Martin Luther famously said “I’d rather my people were in the alehouse thinking of church, than in church thinking of the alehouse.”
NPR’s John Burnett shares the story of a couple modern intersections of beer and church.
“I’m not interested, frankly, in making more church members,” says Lutheran pastor Phil Heinze of Kyrie, aka “Church-in-a-Pub.” “I’m interested in having people have significant relationships around Jesus. And if it turns out to be craft beer [that does it], fine.”
One church in craft-brew capitol Portland, OR opens their doors one Saturday night a month for Beer & Hymns (with a two-beer limit).
It seems like the practice reaches “traditional church refugees.” At these places of worship hymns are sung, people are allowed to speak freely, and the gospel is preached. The goal is to not only reach those who attend the church but also the patrons of the pub who drop in for a pint.
Burnett doesn’t see the strategies as permanent.”No one is suggesting that Beer & Hymns or Church-in-a-Pub—or any of the dozens of other beer-in-church events that are popping up around the nation—are permanent. They’re transitional experiments.”
But Amy Piatt, a pastor of Beer & Hymns’ sponsor church (First Christian), thinks that “church” is changing:
“It’s probably, in the very near future, not going to be at 10 am on Sunday morning wearing your best shoes and tie or dress … It’s going to be something different. I mean, what that is, we are still finding out, we’re still learning together. But it’s still holy, God is still there, and that’s what’s most important.”
Andrew Finch is editorial resident for Leadership Journal.
