffee shop. And for quite a few customers, it will just be a normal coffee shop. But behind the scenes, we were anointing the doors and praying for the Holy Spirit to fill the coffee shops, and for the seeds that were sown, to grow.’’ And since last year, the gospel has clearly risen to the surface: ‘’My parents have daily deep conversations with people about the gospel.’’
Supernatural encounters: salvation through the coffee shop
One of these conversations was with Grace’s own best friend. ‘’I don’t really have believing friends in the Czech Republic, so for years I was praying for a friend.’’ One day, there was a girl who regularly came to the coffee shop. ‘’She was reading a book with the title 10 reasons to stay alive.’’
Rachael felt a prompting in her heart to tell her about the reason to be alive: Jesus. So she served the girl her coffee and asked her about the book. Atypical for Czechs, the girl poured out her heart and was open to receive prayer. Soon after, she gave her life to Jesus and she started working at the café. She has developed a special bond with the family, who continue to disciple and support her.
Recently, the Lord brought a shift in the employees. People that brought heaviness with them, quit on their own terms, and since then, ‘’the level of conversations and the actual encounters with the Lord just shot through the roof’’. Moreover, Grace’s best friend recently got baptized with the Holy Spirit and she is even more on fire for Jesus!
‘’They see Jesus in you as you’re serving cheesecake’’
Grace went on to say: ‘’Most people can’t really imagine what a christian coffee shop looks like if you don’t have worship nights there. But because of their history with communism and religion, the Czech people need to know that it’s genuine. They need to know that when you offer them the Lord, that they can actually see the kindness of Jesus in you. That they see Him in you as you serve them their cheesecake.’’
‘’The customers then build trust with you, so that when the Holy Spirit leads you into a conversation with them, they know that they do not have to be afraid of any strings attached because they really just experienced Jesus in the coffee shop.’’
‘’Whatever they’re doing, they’re doing it right’’
‘’A constant big thing in my parents’ hearts has been the name of the coffee shop. I realised that in the Czech Republic, the people here are in a constant state of stress. They’re hammering on success, and to do that, they squeeze the peace and life out of you. There is so much weight that people are carrying. That’s why we wanted the café to be a place of peace, where people can tangibly feel the presence of the Lord and where the burdens fall off of them.’’
In the early days of the coffee shop, an atheist customer said: ‘’I don’t believe in God, but as I was sitting there, I know that that God that they talked about, is there. I felt His presence, and whatever they’re doing, they’re doing it right.’’ Another lady recently testified: ‘’Work has been so crazy and I’ve been so stressed. Even if we’re so busy, we come here every week, because there’s peace here. This is the only place we go, because we feel like we can rest here.’’
