Church in a Pub?

Recently I have had the privilege of assisting a new church start in the city of Stockholm. What makes this particular church start so interesting for me is that we are meeting weekly in a “Pub”. That’s right, I said it right, we are meeting in a “Pub”. Now may be you are wondering why we would try to start a church in a Pub! It definitely isn’t something that is done every day, even though I have heard of it happening. Some of my friends have also asked this question. My answer is that I can’t think of a better place to start a church. I mean a Pub is where people go to talk and relax, and some also go there to get drunk. But what better place is there to...
meet people and to be able to tell them about the reason we are starting a church.

At this point I should probably tell you that we are not having church services there on a Friday or Saturday night (even though that is probably a good idea too). We meet on Sundays and rent the Pub between 1:00pm to 3:00pm. The Pub is called the “Vit Löks Krog”, which means”Garlic Pub” in English. The owner is from Iraq and he runs the place together with his son. He is happy to have us there and we have enjoyed getting to know him and his family. The Pub is in a Stockholm community called Vårberg and is located in a small mall that is connected to the subway. On Sundays there are always people in the mall because down stairs they have a flea market. People come by and see that the Pub doors are open and they hear the music playing and think the Pub is open for business. The Pub is open, but most of the people in there are not just socializing but also worshiping. Sometimes people come in and then leave when they can’t figure out what is going on and sometimes when they can figure out what’s going on they leave too. There are other times when people come in and stay awhile. They are surprised to attend a church service in a Pub but stay and listen.

We have had some good opportunities to meet people in the Pub that we would have otherwise never met. As a Christian I have always been fascinated with the people that Jesus spends time with in the Bible. I am amazed at the types of people that followed Him as he taught and led his disciples. It was not the “religious people” that followed Jesus. The “religious people” came to Him only to ridicule and try to find fault with Him. Jesus gathered crowds of people that were interested in Spiritual things. It was not the people that thought they knew all the answers that came, but the people that were interested in finding out the answers. In Matthew 9:12, while attending an interesting party at the home of a tax gatherer, Jesus explained His mission to the religious leaders. They (the religious leaders) had just questioned Him as to why He was attending a party where there were people that they considered the, “scum of the earth”. Jesus didn’t like the way they were thinking and He said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor - sick people do”. Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: I want you to be merciful; I don’t want your sacrifices. For I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough.” Jesus loved to meet with people who knew they were in need and were willing to talk about it.

When ever you are in Stockholm come and join us at the Vit Lök Pub. We are having a good time worshiping there and getting to know the people of Vårberg. We are looking to meet people who are interested in Spiritual things and willing to discuss it, not those who think they know it all.

Check out the pictures of the Pub Church under links to the right.