For a year now, The Beacon, an outreach of First Baptist Church of Waterloo, has hosted a program called the Lifetree Café.

Lifetree Café is a “conversation café,” where on Tuesday and Thursday nights at 7 p.m., people of all religious affiliations can attend an hour-long free session that includes real life stories on film, a presentation of interesting and relevant information, conversation with others and helpful tips to take home.

Over the year that Lifetree has been taking place inside The Beacon, they’ve covered a variety of topics ranging from breaking the cycle of sexual abuse to stem cells, which was last week’s topic.

David Batts hosted Thursday’s Lifetree session on stem cells, talking to a smaller group than last Tuesday night’s session on the same topic.

“Here at Lifetree, we have certain things we value,” he said. “Your thoughts are welcome, and your doubts are welcome. mWe’re all in this together.”

Batts explained the structure of the hour: short film clips and presented information, followed by small and large group discussion.

Lifetree is run by a group of teams, including a host team and a friendship team.

The friendship team is responsible for setting up the coffee and snacks, and the hosts are responsible for going over their scripts and being knowledgeable about the subject they’re presenting.

Cyndi Antry is a member of the friendship team and has been attending the sessions since the beginning.

“Some of them are very emotional; some of them are very lighthearted,” she said.

“We even had one on zombies back in October.”

Another attendee, Robyn English, said what she likes about Lifetree is not knowing what to expect when she sits down, even though she knows what the topic is.

“You could think it’s one thing, but it could turn out to be totally different,” she said.

Antry said each session is different depending on who is in the audience.

“We’re from all different religious backgrounds, and we look for open conversation,” Antry said. “Nobody is put down by what they believe.”

Antry said she and her husband have grown so much just by hearing what different people believe at Lifetree.

Batts said the conversations are best when the room is full, but it varies from session to session and topic to topic.

“When we had the session on Islam, we had about 40 people here,” Batts said. “That one was very good.”

He said they currently have around six hosts that take turns presenting.

The sessions do tie in an affiliation to God, which Antry said she hopes doesn’t make people want to attend less.

“Whether you go to a church or not, you’re always welcome at Lifetree,” she said. “We bring God into the topic, but just to see where it connects.”

Batts stressed that Lifetree isn’t “selling” any church or religion.

“We’re just here to talk,” he said. “We’re not here to solve any issues. We’re just here to talk things out. There are no right or wrong answers.”

All attendees leave with a few papers containing more information on the topic, along with links to websites to continue learning if interested.

This week’s topic is “Keeping Love Alive,” followed by “Why, God?” for the week of Feb. 15.

For more information on Lifetree Café and upcoming session topics, visit www.lifetreecafe.com or call 939-9500.