Community Supper

Overview

Find information on this page about Community Suppers in general and specific details about the next upcoming supper.

Community Suppers

Format

Upcoming Community Supper

  • TBD

Past Community Suppers

Community Suppers

The Vision for Community Suppers

We’re wanting to build community—to take a “big tent” approach to congregational life by laying aside our differences so that we may gather together for purposes bigger than our individual wants and needs. As a church community, we need each other more than ever. We’re living in an increasingly fractured, polarized world that too often pits us against each other unnecessarily. The church has a unique role in serving as a safe haven, a sanctuary, to gather people together under the banner of the Lord in His second coming and it is our hope, our prayer, that these new Community Suppers serve that end.

In True Christianity 433 the Lord describes "feasts of charity" that happened in the early days of the Christian Church that "were instituted to lift and unite Christians' hearts and spirits." The passage goes on to say that "While they were at the table, they would have conversations on various subjects—both domestic and civic issues. In particular, they would discuss topics related to the church. .... The spiritual atmosphere that prevailed during these feasts was an atmosphere of love for the Lord and for their neighbor. This atmosphere would lift their individual minds, soften their tones of voice, and allow a celebratory feeling from deep in their hearts to fill their senses." We pray that the Lord will bless our Community Suppers with that same atmosphere of charity.

Upcoming Community Supper Dates

Room Layout

There will be long, rectangular tables, running from the back of Heilman Hall up to the stage. This means that everyone can sit with the people they came with and also be together at the same table with a larger group.

Topics and Speakers

We will have a wide range of topics and speakers at these Community Suppers to encourage thought-provoking, useful, and connecting conversations. Please let us know if you have any ideas of topics or speakers for a future Community Supper.

Recorded But Not Live-streamed

We plan to record video and audio of the program portion of the Community Suppers. We will then work to make those recordings available to people, relatively shortly after the event takes place. We will not be live-streaming these events.

Feedback

If you have thoughts, questions, or suggestions about any of this, please email derek.elphick@brynathynchurch.org.

Food

Supper - Bring Your Own

You are responsible for making sure that you have food to eat at the Community Supper. Box suppers are not available for this Saturday, April 13. It's kind of like the New Church Day Picnic. You can bring your own food from home, or get takeaway from some local restaurant (Wawa, Lee's Hoagies, Provecho, Be Well, etc.). If you would enjoy bringing some supper things to share with others around you, that’s great but it’s not expected or required.

Potluck Dessert

The church provides some desserts, and coffee, water, and paper goods. We are also hoping that some people will bring desserts to share. This is not required. This is just an invitation for those that would enjoy bringing a dessert to share.

Alcohol

BYOB.

Childcare - No Childcare Provided But Babysitting Subsidy Available

We have not provided childcare for past Community Suppers. We would love to have as many parents attend as possible. We are happy to contribute $20 towards babysitting costs; please let us know if you would like help with that. In the future, we may be able to provide childcare for certain age groups. We might have one of the Community Suppers in a year be an all-ages supper. Stay tuned and let us know what you would like or, even better, let us know what you would like to be part of helping to make happen.

7th Grade and Up Invited

We invite people in 7th Grade and up to attend. Teenagers will be expected to stay with their parents for the duration of the evening (not eat quickly and then go outside to hang out with their friends). We don't want unsupervised teenagers wandering around the property. The point is for teenagers to come and be part of the Community Supper, from the beginning to the end. We will leave it to parents to determine whether their teenagers would enjoy coming to this event and being part of conversations with adults or not.

Program for the Evening

Here's the rough schedule of how things will go:

  • 5:30pm - Doors open
  • 6:00pm - Formal program starts, including eating supper, listening to speakers, having conversations, and eating dessert
  • 8:00pm - Formal Program Ends Promptly
  • After 8:00pm - Plenty of time for jolly, informal hanging out for those that choose to linger.

RSVP - Not Required

You do not have to RSVP to come to the Community Supper. You can decide at the last minute to come, even if you haven't told anyone that you were planning to come.