NOW Start Network Event Sparks Idea for Dinner Church

Feeding underprivileged families in the community is often a one-way service. Those in need, come; those who have, provide. At the Spring NOW Start Network Event in Tacoma, Washington a group of leaders from St. John’s Lutheran Church in Idaho Falls were given the chance to develop and explore a new idea in their community. 

Inspired by a growing movement of "dinner churches” across the United States, the leaders of St. John’s made their way to the NOW Start Network event, adding on a night to check out one such dinner church in Seattle. They were inspired by what they saw: Instead of simply feeding the community, this dinner church was an open invitation for families in the community to come to sit down to a meal with those from the church. Missional teams are trained to start conversations and build friendships with those who come, which open relational doors for the sharing of Christ. As Paul tells us Jesus does in Ephesians 2, this tears down the dividing walls between those who are near and those who are far off bringing people together in Christ. 

St. John’s presented their idea for their own dinner church during the NOW Spark time at the Spring NOW Start Network Event on April 27. They competed with 16 other teams for a $1,000 NOW Spark fund grant, and walked away with the big prize. The seed money they were awarded was used to launch their new ministry: “Community Dinner: Good Food, Growing Friendships, God’s Word” on October 8, 2019. 

This is just one of the many ways NOW Start Network is working together to create, develop, and launch new and innovative ministries in the different regions of the Northwest.