Tag: food

Commitment Sunday and Celebration

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date December 23, 2021

Discussing Church 32

This church has been homeless for a while, but they moved into their own space last week. Today they celebrate God’s faithfulness on a trying journey with their annual commitment Sunday.

The 52 Churches Workbook, by Peter DeHaan

Consider these four discussion questions about Church #32:

1. We arrive to learn that it’s commitment Sunday for them, with contribution pledges sought for the upcoming year. The woman who explains this is embarrassed that our first visit falls on their annual plea for money.

When you ask for money, how can you help visitors feel welcomed and not obligated?

2. When their minister learns we’re not used to liturgical services, she introduces us to someone who can guide us. He takes his job seriously and performs it admirably.

How can you apply this visitor-friendly gesture to your church services?

3. The guest speaker says, “Bigger is no longer better in the church world,” and “Smaller is where the work will be done.” He’s so right.

What is your attitude toward church size? Does something need to change?

4. Afterward is a brunch to celebrate God’s provision and praise him. “We don’t want to intrude on your celebration,” I say to one lady. Her response removes all doubt, “You are one of the reasons we’re celebrating.”

How well do you celebrate visitors?

[See the prior set of questions, the next set, or start at the beginning.]

Get your copy of 52 Churches and The 52 Churches Workbook today, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags church services, food, liturgy, money, praise, Thanksgiving, The 52 Churches Workbook

Visiting Churches

A Day of Contrasts

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date December 16, 2021

Discussing Church 31

This church offers a mix of old with new, contemporary with traditional, and public friendliness with personal indifference. As a bonus, they also talk about having a Thanksgiving potluck.

Consider these four discussion questions about Church #31:

1. At one point, the leader asks everyone who is able, to kneel. It hurts when I kneel. So focused on my pain, I miss the prayer.

What practices in your church may get in the way of people encountering God?

2. Two girls read about the Good Samaritan: the first in Spanish and the second in English. But this is the only bilingual part of the service.

What changes can you make to your service so it’s more accessible to people of other languages or cultures?

3. Afterward is a Thanksgiving potluck. Publicly, they invite all to join them, but no one personally does. “If we walk slowly,” Candy says, “maybe someone will ask us to stay.” No one does, so we leave.

What can you do to personally invite someone to do something?

4. Aside from the two greeters at the door, no one talks to us. After the service I try to make eye contact with many people, but fail each time. I don’t matter and want to cry.

How can you let people know you care?

Though this church had much going for it, the lack of personal connection is my lasting memory.

[See the prior set of questions, the next set, or start at the beginning.]

Get your copy of 52 Churches and The 52 Churches Workbook today, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags church services, community, food, prayer, Thanksgiving, The 52 Churches Workbook

Visiting Churches

Enhance Community: Sharing a Meal Matters

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 17, 2021

Discussing Church 9

Today, we’ll go to a United Methodist church, our first visit to a widely recognized denomination. They know how to enhance community by sharing a meal.

Consider these four discussion questions about Church #9:

1. Their services are traditional. I wonder if I should dress up, but their website doesn’t say. Though my casual attire is out of place, no one seems to object.

How do you react when someone shows up at church who looks or dresses differently from everyone else?

2. We make our way inside. Two greeters hand out preprinted nametags to the regulars. They offer us stickers to write our names on. I find nametags helpful.

How can you use nametags to enhance community and celebrate guests?

3. The minister is female. I applaud the opportunity for all people to use their gifts and skills to serve God in any capacity, including leading and teaching.

How do you react to women in leadership and ministry roles at your church?

4. A closing number ends the service, and we make our way to the fellowship hall for a potluck. These Methodists know how to cook.

How does your church use a shared meal to enhance community?

[See the prior set of questions, the next set, or start at the beginning.]

Get your copy of 52 Churches and The 52 Churches Workbook today, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags church services, community, food, The 52 Churches Workbook

Visiting Churches

Reflecting on Church #39: A Different Twist on Sharing a Meal

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 7, 2021

The Value of Eating Together

With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #39.

Many churches share a meal or food after their service, but this one put a new twist on it: we head off to a restaurant, en masse. Though not everyone goes, a significant number do, including my wife and me.

52 Churches: A Yearlong Journey Encountering God, His Church, and Our Common Faith

As we form a line at a nearby fast food joint, one of the church members passes out coupons to everyone.

