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| photo courtesy of www.freefoto.com |
WEBA is launching Table Talk: An Evangelistic Experiment in June 2013. Every church is being encouraged to try 'Table Talk' (which you could describe as a pre-Alpha course, but actually works more like a game) somewhere in their community - perhaps a cafe or pub - with friends and neighbours. Each church taking part will receive a free boxed set of Table Talk, normally worth £25. I wanted to hear from someone who'd used the game successfully - and got this story from Ruth Rice, a Baptist Minister on the Fresh Streams Steering Group:
We began running a Table Talk group at a
local cafe in the suburb of Nottingham where our church meets. The area is
fairly affluent and there is a strong cafe culture. We began as a response to
people wanting to ask different questions in a different time scale to the ones
offered in other, more structured courses.
We invited a few friends who were interested
in discussing big issues of life or who just wanted a drink with friends and to
get to know some new people.
"Our regular atheist would now call himself an agnostic"
Although we advertised with handouts,
posters and invites all the folk who came were in relationship with someone who
brought them. Marketing is largely, in our experience, unnecessary,
relationships are essential.
We book the same table each week and
everyone arrives from about 7.30 onwards...... grabbing a drink from the bar
and joining in the discussion which anyone can start by picking up a card from
the attractively presented Table Talk selection, which we vary each
week. It's great and really natural, so unlike other courses that have
felt forced and a bit preachy at times.
With table talk if you don't like a question
you move on and if the discussion is going well you stick with one card
sometimes.
We have a regular table talk group now on
Tuesday nights of between 6 and 12 people , many in the 20s and 30s ...a
mixture of atheists, agnostics, Christians, and others on a journey from
belonging to believing.
Our regular atheist would now call himself
an agnostic, has begun reading his Bible from cover to cover and is writing his
own questions. Three people have realised they have changed sides somewhere in
the process of discussions, like crossing a mountain border on a long hike yet
not being quite sure where the border was.
For those of us who are christians the
questions, some basic like, “what makes an attractive life”, some much more
searching like “how do you experience God” are helping us to think and search
more deeply for truth and be able to listen as well as talk about what we
believe.
"the cards seem more like a game than a religious activity"
We love table talk as a simple concept...and
can see many possibilities for the easy to use, well produced little cards in
homes, pubs and youth venues.
We have recently used them as a warm up in
our pub church Sundays ..as folk arrive they are on the tables and keep the
discussion focussed on the big story. Small groups have used them at meals when
they have invited friends and there has been great feedback as the cards seem
more like a game than a religious activity and yet they generate better honesty
and searching than many a BIble study or evangelistic programme.
Table Talk has reshaped how we do evangelism
as a church.
Ruth Rice
