Beer and Bible

2011 is the 400^th anniversary of the King James Bible. In celebration the General Synod of the Church of England overwhelmingly endorsed a motion from the Diocese of Chelmsford expressing confidence in the Bible and encouraging the whole church to use 2011 to promote biblical literacy within the church and society as a whole.

Under the heading of Bible Year 2011 Chelmsford Diocese is committed to supporting initiatives to celebrate and teach the Bible throughout wider society. A range of initiatives for diocese, deaneries, parishes, schools and individuals are being developed.

One particular initiative, which I am coordinating, is Beer and Bible.  The aim is to encourage the reading of the Bible in pubs across the diocese. The vision is to have the Bible read in 200 pubs with a focus on seasonal times in the Christian calendar and particularly during Holy Week and Easter.

Though the aim is the public reading of the Bible, churches may want to use this opportunity to explore other activities and events in conjunction with this. We hope that Christians across the diocese will take up the Beer and Bible challenge and help promote this initiative in their churches, parishes, communities and most importantly their pubs!

A variety of social networking sites and web pages are being set up to support this initiative and there will be a wide variety of resources and suggestions about possible approaches. Why not check out:

Twitter: Beer and Bible
Facebook: Beer and Bible
Diocesan Website: Beer and Bible

I did explore whether I could use part of my Continuing Ministerial Development grant to research the pubs of the diocese in preparation for Beer and Bible but with little success.

"If you are tired and downhearted, take a drink; but this does not mean being a pig and doing nothing but gorging and swilling... You should be moderate and sober; this means that we should not be drunken, though we may be exhilarated."
Martin Luther: Sermon on Soberness and Moderation