wfn.org | Episcopalians: 'God and Guinness' offers warm reception, cold beer to post-modern generation

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

May 30, 2002

2002-138

Episcopalians: 'God and Guinness' offers warm reception, cold 
beer to post-modern generation

by Thomas Blanton

(ENS) Two Episcopal priests are exploring a way to make religion 
more significant to the post-modern generation. Instead of 
attempting to lure post-moderns into church with promises of 
salvation or threats of brimstone and hellfire, Lisa Senuta and 
Helen Svoboda-Barber are using a different kind of age-old 
enticement: beer.

"My conviction is that people of my age group are a little timid 
about walking through church doors," said Senuta, a priest at 
St. Thomas the Apostle in Overland Park, Kansas. 

"We're both really concerned about how to make church relevant 
to our generation," said Svoboda-Barber, who is currently an 
associate pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Overland Park. 
Originally assigned to the cathedral in Topeka, she began 
working for the Lutheran Church after Called to Common Mission 
established full communion and strengthened cooperation between 
Lutherans and Episcopalians. Holy Cross brought Svoboda-Barber 
on board specifically to work with members of the post-modern 
age bracket.

Church in a bar

The two friends, both graduates of the Episcopal Theological 
Seminary of the Southwest in Texas and members of Generation X 
themselves, began discussing the problem and possible ways to 
overcome it. While talking over coffee, they hit upon an offbeat 
solution.

"We said, we need to have church in a bar,'" Svoboda-Barber 
said. "We decided to host a weekly meeting and focus on 
conversations that have to do with God in our everyday lives."

Using a bar as a religious meeting place, however progressive it 
may seem, is not a new idea. According to Senuta, she first hit 
upon the idea after reading The Post-Evangelical by Dave 
Tomlinson, former leader of the House Church movement in 
Britain, who called for reformation of evangelical denominations 
to appeal to post-modern generations.

"C.S. Lewis even held philosophical and theological discussions 
in pubs," Senuta added.

Christian invasion

With their concept in place, Svoboda-Barber and Senuta went in 
search of a location to hold meetings, specifically a bar that 
would not be opposed to a weekly Christian invasion. They found 
the perfect venue in W.J. McBride's, an Irish pub located down 
the street from Holy Cross.

Upon approaching the pub's management, Svoboda-Barber and Senuta 
received a startlingly warm reception. "The manager was 
thrilled," Senuta said. She thought it was a great idea, and she 
let us put posters up all over the bar. It was surprising."

As it turns out, the pub was already hosting a nondenominational 
Christian gathering in its reception hall on Sunday nights. The 
group started out with a core of 20 people, but soon grew to 
over 150. "Their weekly attendance ended up at almost 300 
people," Svoboda-Barber said, adding that the group had to 
relocate after outgrowing the space.

That was all the encouragement they needed. Senuta recruited a 
graphic designer from her congregation, who created a series of 
posters and postcards advertising "God and Guinness" on Tuesday 
nights, which the priests distributed throughout their churches 
and around town.

"We wanted to make coasters, too" Svoboda-Barber said. "We 
thought that would be appropriate."

Post-modern seekers

Despite the publicity campaign, God and Guinness has not drawn 
huge numbers. However, Svoboda-Barber and Senuta are pleased 
with the attendance so far.

"We've had a couple of dozen people come through," 
Svoboda-Barber said. "And we're building momentum. We feel that 
it's been successful. People brought friends and co-workers, 
whom they wouldn't normally bring to church."

God and Guinness has been temporarily suspended during the 
summer months, but Svoboda-Barber and Senuta look forward to 
starting the series again this fall. Both are confident that 
what the meetings have to offer will continue to bring in 
Christian seekers from the post-modern generation. 

"We catch people on their way home from work, get them to come 
in and have a beer and talk about things that matter," Senuta 
said. "And of course, Guinness is the finest beer."

------

--Thomas Blanton is the assistant editor of the Texas 
Episcopalian newspaper.