Table Church in Mead Vale

We are now about to begin our experiment with Table Church. The first thought was to work with a group of people who had recently been confirmed and were therefore only just starting out on the Christian journey. The Table would become a place of community, discipleship and mission for this group as they grew in faith. However events have overtaken this original plan and two other expressions of the table have now begun to emerge alongside the original.

YG
The youth group YG which has been in existence for many years is now undergoing a final metamorphosis owing to the fact that the majority of the group are now at University or will be heading there this September. The need for formal programming has in many ways broken down and the group has been focused around food for some time. Our though is to move it gently further down the path it has been already taking. The meetings will now be set around a meal with conversation and an opportunity for people to share the stories of their faith journeys. It will be interesting to see if this approach deepens the faith of those who attend.

Messy Church
Our Messy Church has been in existence for abuot 15 months now and is a powerful blessing to us all. In addition our planning meetings always centred on a shared meal which seems to enable to sort out the business in a relaxed spirit. There are then connections here to the table experience which I shall try to draw in.

Sainsburys
There is no coffee shop within Mead Vale and therefore nowhere to conveniently promulgate a coffee based table church. However recently I took a small group of the church to lunch there. This group consisted of a number of people who are all involved in the "Exploring Christianity" course developed by the Diocese of bath & Wells as a prelude to Readership. This group wanted some background on the New Testament and so whilst we eat soup together I chatted with them on this subject. The discussion was going very well, perhaps because of the table setting and then a woman who had been sitting next to our table joined in with questions for about 15 minutes. This incident has prompted me to consider whether a regular Biblical lunch would be good as a tool for discipleship but also place a living discussion about the Christian faith into the melee of the shopping centre. It is an exciting prospect.