Disciple: Beer and Hymns
Mission Endowment Spotlight
By Christine McTaggart
We live in a world where it’s possible to be entertained constantly. Think about it – there’s not a moment of any day we can’t be chatting online, sharing opinions and news on social media, streaming music or movies, binge-watching not just one episode but entire seasons of our favorite TV show, surfing the internet, playing video games or doing anything else that strikes our fancy. And that’s just online.
But is it enough?
Durham County Beer & Hymns founder Jesse James DeConto doesn’t think so.
“WE’RE TIRED OF CONSUMING”
At any given gathering of Durham County Beer & Hymns, a ministry that brings together spiritual seekers from across denominational and interfaith – even no-faith – lines, one will find 150-250 friends and strangers enjoying food, drink, fellowship and song. It seems remarkable on its surface that so many people from so many different backgrounds readily come together to put aside differences and embrace community, but DeConto understands some of what’s at the heart of it.
The entertainment options of today are largely about consumption, and “we’re tired of it,” he says. “We’re tired of consuming. People are ready to create something, to participate in something. People need to be together, [and] to sing together – it’s something humans have always done.”
GRASS ROOTS
While Durham County Beer & Hymns was founded
locally, it is not a purely innovative concept. The idea of getting people together to sing and drink is one that dates back at least to medieval Europe. But the modern-era
iteration can trace its roots to England’s Greenbelt
Festival, a decades-old annual spiritual and social justice festival that blends music, art and social justice-oriented conversation and education.
Greenbelt’s American cousin, the Wild Goose Festival, has been celebrated in North Carolina for the last six years. It was at the festival’s 2011 gathering at Shakori Hills in Pittsboro that DeConto first saw the concept of Beer & Hymns in action. Hosted in the Fullsteam Brewery tent, the experience of joining others to connect on a social and spiritual level through drink and song planted the seed of an idea.
“I knew to do it right, it would take a lot of work,” he said. “I couldn’t quite figure out how to fund my time to put it together, so it sat on a shelf for a few years.”
MUSICIAN, MINISTER
A contemporary music minister at Creedmoor United Methodist Church, DeConto’s journey to his work and the founding of Durham County Beer & Hymns was not traveled on a straight-line road. Born into a Baptist background, he found himself an Episcopalian by the time he graduated from college. “I was drawn to the liturgy and social justice of The Episcopal Church,” he reflects. He spent seven years and saw his two daughters baptized in Episcopal churches before attending a progressive, nondenominational church that structures its liturgy after the Book of Common Prayer. According to DeConto, “they worshiped somewhat like Anglicans, but they were not affiliated.” He spent 16 years as a journalist (and continues to work in the field), often reflecting and discerning in those years whether a call to ministry was for him. He explored that call through classes offered for religious news writers and completed a one-year program at Duke Divinity School.
Through it all, there was his music. DeConto is a recording artist and singer-songwriter who performs regularly at the Wild Goose Festival with his bandmates as The Pinkerton Raid. They also earned a spot on the Bandspotting compilation album at the 2013 Festival of Faith & Music at Calvin College.
When he came to a crossroads of his career, he began to wonder about the music. It had always been “done on the side,” but it had also been a constant. Was it time to answer the call to ministry? And could his music be at the heart of it?
He thought about his idea for Beer & Hymns and realized his career transition was offering him the opportunity to bring it to life.
OPEN INVITATION
DeConto already had a location and partner. Long before he attended the gathering in the Fullsteam Brewery tent at Shakori Hills, DeConto met Fullsteam’s owner (and one of the founders of North Carolina’s craft beer industry), Sean Wilson, while both attended Holy Family in Chapel Hill. Wilson was on board with the idea and offered his establishment as a gathering place.
“I had this idea to bring people together across all sorts of lines,” says DeConto. The ministry’s vision included the faithful and non-faithful, the curious and seekers alike, but DeConto knew the logical place to start was by inviting those who attended church regularly and were familiar with and treasured the legacy of music in worship.
He contacted several of the larger churches in the Durham area to see if there was any interest in the idea. There was, and clergy shared the open invitation with congregants.
They accepted.
Word spread, and the gatherings grew.
Perhaps it’s the easygoing nature of the surroundings. Unlike the quiet reverence of a church, the atmosphere of a Beer & Hymns gathering is one found on front porches and in living rooms. Perhaps it’s the meeting of new people and making of new friends. At any gathering, ages range from toddlers to seniors with a large component of young adults, with multiple faiths and non-faiths represented. Perhaps it’s the anonymity that affords participants the chance to sing out loud and strong.
