The Local Church: Pubs Instead of Pews

Editor’s Note: This interview is the fourth installment of Evangelical Action’s series “How Does Your Church Grow?” and is your opportunity to meet the pastors of Washington D.C.’s local church plants, hear their stories, and understand why in a city filled with empty churches, theirs is flourishing. To learn more about the goal of this interview journey, please click here.

Since I started this interview journey with local Washington D.C. ministers, I’ve noted similar responses, namely one that includes the narrative, “We preach the totality of the Gospel and that is why our church plants are growing and the mainline churches are not.” On one hand, I agree whole-heartedly with these pastors whose churches are brimming with Millennials.

On the other hand, it seemed necessary to invite a different voice into our discussion. It was time to ask a self-described “progressive” minister in metro D.C. what it looks like to reach out to young professionals. So I did.

Meet Bryan Berghoef. Bryan is a pastor, pub theologian, blogger (www.pubtheologian.com), and author of the book, Pub Theology: Beer, Conversation, and God. His ministry gathers together all demographics into a local pub on Tuesday nights for informal talks about religion and politics — impolite conversation starters everywhere except the nation’s capital.

Chelsen Vicari: Tell us, simply, what is pub theology?

Bryan Berghoef: Yeah, so I’ve been leading pub theology discussion for about six years now. For the last year and a half in D.C. and before that in Michigan. I first heard about this in London. A group was getting together in a bar and talking about God or theology. Something about the way they articulated it really resonated with me. And that was that it was open conversation, a welcoming space for people of all perspectives. There was no bar of beliefs or orthodoxy that you had to pass to sit at the table. You could belong to a different religion or be atheist or agnostic and be welcome.

So we started a gathering  in Traverse City, Michigan and started connecting with people. It’s pretty simple format. It’s open conversation with people over a beer. There’s no lecture, no speaker, and really no leader. I kind of help facilitate, but really just there to help guide the discussion and ask questions and allow people to connect in that setting.

CV: Very unique. But just to clarify, there is no denominational affiliation at all?

BB: That’s right. I have a denominational affiliation, but the gathering is not affiliated with any one group or perspective. I want it to be neutral, open space where anyone, including a Muslim, atheist, or Buddhist– could have the last word. There’s not even a proselytization or evangelistic push. It’s more that we just want to get to know each other and realize that we all have something to learn from each other.

CV: There is no demographic that you’re targeting, but do young people show up to your pub gatherings on Tuesday nights?

BB: Yes, I would say that it leans younger. But we also have a range of ages show up. You know, people in their sixties, even some seventies come, but also a lot of young professionals new to D.C. who seek it out as a place to connect on these topics.

CV: When you are at the pub speaking with these friends and strangers, what are those topics that you discuss? Are they political, social, and so on?

BB: Yeah, we absolutely hit on a whole range of topics. It seems that faith issues bleed over into areas. If you believe a certain thing about humanity and the way we are supposed to treat each other, yeah, that’s going to bleed over into your politics and ethics. So we hit a range of topics. We may talk about violence, gun control, or foreign affairs. WE may talk about more personal things, relationship kinds of things, or higher level theological stuff about the nature of God. We will talk about Jesus, who He was and how do you view the way you view His life and teachings. What does his death and resurrection mean? Whether you believe there was more to the story after he was killed and what does that mean and so on. And we will also bring in topics and verses from other religions as well.

CV: I noticed on your website that you and your wife started Roots DC. Can you speak a bit more about this faith community?

BB: Well, I should tell you that we are going to be leaving D.C. back to Michigan. A big piece of that are the challenges for cost of living in Washington D.C. Trying to live with six people in this town is not easy. We have four kids. So I’ll tell you about Roots, but it is not clear how or if it will continue.

We framed Roots as a place for people to gather who wanted to follow Jesus in their lives in their neighborhoods. That was the central point and your theological views about Jesus weren’t as important as wanting to live the type of life He modeled and called to followers to live.

CV: Is Roots denominationally affiliated?

We do have a denominational affiliation, but we didn’t make that a prominent feature. Because that didn’t seem to be a connecting point for people as much as we were framing it. But I am ordained in the Christian Reformed Church of North America, which is CRC for short. That is a denomination that is around 150 years old. It is somewhere between a Mainline and Evangelical denomination. I tend to be a little more progressive for the denomination, but they still let me hang around there.

So we have people from a lot of different backgrounds join Roots. We had some people who came from a Catholic background, some Seventh Day Adventist, Baptist join Roots. We had a Buddhist guy. We had an atheist. So we really were rallying around the person of Jesus and not so much a theology of Jesus, if that makes sense. So more of “How can we follow Jesus for the good of the World” rather than just a “Jesus died for you to forgive your sins.” We didn’t not talk about that, but that wasn’t the focus so much as “How do we live a life that looks like Jesus?”

CV: How many are involved in Roots DC?

BB: We had between 20-30 people that would come on a given Sunday gathering. So we were small, but growing.

here weren’t a lot of kids. It tended to be young professionals or people working for non-profits. Although we did have a few married. A number of not married. So a mix. And we did have a retired couple that were regulars. And then a couple in their 40s, and 50s.

CV: Last question. As someone who is ministering in Washington D.C., what do you think that young people in D.C. are searching for? Because Obviously, whatever it is, isn’t found in the declining Mainline denominational churches. What is it then, in short, that attracts Millennials to faith community in DC?

 BB: That is a great question and something we were really trying to discern as we went along. But I think for people in our setting, we gathered people in our living room and then started meeting in a bar…and I think what people liked is that it was low key, very relational, very welcoming and you didn’t have to come dressed up. You could leave the suite or formal wear for a day and just come in jeans. And also you could just be yourself and not worry about title or what you were doing in the city. Really, just a place to be honest with each other and seek out community.

So I think [young] people are looking for community and not just, “Oh I work for so and so on the Hill and here are all the things I do and all the important people I know.” There is so much of that already in D.C., and I think people are looking for authenticity that goes beyond that.