For the last three weeks after school each Friday afternoon I have been visiting our local tavern .

There are a couple of reasons for this.

1. I am keen to meet some of the people who will never ever wander into any church anywhere unless they are drunk and lost. The crew who hang out at this place are very rough and ready… It feels like the Bronx. We would be very unlikely to cross paths in other parts of life.

2. I am also keen to explore Jesus command to serve the poor and needy and I am aware that this could be an opening into that playing field. Most of those in my own suburb are doing ok financially but next to us are a couple of suburbs where people are really struggling. I sense some of them hang out here.

3. It is also a place to learn how to be a cross cultural missionary. This is a place where I really don’t know the routine and am learning as I go. I reckon its healthy for me to do this – it reminds me how much of a cultural gap there is even in Australia at times between the different social clusters.

I intentionally go alone – when you go with friends its too easy just to hang out with those people and never actually meet anyone else. I do feel a little anxious some days, as I don’t know the ropes, and worry that I will look like a dork, but so far I have met people each time I have been there and had some really interesting conversations.

On Friday I actually thought I was going to go a whole day without speaking to anyone…. I had been there an hour, sitting on my own sipping a beer before I was able to spark a conversation. I find that when I’m not talking with someone I am praying for those around me, so it doesn’t feel like wasted time.

My belief is that if I can hang out there regularly and actually make contact with some people then maybe I will be able to be ‘one of them’. There seems to be a regular crew who know each other and I am guessing it will take a while to be accepted as a regular.

While I much prefer the café scene my observation is that in cafés people don’t interact much outside of their table – that is the etiquette of cafés – whereas at the pub the conversation seems much more open. There is talk across the bar and amongst a range of people.

As a person who grew up as a dyed in the wool evangelical and as an avoider of pubs I am a total foreigner to this scene so I am enjoying the challenge and learning a heap every week.booty call divx online

In my previous church one of the projects I initiated and really enjoyed was a ‘Philosophy Cafe’.

It was an attempt to create a public space where life’s big issues could be batted around without anyone pushing an agenda. It was quite sucessful in the hills suburbs with a core of 15 people regularly participating. The local cafe owner gave us space in a fairly exclusive cafe for free once a month on a Sunday night and a small group of us chose topics and facilitated discussion.

As much as I loved the debate and the interaction, the purpose was never to actually win arguments and convert people to my way of thinking – it was to meet people share our thoughts and hopefully catalyse some friendships that could develop outside of the meeting setting and more specifically in and around the cafe.

If I’m honest that didn’t really happen.

Why? Probably because I was too busy with all that a large church required to keep it afloat. My church said that I was free to ‘do evangelism’ and they really did intend for me to be free to spend large slabs of time with people in the community – but… someone still has to preach, someone still has to equip leaders and meet with them, someone still has to attend X number of meetings etc etc.

The all consuming nature of the ‘beast’ meant that good intentions towards evangelism often got lost in a plethora of things that were urgent and measurable.

This is one of the great freedoms of my new role. I am still required to think and lead, but there is much less of a beast (at this stage to maintain.

And you know what?

My time in the community has risen dramatically, and I am a happier person for it.

That said the nature of this community does not lend itself to a Philosophy Cafe – and i would be foolish to try and make it work here – it just wouldn’t fit the vibe of the place. A more indigenous gathering would be a ‘home brew club’!