EASTER MISSIONAL MEALS

Meals embody friendship and welcome, so food is a powerful expression of mission and community. This Easter time gather friends, family, neighbours, or colleagues for an evening of eating, drinking and conversation in the pattern of Jesus.

How we eat and who we eat with can communicate quite a bit about what we believe. Something as simple as eating not only creates natural opportunities to be intentional, loving, and missional but meals can also be a reflection of our theology.

Just think about how often food figures in the Bible story or how much of church life involves meals. I don’t think this is incidental. Food expresses our dependence on God and on other people. Meals embody friendship and welcome. So food is a powerful way of doing mission and community. The Son of Man, Jesus says in Luke 7, came eating and drinking this was the way Jesus did mission.

You just need to love Jesus, love people and enjoy eating! It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Most of the time it is just a question of sharing an ordinary meal with people. Invite un-churched friends and work mates to a meal. Use lunch in the canteen to get to know your colleagues. If you’re single then entertaining families might be difficult, but invite them for dessert or cake. Try to invite unbelievers together with some believers so your unbelieving friends are introduced to other Christians and get to see how Christians relate.

Once you start looking for it, it’s amazing how often food is used to express both judgment and salvation. The first thing God does for Adam and Eve in the garden is given them a menu, the fruit of every tree (except one). The climax of the exodus (an act of salvation commemorated in a meal) is when the elders of Israel eat with God on the mountain in Exodus 24.

The last supper looks forward to the time when Jesus will eat with his disciples in the kingdom of God. And the Bible story ends with a meal as we celebrate the wedding supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19. Every time we eat together as Christians we are anticipating this hope.

We encourage you to set some time aside to ask the Lord who you could invite to a meal or gathering where your hospitality can become the gateway to Kingdom connectivity.

Please do email us by clicking HERE or email your Primary Leader and let us know any stories that are encouraging and life giving.