The vision of Mark and Athlee Bowman enabled Café COEN to open on 1st October 2007 as part of COEN Life. COEN Life includes the Café, COEN English and the COEN Bible Community, and was registered under the Evangelical Free Church of Japan's religious corporation (宗教法人).
When Mark and Athlee relocated to Alaska, Dale and Karen Viljoen (フィルユン) took over the leadership of COEN Life on 1st April 2019. Café COEN and COEN English are now part of Dale's missional business, and the COEN Bible Community is registered with OMF Japan (国際福音宣教会の宗教法人).