A few weeks ago I saw a Facebook ad for a Bible study called Theology on Tap. It advertised "Straight Talk! Hard Facts! Real Answers!" about faith, religion and what to do about it. More than that, they hosted a speaking series Thursday nights at the Oregon Express (a neighborhood bar on Fifth St. in case you don't know). I thought it looked interesting, so I went to check it out last week.I should have done more research first.
Since I didn't know what to expect, I kept my eye out for "clues" or indicators about the night. My first clue about the evening was the location. What kind of Christian group would be bold enough to host a theological speaking series at a bar? I was too intrigued by the idea of a bunch of brazen, forward-thinking Christians reaching out to the drunk and temporarily sober to bother to see who ToT was affiliated with. I found out later, but I should have checked it out first.
My second clue was Joseph. Joseph was a stocky man rifling through two green storage tubs full of lined index cards, coiled speaker wires, smaller storage tubs, yellow flyers, homemade CDs and other random things you wouldn't associate with ministry unless you were in the business. I introduced myself and told him I would be covering that night's session for my blog this week. I also asked if I could talk with him afterwards. He expressed his fear of being quoted and quickly busied himself by sorting small white paper squares from small white paper rectangles.
What kind of outreach worker doesn't want to talk to people about their ministry? If he was shy, why didn't he just tell me who I could talk with? I wasn't sure what to make of this second clue. Befuddled, I found a table in the back near the door.
A few minutes later, a woman came over with an information card for me to fill out. She wore a stick-on pre-printed name tag ("Bernadette") and was holding several sheets of printed labels. No, wait. Not labels. Pre-printed name tags.
Clue three: What kind of outreach group has pre-printed name tags? And who needs a name tag in a bar? I quickly reasoned that the name tags promoted social interaction, and that the regulars had name tags already made. I didn't let the fact that nobody was walking around to socialize distract me from my logical (and therefore correct) conclusion.
When Bernadette walked away, I noticed that the two tables in front of me had the homemade CDs stacked on them. The CDs were colored in assorted pastels, almost like preschool Easter egg colors. Not realizing that Easter pastels were the new trend in outreach circles, I took a look at the titles: "De-Bunking the DaVinci Code," "Harry Potter and the Paschal Theory" and other non-entry-level theological topics. What theological novice would think that Harry Potter and The DaVinci Code were relevant to Christianity? It took me a while to realize that this was clue four.
Other clues slipped past my senses over the next few minutes. Most people had pre-printed name tags. The sound guy played "One of These Days" by FFH (which, by the way, is 11 years old). Judging by their clothes, nobody was poor. In fact, most everybody looked like they attended church regularly. What kind of outreach was this?
I got my answer when Bernadette took the mic and opened the night with a prayer. Everyone -- and I mean everyone -- crossed themselves. Except me. Oh! This was a Catholic program.
Then Bernadette introduced the evening's topic: How I Came to Love the Catholic Church. This wasn't a Catholic outreach. This was a Catholic discipleship group.
I found out just how Catholic about 30 seconds later. The speaker, David Bennett, a religion teacher at a Catholic school in Marion, was talking about the conversion process he went through. Not the conversion from unbeliever to believer (though that was part of the background). He was talking about the conversion from Protestant to Catholic.
I spent the next half hour of my life listening to Bennett speak about Protestantism and Catholicism. Some things I didn't agree with. Some I did. I don't agree that the Catholic church offers a more full relationship with Jesus than other Christian churches do. I do agree that Protestants are slightly preoccupied with making church trendy. Though I didn't quite know how to take some of the things he said (Protestants don't have a full deck of cards to use in their faith?), I could at least tell that he sincerely wanted to have the best relationship with God as he possibly could.
Overall, I think Bennett made an amazing point that night: the worst thing you can do is believe in God and not do anything about it. For all of my misconceptions about the evening, I think ToT was a good thing. Not my thing, but a good thing nonetheless.
Thirty minutes into the talk, the group took a 10 minute intermission. I took it as an opportunity to leave early. It's not that I thought Bennett was a bad speaker. On the contrary, he was quite interesting. But he wasn't speaking to me. He was speaking to the dozens of Catholics in the audience about why he felt like he was one of them. It was a perfectly worthwhile venture, but not one that I felt I could be part of.
I think that Theology on Tap is a good idea, but I think it would be a better idea if it was an outreach. After all, what's the point of meeting in a bar if only the church folk show up to participate?
