What is "The Father's Table?"
The
Father’s Table is a biblically based process which New Hope Church at Traders
Point uses to assist us in accomplishing our four primary purposes of
Connecting People to God, The Family, Service and the Harvest.
Relationships are the essence of Christianity not institutions or programs. When Jesus was asked to sum up the greatest commandment, He replied, "You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." (Matt 22:37-40)
The Old Testament reflects the value of relationships through the Ten Commandments in a similar manner. The first four commandments speak to our vertical relationship with God, and the remaining six speak of our horizontal relationships with other people. Likewise, the Great Commission that Jesus gave to His disciples was understood in a relational context.
Jack Hayford pointed out in
a 1987 lecture that Charismatic/Pentecostal “event theology” has assisted the
spiritual community in making God real, but it has not assisted the church in
understanding the process of Christian maturity. Erroneously, the church appears to believe in
“spiritual evolution.” No Christian
believes for a moment that gases floating in the cosmos suddenly came together
to form our world and a fully developed human being. Christians reject the idea of evolution. Yet, many seem to believe that random
spiritual experiences and events will produce a spiritually mature
Christian. Nothing could be further from
the truth! This lack of knowledge or understanding of the process of Christian
maturity not only keeps Christians immature, but it also erodes any confidences
they may have in their development of other disciples.
In the same way, New Hope Church cannot ‘hope’ to build relationships and disciples by random spiritual experiences and events such as a single Worship Service, altar call, or ministry alone. Instead we must have a process in which people are continually being discipled and nurtured.
An organized plan of relational discipleship such as The Father’s Table helps the people of New Hope develop their spiritual growth.
The Father’s Table builds these strong healthy relationships through a process of four primary connections: to God, to the Church Family, to Service and to our Harvest Field.
Lee, Wayne H. Church Life: Fifteen Vital Functions.
Lakeland, FL: Church Life Resources, 1996.
To find out more about Church Life Resources go to www.churchliferesources.org.