Shanta Reddy: Holding Space for the Holy Spirit—Hospitality That Leads to Heart Change

Holding Space for the Holy Spirit— 

Hospitality That Leads to Heart Change 

Shepherding to Shanta Reddy
Amy Boyle

If you frequent The Abbey Coffee Co. you’ve likely seen Shanta Reddy. 

But before the (coffee) bar, came the calling in her “to serve.” 

Service started out as a source of finding significance, place, or even simply a space away from hardship at home. But the motive changed when the love of God got ahold of her heart, while worshipping as a teen at a conference in Texas. 

“How many other people don’t know that God loves them?” That question would become a point of conviction, drawing her into deeper faith and interest in God’s word while weathering the pandemic, as a high school student. Through “a series of moments” Shanta would eventually discern God’s call for her to embrace vocational ministry, which led her to Marion, IN. 

Tending to coffeeshops while peers pursue “ministry” placements wasn’t necessarily the plan, but “God provided” where she needed work. And being two years in, Shanta has an assurance that “whether seasonal or long-term” she’s where God wants her to be, at the Abbey.

Beyond serving beverages off S Western Ave., she’s also serving as the Director of Spiritual Formation on campus at Indiana Wesleyan, where she’s studying for her Master’s of Divinity at Wesley Seminary.

And between the Bible, the books, and the barista-ing, Shanta’s found God to be more expansive than most of us settle for seeing. The same could be true of ministry. 

For Shanta, the service industry is ministry. The work of preparing and hosting spaces is holy.

From the genre of music to the softness of lighting, from the curation of art to the cultivation of plants, even down to the distance between tables and chairs—these details are ways that Shanta shepherds. By setting the proverbial table for customers to have conversations, where the Holy Spirit brings about heart change, or building a staff culture that communicates the unity of church, to people “who would never walk through church doors” Shanta shepherds.

Shepherding is not confined to a building, yet the work of “building community” and “fostering belonging,” remains an anywhere and everywhere kind of work for everybody.

“The heart of being a barista is the art of noticing… whether in the back or behind the bar, you never know what someone is coming in carrying.”

A couple weeks after Charlie Kirk passed, a customer came to the Abbey, looking for a Bible and longing to know more about Christ. He remembered Tree of Life, the “Christian bookstore” that used to sit where The Abbey now is.

“People walk in from so many different places… are we prepared for situations like that?” Shanta asked. “How do we prepare ourselves to share the love of Christ?”