“Christian” churches in the U.S. have been turning to unorthodox means such as concerts, sports, movies, and other entertainment, as a way of getting people to attend for some time.
Now there are also “brewery churches.” One is called Castle Church who describes itself as a community church that is “Orlando’s newest premier destination brewery.”
The church says that while beer is its passion, they also make it clear “as a spiritual community, we exist for people first.”
It’s reported that perhaps it should come as no surprise that the first known congregation founded expressly as a “brewery church” is a Lutheran outpost, part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and its Florida-Bahamas Synod.
Since they say that Martin Luther, the famed 16th-century rebel monk and Protestant Reformer, is known to have had a penchant for a palatable pint of beer. They even say he once exclaimed, “Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!”
With a church development grant from the Florida-Bahamas Synod and other fundraising, they secured a spot for their brewery church in a diverse neighborhood near Orlando’s airport.
Since opening, the community has about 50 meeting each Sunday for worship in the brewery’s beer garden, using apps on their smartphones in lieu of hymnals, and then afterwards enjoy some frothy fellowship.
One worshiper said “there’s no beer during the service, but people hang out and eat snacks together and enjoy a beer and get to know one another over a cold one.”