Have You Heard About the Nation’s First Non-Profit Pub?

I’m headed out to Portland in a couple of weeks for Wild Goose Festival West, where I’m excited to be MCing some of the talks and handling PR for the festival (in lieu of the fantastic Sarah Cunningham who is currently on maternity leave — congrats, Sarah!). There’s still time to join me! The fest is still looking for volunteers, so you could even get in free.

Well, here’s an interesting news story passed along to me by JC Mitchell, about the nation’s first non-profit pub opening soon in Portland. It’s being called The Oregon Public House, and the owner hopes the business will raise $10,000 a month for local and national non-profit organizations. The pub’s slogan? “Have a pint, change the world.” Sounds refreshing to me!

The Chalice Abbey in Amarillo, Texas, is a similar example of this kind of missional business. Is anyone else out there working on developing an actual brew pub business/church? I’d love to hear your stories!

If you’re thinking that “pub church” might be the right missional approach where you are, in your context, there’s a couple of great new books you should definitely check out: Pub Theology: Beer, Conversation, and God by Bryan Berghoef and Confessions of a Bible Thumper: My Homebrewed Quest for a Reasoned Faith by Michael Camp.

What do you think about the idea of a non-profit pub? Missional? Not missional? Could it work where you are? Why or why not?