Giving to the table

Giving as a Christian practice is often reduced to supporting your local church.
We dream of something bigger — a different kind of economy.

The Bible has a lot to say about how we handle money — more than sex, more than prayer — our possessions and finances are at the heart of our worship and discipleship. That’s what we see in the early church in Acts 2:

“And all who believed were together and had all things in common. and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.”

There is a connection here between community, meeting one another ‘s needs and praising God.

When you give to Open Table Community, we give more than 10% of tithes back to support local and global ministries as well as holding a percentage for relief and help.

We’ve started the 2:44 Project (here’s a pdf of the proposal) where people in our community can share a need and give the church family an opportunity to worshipfully respond to meet that need. We do this in a way that preserves the dignity of the request and the anonymity of the givers so both the blessing and the credit go to God.

We are also actively engaging in conversations on how the local church can be connected to the local community and economy — affordable housing, school zoning, small business development — these are matters where the church can be present and contribute to solutions for the common good.

We don’t have all the answers, but giving to Open Table Community is not just simply supporting your local church, we’re envisioning something much bigger.