Dream Awakener

German pub friends
Originally uploaded by Camera Freak

A guest post by Mark Steffey

"Light Beer" – Option One: Subtle Mission Praxis
The first option for Christians to reach this unique segment of the culture is simply to move out into it as individuals and groups of friends.    I am proposing that getting a group of friends together for fellowship and libations at a local pub can be a doorway to mission.  In his article, Stuart Murray states,

It is vital to recognize that a post-Christendom society is not the same as a pre-Christendom society. Lesslie Newbigin reminds us that modern society is "a pagan society, and its paganism, having been born out of the rejection of Christianity, is far more resistant to the gospel than the pre-Christian paganism with which cross- cultural missions have been familiar (Murray, 21)

The society of the United States is post-Christendom.  The people living in the apartment buildings, condominiums, row houses, and flats of our major cities have little or no exposure to the Christianity of the cathedrals.  The “come-and-see” model will not work for these people.  Christians must go to them.  As I stated earlier, many of these people frequent the neighborhood bar or pub on a regular basis.  Many find friendship, fellowship, and a listening ear while sitting on a bar stool.

Today, too many churches are simply attempting to recycle or re-do the mega-church and church-growth models of the late 20th century to regain a place of importance in the lives of suburbanite families.  The emphasis to reach the culture of the bar and pub does not translate well among those local expressions of church.  What I am proposing is for those Christians who find themselves living and working among the “working class”, everyday “Joes” of our nation.  Murray, again quoting Newbigin,

In a situation of declining numbers, the policy has been to abandon areas (such as the inner cities) where active Christians are few and to concentrate ministerial resources by merging congregations and deploying ministers in the places where there are enough Christians to support them. Needless to say, this simply accelerates the decline. It is the opposite of a missionary strategy, which would proceed in the opposite direction – deploying ministers in the areas where Christian presence is weakest (Newbigin in Murray, 22)

Those Christians who live among the “empire” of America must view themselves as resident aliens, and find their way to the physical locations where life intersects with regular people.  William Shenk, using the metaphor of the resident alien, notes, “A resident alien lives in an inescapable tension with the sociopolitical order.  Rather than focusing inward on individual spiritual and personal concerns, this metaphor keeps attention turned outward, this maintaining that vital tension between the community of faith and the world (Shenk 1991: 109)

Next post on 3rd places…