Says DeConto, “It’s louder than a Sunday service, and so folks can hide their voices a bit more. There’s a freedom in that, and the informality and anonymity builds people’s confidence if they’re self-conscious about their ability or curious but don’t know how to navigate a church service.”
Whatever the draw, it’s the feeling of connection and community that brings them back.
The flow of a Beer & Hymns gathering is simple. After a few words of welcome, DeConto launches into the first of the songs, guiding participants to join in with the lyrics provided in binders found throughout the room. The songs themselves are a mix of New-South Americana and pop culture combined with older liturgical texts rooted in Christian, Jewish, Hindu and other religious traditions. Participants may find themselves singing a traditional hymn or an old Johnny Cash or Beatles favorite.
Between songs, DeConto banters with his bandmates – all volunteer musicians who approached DeConto after hearing about and attending a Beer & Hymns gathering – but there is no praying, no preaching. The spiritual connection occurs in “the quieter moments when the emotional experience happens.”
There is no cost to attend, but at each gathering offerings are collected to donate to local nonprofits. All event expenses are covered by grants and behind-the-scenes donations. In its first year, Beer & Hymns raised more than $1,400 to benefit Reality Ministries, Open Table, Interfaith Council for Social Service, Habitat for Humanity, KidzNotes, N.C. Rails-Trails, Girls on the Run and more. Should a church or other religious organization offer direct sponsorship of the event, it chooses where the night’s offering goes.
“The offerings are just another great way to invite people into community, service and hospitality. They’re having this experience, but they’re also doing some good together.”
Despite the energy of the evening, they don’t go late into the night. Each gathering lasts an average of an hour and a half, maxing out at two hours.
“Folks come out and then head back to their lives,” says DeConto. He adds with a laugh, “There’s always a suspicious mass exodus when Downton Abbey is on.”
THE CREATION CONNECTION
At the end of the day, when asked why Beer & Hymns resonates so strongly with so many, DeConto has a thoughtful and reflective answer.
“People are questioning vestiges of the past – are we really faithful, or did we just inherit culture? Do we need to rethink and develop new culture? One of those new kinds of culture that’s developing is a spirituality that’s more cosmic, more earthy, more corporate. [It’s] less institutional and less walled-in, and more independent of denomination. People respond to the fact Beer & Hymns has hymns from so many traditions and doesn’t prioritize any one in particular. We draw on pop songs and tunes that are familiar.
“The theology of creation was diminished as the church became more institutionalized and rote, and we need to recover that. The spiritual and ‘not religious’ trend is tapping in to that. It’s why people are exploring other faiths and ideas.
“There’s a connection between bodies and earth and wildlife and nature – the power of God in creation. Music taps into that connection. Songs that have stood the test of time do so for a reason – they offer a spiritual nourishment and transcend denomination and even religion.”
At a time when churches are struggling with declining attendance, the rapid growth of Durham County Beer & Hymns indicates the truth of the desire for that connection. In only a little more than a year, the gatherings have brought together more than 1,000 people from at least 30 religious communities to share in fellowship and song. Some consider Beer & Hymns their church, while others built on their Beer & Hymns introduction to seek a church home. More than a dozen religious institutions have offered financial support, and more and more community nonprofits are benefiting from the gatherings, not just in financial terms, but in volunteers who find their way from Beer & Hymns to the nonprofit ministries. Founded in Durham, Beer & Hymns has already expanded into Carrboro and begun further expansion plans in Chapel Hill, Morrisville and Winston-Salem.
All because an invitation was extended.
And people accepted.
YOU ARE INVITED
Beer & Hymns gathers at Fullsteam Brewery on the first and third Sunday of every month, along with a quarterly event in Carrboro. For a full schedule of dates and locations, visit durhamcountybeerandhymns.com, where you can also watch a short documentary about the ministry.
Or connect with them on Facebook and Twitter (@DurCoBeerHymns).
MAKE IT HAPPEN
Durham County Beer & Hymns was awarded a 2016 Mission Endowment Grant to support its efforts to bring an old, old story into a new Galilee. If you have an idea for ministry that will do the same, consider applying for a 2017 Mission Endowment Grant.
Christine McTaggart is the communications director for the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina.
Tags: North Carolina Disciple
