Church allows worshippers to drink beer during service as part of an ambitious recruitment drive

CALIFORNIA'S Greater Purpose Community Church in Santa Cruz has announced that it will allow its members to bring beer into its premises when coming to worship as part of an ambitious outreach programme to recruit more youths.

Under the new regime, members of the church are now allowed to drink beer or wine while listening to the pastor's teachings. This new trend started after the church sold its building and started meeting at a local food lounge with alcoholic beverages.

Now, a typical service has parishioners listening to Pastor Chris VanHall's sermons while comfortably drinking beer or wine in a comfortable atmosphere where they can listen to a progressive take on theology and also engage in a conversation. Explaining his reason for asking the bartenders to keep serving during the service, Pastor VanHall said there is nothing in the bible that says you cannot drink alcohol in a responsible manner.

He added: "Jesus drank wine and had a reputation of hanging out in places where people consumed alcohol. But for some reason, American churches have been vigilant in saying you can't drink alcohol.'"

Lounge owner Andrea Mollenauer said: "Why not serve beer when they're reading bible verses? I thought it was genius."

Pastor VanHall is now taking things a step further by announcing plans to build a brewery like no other. Unlike the usual brewery, his one will double as a church facility where services will be held with between 30% and 60% of the profits going to charity.

"I thought to myself, wouldn't it be great if a church could figure out a way to make a product where they split the profits with local community service organisations. We were like hey, we love beer, we love making beer, why not do a brewery?" Pastor VanHall added.

He is thus now turning an old bookstore in downtown Santa Cruz into a brewery with church services to be held on Sundays. After the Sunday service, the building will be open to the public.