CONNECT | FELLOWSHIP + VISION + WORSHIP
We begin House Church by taking communion and sharing a meal together. This is to be a time of intentionality where we hear about how each other is doing and check in on how it’s going obeying Jesus! For a list of Scriptures to use for Communion, click here. After dinner, circle up as one group.
Have everyone open to Acts 2:42-47. Ask someone to read the blurb below and pray afterwards.
We meet as a House Church because this is a main way a Kingdom community becomes more like Jesus and brings Heaven to earth. We read Acts 2:42-47 to remind ourselves what is possible as we do this week-after-week. (Read the passage and then pray for God to do this in our midst!)
*HC Pastors: Share any announcements or HC updates.
Worship and minister to each other.
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CONTENT | SCRIPTURE + DISCUSSION
Read the intro below outloud:
Tonight, we are talking about 4 O’Clock on the Dream Clock–Coming to the Table. The question for this hour is: When was the last time you invited someone from a different ethnicity to share a meal? Since we live in New Orleans, hours 1-3 can come pretty naturally for us. This week, we are taking a turn to examine our own lives and ask, “How are we doing living out the ways of Jesus?”
Have one person read the Scripture to prepare our hearts:
Scripture: Luke 14:12-14
Have people take turns read the paragraphs below:
Several times, we find Jesus entering homes and sitting at tables with groups of people that the religious leaders didn’t think he should. Not only did Jesus go through Samaritan villages, but he even accepted an invitation into their homes to stay with them.
There’s something powerful about joining someone at the dinner table. There’s something telling about who we invite to our tables and who we don’t invite and whose homes we enter and who enters our homes. When we invite someone to our table, we are saying, “I welcome you. I want to serve you.
I want to know more about you. I want to sit with you as an equal. I want to hear your story and perhaps I will have the opportunity to share my story with you.”
Sharing a meal holds great significance in many cultures around the world. The act of gathering to share a meal is not just about the food, but rather, it is a social event where people share experiences, thoughts, and emotions; it validates a sense of belonging to a group or community. Coming to the table is the idea that inviting others, especially those who have different backgrounds and experiences, to share a meal with you, especially in your home, can provide an avenue for building deeper relationships with these individuals and inviting them to be themselves.
This also helps you to expand your table of influence. The table of influence is the trusted confidantes who help shape an individual’s perceptions and provide a person information and guidance. The more an individual spends time with others from different backgrounds, the more opportunity they have to increase their value of their experiences and knowledge and can see how their perspective is beneficial.
Get in groups of 3-4 to answer the questions that follow:
- What is your experience, current and growing up, of engaging with other ethnic groups in your home?
- When did you first discover that race was an issue?
- What is an “Us vs. Them” tension you’ve learned about by building friendships and hearing the story of those from a different ethnic group?
- Why is table fellowship across ethnic lines important for Kingdom unity? What is at risk if we don’t follow this way of Jesus?
Make a list of 5 people from another community you could share a meal with. Share an I Will statement with your group.
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COMMIT | DELEGATE + PRAY
Have 1-2 people share their I Will statement. Delegate for the next House Church.
Who will cook dinner? Facilitate communion? Facilitate worship? Take the group through the guide?
Have someone pray to send us out in the power of the Holy Spirit.