Shaun Armstrong, Curate in the Kidderminster Ismere team was given a roasting earlier in the week when he offered himself up to answer questions at a ‘Grill a Vicar’ night in his local pub.
The landlord of The Park Gate Inn in Wolverley contacted Shaun to ask how they might support the church and do something for the local community and Shaun suggested a Q&A session.
“It was an answer to prayer,” said Shaun. “I’d been thinking for a while whether we might be able to do something in a pub and then the Park Gate Inn reached out to me!”
The session with Shaun lasted around 2.5 hours with food provided in the middle of the evening by the pub. Around 20 people attended and asked a range of questions. “We covered why God allows suffering, why only a priest is allowed to take communion and the local church’s future plans among many other things,” said Shaun. “The questions were a really interesting mix and I enjoyed the challenge of answering them. Pubs have long been places of debate and discussion and often people will feel more comfortable raising issues there rather in the church. As Christians we are called to go where the people are - reaching out in neutral spaces is an important ways to break down barriers around faith.”
Shaun is already booked for a date in November and is hopeful that this will become a monthly event. “The feedback has been really positive. The pub was pleased to see people coming together and there was a real sense they were serving the community by providing the food. In November it will be the same format, but I hope December will be Christmas-focussed and I’d like to find some guest speakers to be involved in the New Year,” said Shaun.
The next ‘Grill a Vicar’ will be on Tuesday 14 November, 7 for 7.30pm at The Park Gate Inn, Wolverley, just outside Kidderminster.
