At the Table: Christian Community for the Common Good
While the world becomes increasingly complex, professionalized, and disconnected, the church is experiencing a crisis of identity. Do we follow suit and strive to out-program, out-professionalize, and out-attract the rest of the world? Or do gather at the table and focus on the small and simple community-based practices that have been our strength across the generations?
At the Table is a Podcast for church leaders interested in community-based ministry that contributes to the common good via mutual relationships, spiritual practice, simplicity, and an awareness of God’s activity in our communities. Each month, we will have conversations with leaders and practitioners of community-based ministry to reflect on and learn about the core practices, theological underpinnings, and immediate invitations of this important work. We believe that something miraculous happens when Christian community gathers with neighbors at the table.
You can learn more about the work of place-based ministry and the common good by visiting www.nicholastangen.com and subscribing to Nicholas Tangen's Newsletter.
At the Table: Christian Community for the Common Good
Season 1 Finale - At the Table: Christian Community for the Common Good
In 2023, I have had 16 different conversations with lay people, clergy, writers, activists, and neighbors all committed to the idea of a place-based and discerning church. A church with the power and the freedom to contribute to the flourishing of their neighborhood, not with services and charity, but with connection, community, and authenticity.
These conversations have been catalysts for my own work and imagination, and I pray that they have been for you as well. As we come to the end of Season 1, my hope is that in listening to these episodes you have allowed yourself to imagine a church interested more in its neighbor than its survival, committed to an alternative story than one of consumption, colonialism, and professionalization.
I’ve enjoyed working on this podcast more than I could have anticipated, and I plan to launch Season 2 in January of 2024. If this conversation interests, inspires, or even frustrates you, please be sure to subscribe, to reach out with questions or inspiration, and to bring these ideas to your own faith community. You can also subscribe to my monthly newsletter which includes my own writing, prayers and litanies you can use in worship, and updates on the podcast. After a year of conversation, I am convinced more than ever that the common good, animated by the saving grace of Jesus, shows up powerfully every time we gather together with our neighbors at the table. Until next year, peace be with you.
www.nicholastangen.com