my favorite night of the month

The last Friday night of nearly every month at our church (that's tonight), we host a Community Supper. We began this shortly after I started on staff eight years ago. The idea was (and is) simple: cook up a bunch of something good and invite all our neighbors to share it with us...no strings attached. No having to sit through a message before the food is served, no commitments or sign-ups required, just a chance to connect with those in the neighborhood and enjoy an evening together.

The first time we tried this, we cooked for a couple of hundred and fourteen showed up! We were disappointed, to say the least. But one man told us that he had received one of our flyers that night as he was contemplating suicide and decided to join us instead. That made the entire effort worth it. Nearly eight years later we average 100-150 monthly, many of them homeless and marginalized. Our biggest month is August when we give away backpacks and supplies to kids for school. Our numbers swell to almost 500 on those evenings!

Our hope is to connect our people from church with those from the community in a relaxed and informal manner. Each month as we prepare, I remind the volunteers (and they vary from month to month) that their primary objective is not to serve food, but to get to know people. I ask them to grab a plate, sit with those who are eating and simply initiate conversation that will build a relationship.

That's it- relationships. That's what we emphasize. Because we're convinced that the greatest life changes take place through avenues of relationship and connection. So when we host a Supper, we don't try to simply move people through (remember, it's not just about serving food), but we try to make sure that everyone who comes has a memorable time with each other. I believe that's the way church was designed to be. And for some of our neighbors, this is the only church they get.

And best of all, it's working. Lives are changing, on both sides of the tables. And people keep coming. That's because we aren't just serving food- we're serving each other.

Gotta go now- gotta get ready for my favorite night of the month. Don't know what's cookin', but I know it's gonna be good, all the way around.