By Herb Reese
“The times, they are a changing,” as the Bob Dylan song goes.
A while back I attended a local alumni meeting for my seminary where I learned that my school now sanctions drinking alcohol. And then there is the megachurch I know of that holds some of its men’s small group Bible studies in bars.
Personally, I haven’t been a fan of alcohol. For starters, I had an uncle who was killed by a drunk driver…just a few days before Christmas…when he was engaged to be married…along with three other young men who died with him. I also have a cousin who died in a car crash when he was driving drunk.
And that’s just the beginning.
On the other hand, while warning us of its abuse, the Bible does condone drinking alcohol.
I’m not here to debate the details of what the Bible says about alcohol.
But I am a Biblicist and I have changed my mind on men’s ministry and alcohol, as of 5:43 am last Thursday, to be precise. I was standing in the kitchen making my first cup of coffee of the day and thinking about this topic when I decided that, when it comes to evangelism and discipleship of young American men, the merits of alcohol outweigh its demerits.
A number of other leading Christian evangelical organizations and individuals, ones whose opinions I respect and admire, have arrived at the same conclusion. For example, Campus Crusade for Christ (now called Cru) and Dallas Theological Seminary, my alma mater I referred to above, both condone alcohol in moderation.
I liken this change in my stance towards men’s ministry and alcohol to the way most conservative Christians have changed their views on movie theaters and contemporary music over the past few decades.
Sixty years ago, many evangelicals considered it a sin to attend a movie theater. The result was a complete absence of any evangelical influence on the production of movies. And the result of Christians marginalizing themselves from the movie industry was increasingly immoral, violent, and godless movies.
But slowly, evangelicals began attending movie theaters until, with the massive success of The Passion of the Christ in 2004, the movie industry realized that there was a huge, untapped audience they were not catering to. The result has been an explosion of Christian movie production companies and Christian-themed movies, movies that often clearly present the gospel.
The same observation can be made about contemporary music. It used to be that Christian music was limited to hymns and the few stations that played them. But with the rise of contemporary Christian music, we now have a plethora of very successful contemporary artists, contemporary music genres, contemporary Christian music radio stations, and even our own contemporary Christian music awards show. No longer does “the Devil have all the good music.”
In the same way, Christians, and especially Christian men, have often isolated themselves from those who drink alcohol. But without the ameliorating influence of the biblical teaching on alcohol, the result has been a culture that has become obsessed with it…and addicted to it.
Mature Christians, especially mature Christian men who know how to balance spirits with the Holy Spirit, need to permeate America’s alcohol culture with the gospel and biblical truth and a message of alcohol in moderation the same way we have done with movie theaters and contemporary music. Imagine a men’s bible study in every bar in your neighborhood. Or a beer festival outreach at your church for men in your community.
Like movie theaters and music, alcohol is not bad or good in itself, just bad or good in the way we use it.
(As always, your comments are appreciated. But please read the content I’ve linked to above before you do.)
Published: August 23, 2021.
Updated: August 22, 2026.
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