NPR has this interesting story about a relatively new trend in the American Christian Church—mixing worshipping with beer. The piece looks at services like Church-in-a-Pub in Fort Worth, Tex., and Beer & Hymns in Portland, Ore., two of “the [dozens of] beer-in-church events that are popping up around the nation.” And beyond just drawing a unique crowd of “refugees from traditional churches”, some of the services are even gaining mainstream recognition. Church-in-a-Pub, with hits weekly sermon, communion and craft beer gatherings was officially named a Synodically Authorized Worshipping Community by the Evangelical Lutheran Church’s regional council. The church’s pastor, Phil Heinze told NPR, “I think the institutional church now is getting onboard, because there’s a lot of anxiety frankly about the church’s decline and they’re trying to think outside of that institutional box.”
Though some of the movement’s leaders recognize the tension between the church and opinions about alcohol, they say those concerns are secondary. In the story, Heinze said, “I’m not interested, frankly, in making more church members. I’m interested in having people have significant relationships around Jesus. And if it turns out to be craft beer, fine.” And as this follow-up post points out (by the way, thanks for the shout out NPR, cheers!) craft brewing has long had an association with Christianity …