Come to the table. Don’t forget to register.

Ever heard a preacher talk about being a ‘missional church’, followed by encouragement to bring your friends to the 30+ events happening in the church building that week?

Or, how about… ‘Come to the table, everyone is welcome, you can register online…’

We often get our language from new trends on twitter, not by deep realities in our own lives.

As Vicky and I continue our journey, seeing a new church community established on the north coast, we have set out with a goal of taking a fresh look at what a church could be, to deconstruct the language we use so easily without understanding. It’s been a crazy adventure so far.

It has broken me. Broken in a good way. A brokenness I’ve needed for some time. With eyes and ears finally prepared to see and hear past my previous experience, beliefs and judgements, I’ve found fresh faith, fresh love for the church, new passion to establish a community who live out the language that we use.

So when I say… ‘Come to the table’, it has deep meaning, not a new church saying, or some new gimmick — but something I live every day. When I invite some friends around for a meal, I don’t ask them to register on Eventbrite! It’s friends — believers, doubters, skeptics, haters, whatever… all around a table, all welcomed, all loved — in my home, at the local restaurant, at our church gatherings…

The words mean something.

So, calling one another to live a missional life will mean cutting all the excess from the church calendar — the programmes, the meetings, all the excess stuff! It means us having space and time to live in our neighbourhoods, to invite others into my life (without registration), and for us to be part of the life of our town, not hidden away in a church building eating food with all the other registered delegates.

The radical call of God to love everyone takes us out of our comfort zones, places us in community with people different to us, it leads us to see all of life as a journey with God, where every moment is sacred, every person we meet loved by God, where when we say ‘Come to the table’ we also leave behind all judgements of who can come, where we drop all barriers and boundaries, where we open our lives, homes, church gatherings to the beautiful call of God to love one another.