Tom Schaeffer (left) started Black Cloister Brewing Co. as a way to share his love of great beer and a place to build community. That community includes Threshold Church in Toledo, Ohio, which uses the brewery as its Sunday worship space. Schaeffer is pastor of Threshold.
‘Means of Grace,’ which is on the labels of one of the beers, and that’s as far as they want to go, that’s great,” Schmalzle said. “If they want to do beer and hymns, that’s great.” Schmalzle believes that involvement will be more
fulfilling if Castle meets the spiritual needs of each individual.
Good news and brews Starting a congregation, let alone a brewery, is costly and complicated. Witt and Schmalzle praised the ELCA and the Florida-Bahamas Synod for their support, in particular the synod bishop, Robert Schaefer. “It seems to me Castle Church community is
one glimpse of what the church of the future is going to look like,” Schaefer said. “In our context the majority of traditional mission starts, in spite of our best efforts, never grow into sustainable congregations. I’ve been encouraging our synod to a time of holy experimentation and risk-taking for the sake of the gospel.
“Castle Church community is just that. It will be a
place intended to reach millennials who likely would not seek a traditional church setting but who are searching for authentic community and meaning. It will be an alternate faith community where people can explore questions about Jesus, faith and life, maybe over a beer in a nonthreatening environment. I think Martin Luther is smiling.” Though Castle is unusual, it’s not unique.
Threshold Church in Toledo, Ohio, is in its second year. Its pastor and avid beer maker, Tom Schaeffer, is also the CEO of Black Cloister Brewing Co., which is where Threshold’s Sunday worship takes place. Like the guys at Castle, Schaeffer’s motivation to
merge faith and taproom communities is to reach a generation that has left the church because it doesn’t address their spiritual needs. Threshold, which is also the Lutheran campus ministry for the University of Toledo, doesn’t consider its Sunday worship a primary evangelism tool. “We still live in a culture where a lot of people believe in God,” Schaeffer said. “The first step to
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Photo: PhotoWorks
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