Tonight (Friday) we met up in a bar for Pub Theology. This is a format that COTA have been using for a while and was started by Jon Myers. I think it is pretty self explanatory but people go to a pub, have a beer, something to eat and talk theology.

Jon said that on the first week he took a topic to discuss, but he never had to do that again for over a year as people kept suggesting thinsg, or things simply developed from the initial topic and were carried over into the next week.

I like the concept, and not just because I like pubs. I like the idea of people getting together to chat theology in a normal natural environment. The idea of giving a relaxed space to explore questions, to argue, to share understandings, and misunderstandings, speaks a lot to me of what the church should be doing. I like the way this takes the ‘academic’ out of theology and, as Jon says, ‘there is something very refreshing about being in a pub, drinking beer, being very open about our frutrations and our doubts and hanging out together at a pub. At a pub I can be a little more free.’  I think this is probably the easiest thing yet that I could just ‘lift off the shelf’ from Seattle and try out in the UK.

I recorded the ‘interview’ and have posted a clip of it here to listen to.

In Seattle it works pretty simply … every 2 weeks, this pub at this time, come if you want to! I’d like to start a little research now from a distance – why not email or message me if you would be up for something like this in Medway. I’d love to pull together a group and see how this goes.