Religious Australians turn pub into church

MELBOURNE: Jesus Christ may have turned water into wine, but for a group of Australian churchgoers the ideal place to worship on a Sunday is a pub. Devoid of a church in the docklands entertainment area of Melbourne, a group of Christians have created the “Docklands Church” inside the James Squire Brewhouse.

“Jesus did turn water into wine, he was kind of radical, he was connected with his culture, and yet he had a great message for our world,” Docklands Church minister Guy Mason said after his first service on Sunday.

Mason told the local mediamen that worshippers were offered not only a message from the bible but also a meal and tea and coffee, but anyone could have a pint before or after the church service. The choice of location was a way of modernising the church, he said.

“All we want to be is relevant, we want to be applicable and contemporary and...we’re going to keep the bible open as well,” said one parishioner, with a beer in his hand.

Another Australian  parishioner said: “I think a lot of people who do want to go out and have a drink or go out and have a party often feel that they’re excluded from God”.