Vintage21 Church

Rob Davis · Joined: 23 Jan 2008 Posts: 90 Location: Raleigh, NC

As Vintage21 Church, we believe that alcohol is a good gift that God has given to us (Psalm 104:15), that is to be used responsibly. As the Scripture says that all good things come from God (James 1:17), just like resources, abilities, sex, etc., alcohol too is a gift. Rather than outlawing those things because they might be abused, we are to properly steward them for God's glory and our enjoyment. Over the past several decades, the church in the United States has for the most part responded to alcohol abuse by insisting on abstention for all Christians. But, this is not the biblical position. Because of this, we have held a "Theology on Draft" meeting weekly for a few years now at a local bar, with the purpose of bringing people together from various places on their spiritual journeys to discuss theology in a relaxed atmosphere.

You can check out the article the News & Observer did about this recently:
http://www.newsobserver.com/print/friday/life/story/688021.html

We also have a strong desire to love the city to which we have been sent by hosting various events at our downtown facility. The Church is not a building, but rather people called and sent by God to bear His message with their words and deeds. In early 2008, a separate LLC was set up under the name of V21 Productions to handle all finances and operations for the outside use of our facility. Seeking to understand and engage the culture of Raleigh brought us to pursue the possibility of operating a small bar (with beer only) at certain events throughout the week. But, when this conversation began, no active pursuit of an alcohol permit began. We have hosted a few events from outside vendors, in which they pursued and were granted temporary event permits to serve alcohol.

But, after looking further into the possibility of a permanent permit, we have weighed the positive with the negative and have decided against pursuing this for the time being. Things may change in the future, and if God opens the doors for this to be done responsibly and within the legal limits, then we will revisit this conversation at that time.

For a further explanation of our stance toward alcohol, please check out this sermon by Pastor Tyler Jones from February 2007:
http://vintage21.com/study/77/

Please feel free to contact Rob Davis (rd@vintage21.com) if you have any further questions.
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