How come everyone knew you were going to do this? Just going and being there because God told you to should be all there is to it… no hype or “here’s a pastor going to a bar"… just obedience to God...or maybe God didn’t tell you to and you’re just doing it because it seems to be a good “outreach” idea/strategy.
Jesus builds the church…
Do people care if you are a “pastor” or that you just truly want to be there in the bar with them?
I have found that being a “pastor” (an I am one!) is often more of a barrier than a help with people who are not church people.
Authentic, MUTUAL relationships that are anointed and orchestrated by the Spirit when we humbly yield and obey and go where He leads us is what needs to happen - then God is glorified not anything that we do!
PLEASE don’t do this if you only think it’s a great outreach strategy because then all sorts of people will be on the lookout and have their defenses up to avoid anyone who may have genuine desire and CALL from God to be in a relationships of significance with people who frequent the bars.
Peace!

I also think it is a great idea, with some modifications in the plan.  I agree w/ Peter that sitting alone isn’t going to bring anyone over to talk, except someone who is looking for a pick-up. 

Andrea – I think the story got picked up because Wetzel was recruiting a team of pastors from his community.  Plus, I believe he wants it to become known frequent patrons that on particular Friday nights a pastor can be found in community pubs and bars. 

I agree that sometimes simply being a pastor can be off-putting.  On the other hand, many still perceive members of the clergy as the kind of person who is wise and able to help with life’s problems.  Most unchurched folks who feel this way wouldn’t know how to pick a pastor to talk to, except to open their local yellow pages . . . . or now stop in for a cold one on the first Friday of the month.  Still, I think it will confirm the perception some have of Christians as arrogant and “holier than thou” if the “pub pastors” sit off by themselves, aloof from the crowd, waiting for some poor soul to come to them. 

Wendi

I’ll drink to that...Diet coke of course.

I have been hitting the pub weekly for about 6 months.  I first met with skepticism and distrust regarding why I was drinking coffee or a diet cola.  I had identified myself as only “Becky”.  After just getting acquainted for several months, the word “got out” that I was the local area minister and the deeper life stories, heartaches, needs, hopes and concerns began to surface.  There are still the skeptics, but those who have come to know and trust me defend my presence. I am now invited to the potluck dinners they hosted at Thanksgiving and Christmas and even questions are being asked about God and my faith and what that means.  There is subtle searching and attempts to understand part of MY life that is deeply buried in theirs.  It is not easy ministry, but rich and rewarding, as I go with Jesus to visit and eat with the “outsiders”.

I’m in the Salvation Army.  We’ve been doing this for years.  We started off selling the War Cry and still take them with us - but few people take them and the money we take rarely covers the petrol to get there.  The beauty of the War Cry and collecting box is that it gives you an excuse to touch base at every table and it gives patrons an excuse to talk to you without attracting attention from their friends.

In earlier years I built up some awesome contacts, did funerals, visited regulars in hospital, etc.  Strangely enough we’ve found it’s dried up a bit recently because in NZ the pub culture has changed.  “The local” with lots of regulars hasn’t existed in our recent appointments and my experience would say that people need to see your face weekly for at least six months before they really start to open up.

I hate to rain on your parades but, I began my ministry doing street work and Bar Ministry has always proven to be “unfruitful”.  It’s just as hard to reach a drunk in a bar as it is to reach a crack head smoking in a crack house.  They are not rational enough to make a command decision to follow Jesus.

Having said that, I’m all for believers being unconventional in reaching the lost and if this is what God led him to do, so be it.

“Kish and Wetzel said they weren’t there to preach the gospel...”

Mark 16:15. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Huh.  Something doesn’t match up here.

--
CS

Wendi:

How about this: feed the masses and when necessary use food.

Sounds ridiculous, right?  Yet, this is what we are being told is the right way of spreading the Gospel.  Yes, we should let our light shine before men so that they may glorify God, as it says in Matthew 5:16.  But if we are going to say that we are trying to reach the lost, spreading the Gospel requires sharing it, not sitting there and waiting for people to ask for it or trying to forge relationships before it can be shared.

Romans 10:14-15.  “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 
And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

--
CS

CS,

I also think that perhaps you are reading “preach the gospel” in a different sense than he is saying it.

It is, I would argue from Scripture, imperative that we as Christians be in the world (but not of it) by living out our faith in front of people. And, as Jesus modeled with the woman at the well, that might mean building a relationship with people before explaining the gospel message to them in detail. Would you concur?

I think that this story (incomplete and flawed as it might be) is an excellent example of that.

Wendi and Peter:

Here is the key question behind all of this: do we have a standard to establish relationships before we share the Gospel?  While this depends on how you define “relationship,” I would say that the answer, through looking in the Bible, is, “No.”

In the case of the woman at the well, Jesus engaged her with a conversation.  He used a combination of supernatural knowledge and the use of the Law in speaking to her.  But He did not forge a relationship with her in the modern sense of the word, which implies knowing someone for a good length of time before speaking about our faith to them.

When Philip was walking down the road and heard the Ethiopian eunuch reading, he sat down next to him and explained what the eunuch was reading.  The eunuch was convicted and immediately wanted to be baptized.  Philip didn’t need to sit down with the eunuch and establish a relationship at the local grocery store or PTA meeting before explaining to him what he was reading (then again, what would a eunuch be doing at the PTA?).

What I accuse these people of doing, and I accuse many other people of doing nowadays, is thinking that they need a relationship and a sign before sharing the Gospel, while in the meantime these people are perishing.  The philosophy that we have to earn the right to speak with people is wrong.  We are called to spread the Gospel actively, not through sitting and biding our time.

Now, if someone can demonstrate for me the relationship method in the Bible, as it is promoted today, with a long-standing relationship outside of familial bonds that leads to repentance and that person being saved, I will totally be willing to revise my stance on things.

And since Wendi geared the question towards me about what I do concerning the Gospel, here is what I will say.  Since I was saved, I have witnessed or shared the Gospel with, on average, one person per day.  And I’m not talking about street preaching or mass forums.  I’m talking sharing it with people in one-on-one or one-with-few settings, because I desperately care what happens to these people.  And I let my light shine before men as well.

Lastly, Wendi said, “Since Jesus didn’t simply wander around saying in every encounter “you are a sinner, better repent or go to hell,” why would we?”

The Bible says in Matthew 4:15, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

--
CS

Peter:

We should always examine things in light of Scripture.  If we need to earn the right to speak with people, please direct me to the place where I can find this in the Bible.  It will help me learn how to be more effective in my witnessing.

--
CS

CS,

You don’t believe that the woman at the well is an example of that kind of relationship. I do.

I don’t believe that every life/ministry method/technique or system has to be grounded in Scripture the way you are implying as much as our idea of who God is and what he’s about needs to be. You obviously disagree.

I don’t think either one of us is going to change minds here. So I’m not being drawn into this argument (again).