Walking around the Mind Body Spirit Festival in Brisbane, Glen Cochrane had an idea.  The people at the festival were looking for enlightenment. They’re spiritual searchers who are open to new ideas. Why not make Jesus one of them?

The festival, part of the New Age movement, had a number of stalls from West End, an inner city Brisbane suburb that had been on Glen’s heart.

“It’s the least-churched suburb in Brisbane,” said Glen. “We decided we wanted to have a presence in the West End, to offer another alternative”.

So, last year Glen and his wife Maureen left their church of 30 years – Nexus – on the north side of Brisbane where Glen had been on staff for 16 years, and planted a church in West End, called End Church.

But to really be a part of the community, Glen says he wanted more than a church building. So when the opportunity to be part of an undercover market came up, he jumped at it. And so began the ‘Jesus Shop’.

“We were just around the corner from the taro card readers,” said Glen. “Initially, we weren’t really welcomed. People were trying to work out why we were there.”

The aim of the shop was to create a space where people felt comfortable to have a conversation about Jesus and spirituality, but also to display, sell and giveaway Jesus-related books and artwork. Glen said he kept it pretty simple: for a book to appear in the Jesus Shop, it had to have either a picture of Jesus or the name Jesus on the cover.

“People started coming – it was a novelty. They’d say ‘We didn’t know Jesus had a shop,’” said Glen.

The market stall had a Moroccan feel, with a Berber rug and cushions on the floor. As well as books about the historicity of Jesus, apologetics and some pastoral material, it sold handmade crosses from El Salvador – brightly painted and attention-grabbing.

“The stall opened up a lot of conversations about who Jesus really is. We inevitably gave a lot of stuff away, or sold it for really cheap. What we really wanted was the conversation.”

West End is peppered with New Age shops, according to Glen. Now, he wants The Jesus Shop to be amongst them. After closing at the markets last month, End Church is now looking for a permanent location to open The Jesus Shop 5-6 days a week, as an extension of the church’s ministry in the community.

“It wouldn’t work anywhere else in Brisbane,” says Glen. “But we’re looking at setting up the Jesus Shop at the front, with a space for counseling at the back.”

End Church is praying for space to open their Jesus Shop from February 2015.