Though it’s great to spend time together outside of church, I wonder what kind of impact we make on the restaurant staff, with a bunch of church folk descending upon them, all bearing coupons and looking for a deal.

Once we have our food and sit down, the people from church sit at tables all around us, but no one joins us or invites us to sit with them.

Though they are all having a great time moving from one table to another and bantering back and forth, Candy and I are left out.

We are all alone in a group of people. It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last.

However, midway through the meal, one woman gets up from her table and slides into ours. We have a great conversation and feel cared for.

Again, one person made all the difference between us feeling included and being ignored. Isn’t inclusion the purpose of sharing a meal?

Building community within a church family can take on many forms. Often this involves food, such as when sharing a meal.

Eating together, however, is only one way to connect with those you worship with. Working together on service projects or community initiatives is another.

[See my reflections about Church #38 and Church #40 or start with Church #1.]

My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags 52 Churches, church, community, food, reflecting on church

Visiting Churches

Reflecting on Church #9: A Potluck Builds Community

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 11, 2020

With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #9.

In a word, the potluck at this church was epic. Between the delicious food and making connections, it remains a significant memory of our journey. Sharing a meal helps build community. And this church showed how it should be done.

Although an older congregation (which does not excite me), many of them act young (which does excite me). It’s a busy church, with lots of community outreach.

On the fourth Friday of each month, they hold a community dinner, which is legendary among area Christians.

With a guest speaker on the Sunday we visited, I wanted to make a return visit to meet their pastor and hear her speak, but a few months after our visit, she retired.

However, I do want to check out one of their community dinners. I suspect it will be like their church potluck, only more.

When we visited they had two Sunday morning services. Now they have just one. I wonder if they’ve lost members or attendance is down. I hope the situation is temporary.

[See my reflections about Church #8 and Church #10 or start with Church #1.]

My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags 52 Churches, community, food, reflecting on church

Visiting Churches

Methodists Know How to Cook (Visiting Church #9)

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 20, 2019

This Sunday we visit a United Methodist church with two traditional services. We go to the second and I’m expectant for what I will learn.

Two greeters hand out nametags to the regulars; they offer us welcome stickers and we write our names. The nametags are a first in our 52 churches journey, an appreciated gesture.

The sanctuary, with a white décor, is cube-like in shape, seating about 120.

Up front is a large, backlit cross. A colorful banner to the right proclaims, “Catch the Spirit.”

The pastor is away and another is filling in for her. There’s also a farewell potluck for their departing organist/pianist. Several people invite us to stay. With an air of pride, they say, “Methodists know how to cook.”

After ceremonial lighting of two candles, a layperson opens the service with a short liturgy, Bible reading, and acknowledgment of the week’s birthdays and anniversaries.

Although most of the eighty or so people present reside in the senior citizen demographic, six kids hear a children’s message from a hand puppet and its partner.

There’s no choir today, but there is a guest soloist. We also sing several hymns, using two different hymnals.

The congregation stands as the minister reads Mark 1:14-20. Her sermon is “Come, Let’s Go Fishing.” She smartly compares fishing for fish with fishing for people, which is what Jesus invited his followers to do.

After the sermon we sing a closing number, the candles are extinguished, and we move to the fellowship hall to eat.

The food is ample and delicious. I eat too much. Sharing a meal is a great way to form a community and get to know people. The potluck did that for us today.

I’m not sure if all Methodists know how to cook, but this congregation sure does.

[Read about Church #8 and Church #10, start at the beginning of our journey, or learn more about Church #9.]

My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags 52 Churches, community, food, Methodists

Personal Posts

I’ve Got Food, But Not Everyone Does

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 7, 2019

On my post last April, I pondered how any effort to curtail water usage on my part could serve to help those halfway around the world who are thirsty. Alas, there is no direct solution (but I did suggest a course of action).

This discussion reminded me of the prodding I heard as a child to eat all the food on my plate because there were starving children in India.

Well, I thought to myself, just send them my food; I’ve had enough and don’t want any more. As a tiny lad, I even envisioned placing my unwanted food in the mailbox for the kids in India. Unfortunately, viable solutions are not so simple.

Not only are there starving children halfway around the world (and a plethora of organizations who provide sponsorship opportunities), there are also hungry people in your local community.

Many are homeless, relying on homeless shelters and food kitchens for their daily sustenance.

A couple of bucks will provide a meal for one of them. The results can be even more significant in feeding the hungry in impoverished third world locales, where a few cents can provide a basic meal.

