Home Christian News Pastor and Priest Team up to Share Their Faith at Local Brewery

Pastor and Priest Team up to Share Their Faith at Local Brewery

Steven Kurtz Matt Garrison
Pictured: Steven Kurtz promoting "Pints with a Pastor." (via Facebook)

A Presbyterian pastor and a Catholic priest walk into a bar. But it’s no joke. Pastor Steven Kurtz of Central Presbyterian Church and Father Matt Garrison of Sacred Heart of Mary in Fort Smith, AR are teaming up to share their faith at the local brewery. 

The two clergymen hold monthly meetings called “Pints with a Priest” and “Pints with a Pastor” on alternating Thursdays at Fort Smith Brewing Company, in order to connect with members of the community that would not ordinarily feel comfortable attending a Sunday morning service. 

“It started from becoming aware of the fact that there’s a lot of people for whom church just doesn’t work,” Steven Kurtz told Times Record. “A lot of them have questions and a lot of them have had experiences of maybe even having had difficult relationships in churches.” 

Kurtz intends for his monthly meetings to be an opportunity for people to connect on matters of life and faith in an informal setting.

“It’s a big, motivated interest of mine talking to people for whom the church doesn’t work,” Kurtz said, going on to express that he understands that many people have been exposed to “a version of church that is hurtful,” as well as “a version of God that is unhelpful.” 

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Echoing Kurtz’s sentiments, Garrison said, “A lot of times when I’m teaching or preaching in a church setting, it’s formal…It’s a lot more difficult to really open up, and in this setting, it’s easier to just be completely honest and open and to bring in more elements of humor and things like that.” 

Both clergymen expressed that their favorite things to talk about at the meetings are the topics and questions that aren’t often explored in their Sunday morning sermons and homilies. From questions about the reliability of the Bible, how a good God would send people to hell, or whether God is a gendered male, the meetings explore the genuine questions of those who attend them. 

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“Those (are the) kinds of questions and issues that I think are interesting and open a door to reconsidering that faith might have a role to play,” Kurtz said. Kurtz regularly promotes the meetings on his Facebook page, encouraging people to “bring a question, bring a friend!”

The meetings feature different speakers who explore topics and lead discussions.