To the pub

The church study group that I attend is planned to meet in the local pub (bar/hotel/alcohol joint) to 'be in the community' and maybe have some conversations with the denizens.

Firstly, I doubt that we would have any useful conversations with the denizens, but perhaps.

Secondly, if we want to visit the pub for a social evening, all well and good. Just don't drink too much and don't get into any fights (more a problem in some places than others).

Thirdly,  "whaaat?!" As the 'medium is the message', as Marshall McLuhan has written, we submerge our message into a contradictory medium and align it with a dissonant message. The message of the pub is not the message of study. I wouldn't have gone to the pub to study my finance textbook so why would I go there to study the Bible?

This would be a 'show-off' stunt. Most patrons would see it as seeking to show them up as lesser people, even with a jar of ale on our table.

Moreover, if we prayed, we would be praying on the street corner for all to see, against the word of our Lord in Matthew 5:5-6:

When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

 In fact, the whole thing would be a street corner event. Not good.

In none of the pagan cults I've encountered was this ever a recruitment approach. Sure some members might have gone to pubs for quiet conversations as individuals; but generally their intake was via free talks about self-serving quasi spiritual techniques and success stories, or 'club' type events, entertainment evenings (music, film) and supper afterwards with no pressure, some promotions for innocuous weekend courses or 're-calibration' meditation, etc. but no pressure.

What might work is a parson in the pub event monthly from, say, between Easter and Advent, as long as the parson brought a few pals to order beers and was a great raconteur.

Outreach or In-drag

Churches offer many 'in-drag' events in the guise of 'out-reach'. But they are not, in most cases. Usually  they are simply in-drag with bait. And usually not a very good bait at that.

But I think the Seventh Day Adventists have an approach that is worth considering (not their crazy theology, of course). That is offering something of value to people in the community. They run 'courses' in quitting smoking and handling anxiety. Both commendable efforts (unless you are a tobacconist or pharmacist, of course).

That might work in some communities, but not others.

One things that Christians should be good at is communication (spoken word, I mean, because they are not usually that good at other media). So courses in personal communication in different contexts: for example, in formal meetings, giving presentations, on in manager-team relationships. The latter should be worthwhile in any locations where there is a sizable proportion of people in business or the professions.

Such course could be aimed at particular age-groups, or not, but to offer them, for a small fee, of course, with 'concessions' easily granted, could be of general interest and service.

The courses would be designed in terms of what we know about the ethos of communication we see in the Bible, and the personal attitudes and challenges that become important.

I'll see what I can do about this with a course on 'Leading People' that I'm developing.

The challenge for the church is to move people down the discipling 'funnel' from 'contact' (through some form of outreach or indrag event) to 'engage' (perhaps a course related to Christian faith or children at youth  group, etc..), to 'integrated'. This last stage is marked by regular attendance and participation at some level, and is the precursor to 'discipleship and service'. Which could be just 'service' to keep down the language temperature.

On babies

In a documentary on the Islamisation of Sweden, the speaker made the point that Islam wins by out populating the post-Christian West. Not his words of course.

This caused me to reflect on the degree to which the church broadly as bought into this. I look at my church. It is in a well-off suburb with many practicing or retired professional people, managerial types and academics. Happily we do see a good (but not good enough) number of children in the church.

But the Christian ethos tends not to dominate our lives. Self included.

I compare this with what I've seen of Roman Catholic practice as lived out. Two of my relations are priests and on the rare occasions I've participated in services they've been involved in I've been struck both by the simple courtesies of both clergy and 'laity' and the going out of the way concern for others. I noted particularly the concern for one disabled man who could not sit on the chairs available, so had to recline on steps to a podium at the rear of the ecclesium. One person offered to fetch him a chair, another a wheel chair, a group of clergy, all in their flashest PPE greeted him with a nod and a kind smile as they walked by.

I also saw lots of children; lots!

But we in the land of the well off seem to have 'just enough' children. The median number seems to be two. Three are rare. More is almost never seen. Yet, I would hope that we'd routinely see famlies of four to six children and middle-income pretensions be damned. But we don't.

The church has turned into a comfortable sermon club, neither engaged with (prophetically) the world, or a witness against its indulgent values.

Then I look at my own history. I have one child, and that in later life. I wanted to have a 'brood', but perhaps I was unconsciously wearing a 'not husband material' T-shirt, as I was also married later in life than...anyone else I knew.

Yet the environment seemed to be full of young women not so interested in marriage (except for one, who's companionship I fumbled badly), or to my mind 'not suitable' for me or 'out of range' in terms of age. Was I too 'picky'? Was I indeed not 'husband material'? To what extent had my church life led me unwittingly down the same path as the self-indulgent? Had it similarly led the women I mixed with?