Doing Church

Josh Furnal is a Team Expansion missionary in Ancona, Italy. This week he sent me an update about their coffee house ministry and some of the people who attended. Then he made this comment and I asked and received his permission to use it.

"These are the same people that I mentioned in my prayer update last month where we got the chance to talk about some significant things concerning Christ and faith. Before they left last night, they invited us to join them tonight for dinner so we can continue the conversations that were started then. I want to ask you to pray for us today as we go and sit around their table and discuss what it means to be a follower of Christ.
I’m discovering that the conversations we have with people here must be weighed equally, if not more than, their conversions. For it is in our eating and conversing together that “church happens.” When the eating together ceases or is prohibited, the church ceases to exist. For it is for the gathering that the covenant was created and the mission carried out. We are gathered locally, dialect by dialect, feasting on the Bread of Life. Everyone is to bring something to the meal, its their gift. All are invited to come and eat. And according to our story, the Host will come again to dine with us. He has left his Spirit to guide us in the way of bringing quality to the table. And so, we continue to meet and eat until that day comes, showing others, preparing others to leave a seat at the table for the Host, who graciously provides our daily bread. I was always taught not to lean on the table during mealtimes. But those seated around the table lean forward, not to just engage one another in conversation, but they lean forward in anticipation for the Host’s coming. They lean forward, not out of fear, but with delight. We finish each meal raising our glasses to life and to each other, “L’haim!” Hoping that maybe next time, we dine in the New Jerusalem. The meal is not confined just to my table or yours, but we delight in taking the meal to our neighbor’s table, being their guest, enjoying their hospitality, and sharing our gifts with them, blessing not only them but their families and friends. So in that sense, we are not only for the gathering round the table, but also for the scattering into the city, into the lives of our neighbors, to share, to bless, to eat, to drink, until He comes. In love, we do this together."

I think Josh is on to something here. It sounds a lot like what happened in Acts 2:46 when Luke says of the Jerusalem church, "They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." There seems to be no way that the typical Christian congregation can do church like this. Not much of what is described in Acts or Ancona occurs in the typical church communion service. Perhaps this is why I love church pot-luck dinners and fellowship suppers. There is something special about Christians eating together. It's a universal thing that I have experienced in North America, Europe and Africa. People love eathing together and when Christians eat together a special kind of "church" happens.