Friday, November 23, 2007

'Faith on Tap' brings Episcopal clerics to Walnut Creek brewery

http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/ci_7538671

[San Mateo County Times] 23.11.07--The ale flowed as Episcopal clerics, including the bishop, went to a downtown pub recently to talk faith with 20- and 30-somethings.

Churchgoers on a mission to sober up sinners? Not at all. "Faith on Tap" is about bringing together young adults hungry for community, rousing discussion and a meaningful life. It's spreading across the country faster than a moonshine delivery.

In the Pyramid Brewery's Diablo Room, Bishop Marc Andrus, the Rev. Phil Brochard, and parishioners from St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Walnut Creek, and more than 20 others gathered around tables laden with glasses and pitchers.

The topic amid the cacophony spilling in from the adjacent main room: "Is there a God pill?" It was the second installment in a three-part series called "Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll.

One of the Episcopal priests in my area has adopted this approach in his work as a campus minister with the students of a local university. His church is not exactly brimming with young adults. This not to say that there is anything wrong with seeking the unchurched and spiritually-connected in bars and pubs where they gather.

Michael Green has been very effective in witnessing to people in bars and pubs. I think that the difference is the direction in which the conversations turns. Sooner or later Green gets around to talking about their relationship with God and their need for a Savior with the people with whom he is having a pint. Talking about spirituality and related subjects may provide an opening but it does not appear that Episcopal priests who have adopted this approach move beyond this opening. They could learn a few things from Green. A friendly chat with the vicar over a beer may leave some with the impression that the vicar is a good fellow but it not not likely lead them to show up at his church next Sunday.

We must also not forget that Church history records that a number of English priests were infamous tipplers who frequented the alehouses and the inns in their cures. Their heavy drinking greatly harmed their ministry as servants of the Gospel and cost them the respect of their flock.

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