Finding Jesus at Dinner Church
Not everyone is comfortable stepping foot in a traditional church building. That's what Dinner Church is for.
Anjalie* stood in front of the door. From the other side, she could hear people chatting and dishes clattering. Heart pounding, she wondered whether she should just go home – but she took a deep breath and knocked.
Leah De Vos, a Mission Network Developer with Resonate Global Mission, welcomes international students into her home every Friday for Dinner Church. She had invited Anjalie weeks ago.
Dinner Church isn’t a new concept. Inspired by the role food and eating together played in Jesus’ ministry and in the early church, hundreds of dinner churches have trickled out of the Dinner Church Collective.
“People crave community but there are people in our societies who don’t know how to get into that community,” said De Vos. “Dinner Church is an opportunity to reach people who are ready to be reached. The people who know that they need Jesus.”
Anjalie wasn’t a Christian – she’s from India and grew up practicing Hinduism – but she was struggling with depression. She was looking for hope and community, and De Vos saw that.
While Anjalie said she was nervous, she still “felt a pull” to go to Dinner Church. It took her a few weeks, but she finally worked up the courage. After that night, she never missed it.
“She felt this sense that everybody genuinely wanted to get to know her,” said De Vos.
Dinner Church is never meant to be a replacement for traditional church, but it’s a first step. For Anjalie, Dinner Church turned into Bible study, Bible study turned into attending church, and one day, Anjalie decided to give her life to Jesus. Not too long ago, she was baptized.
A Resonate ministry partner, De Vos not only hosts her own Dinner Church but is working with Classis Niagara to start more dinner churches in Ontario by equipping individuals through an internship program.
“It’s been amazing to see how God is working,” said De Vos. “When you take people out of that traditional church setting, all they really see is Christ. They see servanthood and they see community.”
*Name changed.
This page is made possible through a partnership with CRC Ministries within Canada.
