INTERSECTION: Shore Vineyard Churches youth Pastor Calvin Culverwell in front of the Albany Sports bar and Café, where the church will be based.

A new North Shore church is deliberately being planted in a pub so it can more easily connect with the people it is seeking to reach.

The Albany congregation of Shore Vineyard Churches will begin this Sunday (August 5) as a monthly event called Intersection, in which people will be invited to discuss meaty and even controversial topics.

Shore Vineyards youth pastor Calvin Culverwell says the Albany Sports Bar and Café venue is an ideal place to “intersect” popular culture and church culture.

Mr Culverwell says many people who believe in God or are seeking God aren’t comfortable going to an existing church.

“Our goal is to provide a simple, relaxed environment where people feel comfortable to express their feelings or thoughts about God – and hopefully draw nearer to him in the process,” he says. “Our approach will be invitational, interactive, conversational, open-ended and positive, and we believe this will help people engage and find out more about God.”

Mr Culverwell says Inter-section will be unlike normal church services — with no singing, no sermons, no offerings.

“We want to create an environment where people can talk about God, rather than hear about God, a safe place for unchurched believers and seekers.”

Eventually there will be more conventional church services at the Albany Vineyard — “but for now we want to reach a group for whom an average church service may not appeal”.

The Intersection events kick off at 7pm on Sunday by looking at the subject ‘Who is Jesus?’ and posing ‘facts, stories and questions about the most influential figure in history’. The night will feature two 10-minute presentations followed by discussion groups, all while those gathered eat pizza and fries and can order a beer if they want to.

Subsequent topics on the first Sunday of each month for the rest of the year include ‘What comes next?’, exploring heaven, hell and everything in between; ‘Is their god my God?’, on being a Christian in a multi-faith world; ‘Sexism, racism and homophobia’, asking whether the Church is always right and what happens if I disagree; and ‘That wasn’t what I expected!’, looking at what happens when you feel disappointed or hurt by God and the Church.

Shore Vineyards pastor Vic Francis says Intersection is part of the church’s vision to grow five congregations of 200 people around the North Shore. The church already has congregations at Northcote College on Sunday morning and St George’s Presbyterian in Takapuna on Sunday night, plus a Tuesday night youth congregation in Northcote.

“This is our first church in the northern part of the Shore,” he says. “In a few years, we plan to also start a congregation in the East Coast Bays.”

Mr Francis acknowledges the Albany congregation won’t work for everyone with its distinctly “unchurchy” feel.

“Our other congregations provide many of the things people expect in a church – worship, preaching, children’s and youth work, ministries to the community,” he says. “But we hope Intersection will thrive as we explore critical issues that people think about but aren’t often able to process in normal church life.

“People don’t want to be told what to believe by someone preaching at the front all the time. They want to learn and discover for themselves. Intersection will help them do just that.”

For more information on the Albany church, see www.shorevineyards.org.nz or contact Calvin Culverwell, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it