Church and Bar...One in the same?

I've been thinking a lot lately about church and about bars. Now I understand that these two things may sound like polar opposites, and in some ways they are, but I think there are some similarities between them as well.

As I like to say..."Go with me here..."

I often wonder how a non-Christian or someone who is exploring their faith, feels when they walk into a church. Growing up in church my whole life, learning the lingo and the acceptable and unacceptable social norms, I've never been in this position of feeling completely on the outside at church.

Just like the church has it's own language and unspoken ways you are to act, dress and interact with one another, so does a bar. And I can't help to think that someone who doesn't drink or who has never been to a bar, might feel awkward if they went to a bar with some friends...the same way a non-believer might feel going to church...

Just as the church does, a bar also has it's own language. (Is that a shot, shooter, mixed drink, well drink, etc...). And there are unspoken societal norms as to what is acceptable and unacceptable to do and say.

And just as God is at work in the church, He is also at work in bars. My brother (who is a bar tender) tells me stories of people who come in and have hit rock bottom, and have often hit it really hard. Now granted, the bar probably isn't the best place to be when you feel you've hit rock bottom, but yet they are there and they are searching for something to fill the void and heal the pain in their life.

Now am I an advocate for people going to bars every night? No. But come to think of it, I'm not an advocate for people going to church every night either. And do I acknowledge and understand that bars and alcohol can be the source of deep rooted pain in people's lives? Most definitely. I just think there is a lot that can be said about what it means to love people where they're at.

I don't think this means everyone should go to a bar for the sake of "doing ministry" but I do believe that God does miracles everyday. And I've seen first hand how people who are searching for something to fill voids and heal the pain in their life often look to the bottle as their first source. And after they find that the bottle (or fill in the blank) can only satisfy them for so long, they go out searching again...and again...and again...

God is at work and I've been challenged now more then ever to see all of the ways God is working--in both the conventional and unconventional venues.