The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a People of the Table. What we share at the Lord's Table spreads throughout our ministries. We at Crown Heights Christian Church do not claim to have all the answers but we do strive through dialogue and discernment; mission and ministry to function as a part of the Body of Christ engaged in the world today.
CHCC over time has noticed that a table with people sharing food and fellowship seems to be a constant in our understanding of being the Body of Christ in the world today. This certainly starts with the Lord's Table where each Sunday we gather to remember that on the night he was betrayed Jesus took the bread blessed and broke it and shared it with his disciples as he did the cup. This act etches into the fiber of our being a constant reminder of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, and a reminder that we are one in him.
In Acts we read about Peter and Cornelius, a Roman Soldier. God brings these two men together by means of opening their minds to see the table as a place for all. It is by food our bodies are nurtured; it is by sharing in loving fellowship and dialogue that our spirits are nurtured.
CHCC also seems to be a people who simply enjoy good food and fellowship. We gather around donuts and coffee before church as we catch up on events of the week and around cookies and other sweet morsels in fellowship after church--to finish the conversation. There are chili cook-offs and youth hamburger events. Ice cream and cookies are served at every Easter egg hunt, who knows where that started!!! On Thanksgiving Sunday we eat turkey and all the fixings and cannot have a stewardship campaign without at least one luncheon and sometimes two. The men's fellowship meets at a local restaurant for breakfast each Thursday and the women have a variety of refreshments with their meetings. The choir raises funds to support our music ministries by taking donations at quarterly luncheons.
More importantly, CHCC supports the concept that everybody should have enough to eat! Each Sunday, actually any time anyone wants to bring it, we collect food for Skyline Urban Ministries. We also provide dinner for Saturday worshipers at Skyline once a year. CHCC has for several years supported Putnam Heights Academy, an intercity elementary school where 95% of the student body qualifies for free and reduced lunches. Among other services for the school, each Friday our volunteers stuff backpacks with food for children who might not otherwise have anything to eat over the weekend. This is through a collaboration with the Regional Food Bank. CHCC also joins with other Christian Churches to provide dinner through a new ministry reaching out to the homeless, Refuge Fellowship that meets each Monday evening.
As People of the Table we have embraced a vision of being a church that loves God and loves the way Jesus loves and that is indeed a call to nurturing ministry.