Cathy Vitek
Children's & Family Ministry Pastor
Bethany UMC, Ellicott City, MD

Bethany UMC’s Living in Faith Together Dinner Church (LIFT) pilot came to an end before Holy Week.  I am surprised by how much I miss our gatherings! This past Sunday morning, I happened to notice how our LIFT Dinner Church community members were connecting with each other during our morning services. The connections are continuing, and that is the gift of it all, right?

I’ve learned many valuable lessons; I’ll limit myself to three here. First, I was reminded (again) of the power of prayer. I prayed for God’s guidance about everything: the day and time we’d offer the sessions, the number of weeks we’d offer them, the dinner team, the order of worship, the participants, the seating arrangements and how to fund the LIFT Dinner Church adventure. I prayed every day for every participant and every team member. As always, God was faithful to answer and I felt the Holy Spirit’s leading every step of the way, which made every step a pleasure.

Secondly, I learned that radical hospitality doesn’t necessarily mean having everything perfect. I realized that participants wanted to help. Allowing space for everyone to participate in simple ways, like putting the tablecloths on the table, the decorations on the table, blowing up balloons, organizing the “Playing Together” materials, and even assisting with clean up all helped create a deeper sense of belonging. Having pre-made nametags and place cards on the table for every person helped everyone to know they were a valuable member of our community. 

Finally, I learned that GenOn Ministries’ Living in Faith Together curriculum offers a perfect core for an intentionally intergenerational dinner church.  Our opening worship flowed beautifully into the Learning Together wondering questions, which we used for conversation during dinner. The Playing Together activities offered wonderful ways to bring the evening’s theme to life, and the liturgy offered in the Praying Together portion flowed seamlessly into our closing celebration of Holy Communion. 

I surveyed our participants following our final session. Ninety-five percent want to do this again and let me know how meaningful it was! Follow-up conversations lead me to believe that offering it quarterly might be a good rhythm for us right now. And truly, I really can’t wait!  Thank you to all our friends at GenOn Ministries for this amazing opportunity!