Always eat together

One of the best ways of deepening fellowship is to eat together. Have members of the group take turns preparing a SIMPLE meal. The gathering isn’t about the food, it’s about being together. Baked potatoes or sandwiches work just fine. And also, everybody helps set up and clean up. It shouldn’t be the job of the hosts!

Make it a “Lord’s Meal”

Sharing the Lord’s Table, (remembering the Lord’s death until He comes) can take many forms that go beyond what most of us were raised with. One way is to gather the church around a table for a shared meal. To begin, have someone break a loaf of bread while giving thanks—in other words, “ask the blessing.” Pass the bread around, each person serving the person on their right, perhaps saying, “the body of Christ, broken for you,” as the bread is offered. The bread is the “first course” of your meal together. Then, eat! Talk and enjoy fellowship around the table. When the main meal is finished, before people leave the table, have someone give thanks for the Lord’s shed blood before passing a pitcher or bottle of wine or juice. Each person pours for the person to their right (have clean cups available for this) saying as they do, “the blood of Christ shed for you.” Communion becomes the opening and closing of a shared meal. Wolfgang Simson, author of Houses that Change the World observes, that we often practice the Lord’s table as a symbolic meal with substantial significance, whereas in the early church it was a substantial meal with symbolic significance.