Thursday afternoons are the highlight of my week. Around 2:00 I bring the conversations in my office to a close, and log off my computer. At 2:15 I head across campus to a local pub. By 2:30 I’ve met the group already gathered there, and another week of Fermented Faith has begun.
Fermented Faith is a lively discussion group that meets weekly at the pub to talk about science, religion, conversion, death, vocation, love, sex, etc. The format is simple: each week I bring a bag of 20 to 25 quotes and questions, printed on slips of paper. Questions are open-ended, for example, “Is there a difference between living together and being married?” Quotes come from a variety of positions; no one will agree with all of them. People take turns reading the slips, then everyone responds, while I act as referee. When the conversation dies, starts going in circles, or becomes hostile, I call “Next!” And we start again.
The format works because everyone has a chance to talk. Whoever reads the quote has the first opportunity to respond, so even the quietest people have their voices heard. And the location works. The pub we use is also a restaurant, so students can attend even if they are under age or don’t wish to drink alcohol. It’s right next to campus, so accessible for students, but it’s technically off campus, so non-students can also participate. It’s a pub that’s popular with students at night, so they already know the venue, yet it’s fairly empty on a weekday afternoon, so we can take over the space.
“Take over” pretty much describes what happens. When I first went on a scouting expedition, pub staff were skeptical and asked, “but people will buy drinks?”
Now that the pub staff knows the crowd, the waitress keeps an eye out for newcomers, seats them with the rest of the group, and reassures them that the chaplain will arrive soon. (Even better, as I walk in the door, she is already pouring my Guinness.) From an original group of three to four students, we now have 12 to 28, which makes us the dominant presence in the pub on Thursdays.
We attract a diverse group. There are, predictably, students who are part of the Anglican chapel community, but there are also members of the campus atheist club, eager for lively debate. Evangelical Christians come, curious about the unlikely setting of a pub. Mainline Christians are relieved to discover that it’s okay to voice both deep faith and intense critique. We have undergraduate and graduate students, studying everything from pure math to social work. We’ve had visits from local clergy, other campus chaplains, and struggling local poets. The only common denominator is a deep interest in faith and a love of dialogue. It’s been so successful there are students who now plan their class schedule around Fermented Faith.
And there are many grace-filled moments.
A biology student, incensed by a reference to “godless evolution,” waved excitedly and declared, “But evolution says we are all interconnected, from the very smallest to the largest—and if that’s not God, then what is?”
A social work student, struck by the quote “you must be born again,” paused a moment before half-whispering in awe, “It’s like the Sufi poets. Like Rumi. Such sensual imagery. I never heard it like that before.”
A professor, meeting in the pub with his grad students, asked me afterwards, “What class is this? Such enthusiasm and interest!”
Or our regular waitress, who after a term of listening with interest, said “We’ll miss you guys!”
I’d love to claim Fermented Faith as my idea. But like most good things in ministry, I borrowed it. It’s a model used in many places, but I was specifically inspired by “Pint and a Passage,” hosted by the Rev. Canon Bill Cliff at Huron University College and “Theology on Tap” at St. Jerome’s University.
So feel free to borrow. (I have this lovely vision of Anglicans in pubs every Thursday from coast to coast, all passionately discussing their faith.) Or consider yourself invited. If you are ever in Waterloo, Ont. on a Thursday afternoon during term time, we meet at Molly’s in University Plaza from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. Everyone is welcome. I am even inclined to think you might meet Jesus there, raising his glass and caught up in the heated discussion. Cheers!