So, I can go out to eat at a moderately priced restaurant—or feed ten people at the local shelter—or 180 people in Uganda.

Think about it. I sure do.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags food, generosity, Sacred-Secular Divide

Christian Living

Who Would Like to Pray?

Let Us Pray

Recently my wife and I were hanging out with friends, good friends, the best. The time we spend together is always a spiritual experience. As we immerse ourselves in each other’s presence, God joins us.

We don’t realize time’s passing, only becoming aware of the hour after seeking out a clock. The dinner hour snuck up on us. We order pizza—not because we are hungry as much as we know we should eat.

Soon we’re sitting at the table. “Who would like to pray?” our host asks. With little hesitation, their oldest, a preteen girl offers. We bow our heads but she doesn’t launch into a flurry of words; she pauses.

When sufficiently ready, she prays, not a memorized petition or spewing phrases of rote familiarity, but considered words appropriate to the situation. When finished, we thank her and nod our approval, but no one lunges for food; we wait.

“Does anyone else want to pray?” Her brother and sister both do, but her sister speaks first. We bow again. She prays, too. Her brother is next. These kids know how to approach the Almighty. Their parents have taught them well.

Only the youngest has not participated. “Do you want to pray?” his mom asks him. He nods. He’s not yet talking much so I wonder what he might say. Like his siblings, he prays from his heart; his few words surely bless God.

We affirm his prayer, just as we did for his older brother and sisters. Only then do we consider the food before us.

As I savor my first slice of pizza, I contemplate what just happened.

These kids want to pray. They place prayer over food and their siblings’ turns over their stomachs. Their reverence inspires me.

The prayers they offer are not a performance for people but communication with their Father in heaven.

May I be more like them.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

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Tags children, food, prayer

Christian Living

Three Places Where I Find More

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 26, 2013
2 Comments on Three Places Where I Find More

Last week I posted that while the Sunday morning church service can be good, I desire more. And I do occasionally experience more. Sometimes it’s in those solitary moments with just me and the Almighty.

But the sweeter times are when I experience more in community. There are three situations when more can occur.

1. Intentional Activity

Twice a month I have the opportunity to meet with like-minded spiritual seekers.

We share, we pray, we listen, and we practice, putting our faith into action in ways that stretch us and grow us: often uncomfortable but usually encouraging.

This is my prime community of more, one that has formed me into who I am today.

2. Around Food

There are a handful of close friends who I meet with periodically at coffee shops and in our homes.

We share our lives together, not in a superficial, gossipy way, but with deep connection, encouraging and being encouraged, challenging and being challenged, serving and being served.

Life is better in their company. Together we experience more.

3. Affinity Group

Once a month, I meet with a group of Christian writers. Our intent is to share our writing. By design we don’t offer a requisite prayer to start or end our meetings. We don’t schedule time to read the Bible or share a devotional.

We focus on writing—though God is always the subtext. We are artists, sharing our creations with each other and offering them to our Creator. This is a highly spiritual experience for me, a valuable time that can provide more.

All three of these situations offer me more. They provide the more I seek, surpassing the Sunday morning church service as my key times for spiritual formation and connection with the divine.

The traditional church service pales in comparison when I encounter more.

May we all seek and find more.

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Tags church services, community, food, God, gossip, writing

Christian Living

Why I’m Willing to Wait for Dessert

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date December 5, 2012

Craving dessert is a habit my wife, “The Queen of Desserts,” cultivated in me. She claims, however, my affection for sweets was well ingrained before we met.

When eating at home, I pace myself through the meal in expectation of a tasty treat at the end.

At restaurants, their oversize proportions and my training to clean up my plate leaves no room for my preferred conclusion to a meal. So I decline the dessert menu.

I’ve often joked that someday I’ll order dessert first. After all, if the world were to end halfway through my meal, I wouldn’t want to die with a stomach full of salad and empty of dessert.

But events require a proper order. You can’t receive a prize before you win the race. You can’t win the race before you run. And you can’t run before you start. Plus, if you’re wise, you won’t start before you practice.

This applies to most things in life. We want easy, but satisfaction takes time. We need to wait.

A common malady among aspiring writers is they want to have written but don’t want to write.

A frequent trap with spiritual seekers is they want the results without the journey.

We often desire reward but want to skip the requisite work.

While I like dessert, I know a diet of only sweets is unhealthy, unwise, and unsustainable. So I’m willing to eat my vegetables first.

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Tags biblical Christianity, food, writing