The news media has a story on a religious ministry that I doubt will be successful.
A pastor plans to put teams of chaplains in local bars in this central Pennsylvania town so they can lend a sympathetic ear to patrons who may need one.
The chaplains won’t preach against drinking or evangelize when the program starts at Market Cross Pub, organizer Chuck Kish said.
“We’re simply going to be there to help anybody who wants it. Sometimes people really just want somebody they can talk to who is not going to be judgmental, but be sympathetic,” he said. (from here)
While Christians are suppose to minister to sinners, they are not suppose to enable their sinning. Take the logic of Kish’s proposal to it logical conclusion. If it is okay for Christians to serve in a ministering role as bartenders, why not draw the barflies to church by putting bars in churches?
In fact, if so long as we are ministering to sinners, it is okay to enable sinning, we could start sending chaplains to brothels — or, better yet, turn churches into brothels. Consider the drawing power. If you look into it, you will find this practice has “worked” in the past (see here). You will also find it continues today (see here).
