Dear brothers and sisters,
What a glorious few weeks we’ve had together!
- We commissioned our first vestry, and heard some beautiful testimonies of what God has done in their lives at The Table.
- Spencer Ruark was ordained as a Deacon when our Bishop Todd Hunter visited us, 5 people were confirmed, and many of you shared about what God has been doing in your lives during a precious evening gathering with Bishop Todd.
- And of course last Sunday we baptized 3 children into the Body of Christ.
As we think back on the past year, we have been brought to tears often as we see and appreciate all that God has been doing in our midst.
We are also thinking about the future, and along with the staff and vestry we are discerning how God is calling us to participate in his life and mission in 2020.
We’re writing today to ask you to take time this month to sincerely pray about making a pledge to give to The Table as a partner over the next year.
Many of you already give faithfully and sacrificially and we are so grateful for your partnership in the work God is doing through The Table. Many of you have stories of redemption and transformation that God has done while we’ve been together as a community.
We continue to see “little” miracles all the time: reconciliation of strained relationships, healing for emotional, spiritual, and physical wounds, and ordinary people learning to join God on mission every day.
We recently partnered with Anglican Immigrant Initiative to provide housing for a refugee who has fled political persecution in Uganda (watch for more info coming soon on how you can contribute and participate).
We started The Table four years ago because we saw a need for a different kind of church in Indianapolis:
- In a politically polarized world, we are cultivating a non-anxious “Third Way” Christianity that’s not afraid to wrestle with deep questions, and able to navigate life on mission in the 21st century and make faith possible for our children.
- In a world obsessed with short-term results and the 24-hour news cycle, we’re focusing on long-term discipleship and leadership development to see generations multiplied over the long haul.
- In a culture fawning over the latest fads, we’re cultivating a strong, ancient spirituality grounded in Anglican tradition.
- In a world where patriarchy has silenced and oppressed women, we’re doing our best to be a repenting church where women are fully empowered to lead with every gift the Spirit has given them in mutual submission alongside men.
- In a world languishing under the legacy of colonialism and emerging from a monolithic Christendom in the West, we’re fomenting an imagination and activating our social Body to engage in justice and mission centered on Christ as head over all things, learning to serve, love, and work in the power of the cross for the sake of others.
As we participate in this mission together, it changes us. We steadily become more recognizably the church, welcoming one another and the stranger in love, listening to one other in grace and truth, proclaiming good news to one another and our neighbors, and going to be with the marginalized and oppressed in the name of Jesus.
The result is that our community is growing, both spiritually and numerically. God’s mission goes forward as we participate with him in his work, preaching the gospel and baptizing and making disciples and learning to love one another and multiplying communities and planting churches.
This is what we do week in and week out. We consider every child, woman, and man who comes into our church a gift from God, given to help our Body grow into mature love. Through our worship gatherings, discipleship groups, and meals together in neighborhood groups, God’s mission is going forward.
None of this happens without your generosity
The work that we are doing at The Table is funded by donations from ordinary people like you. The truth is that without your generosity of time and money we would be unable to do what God has called us to do. We make every effort to steward resources wisely, to make the biggest possible impact for the sake of the whole gospel.
Please pray about how God is calling you to give
We started this church four years ago because we sensed a need for a church like this to exist, and now you’re a part of a community that comes from all over the Indianapolis area to worship, serve, and grow together.
So if you are already giving, please continue to do so (and THANK YOU!). If you have not been a consistent financial partner at The Table, and you sense God’s call to be part of the work here, please take time this month to pray about what amount of time and money God may be calling you to give in 2020. If you are married, pray with your spouse about this decision. We strongly believe that God leads couples to make important decisions in agreement.
If you have questions about how giving works at The Table, check out our Frequently Asked Church Giving Questions page.
Make your pledge by December 1st
Please make your pledge by December 1st (the first Sunday of Advent). If you received a pledge card in the mail from us, you can fill it out and send it back in the reply envelope, or drop it in the offering basket on Sunday.
Or you can go make your pledge online right now! During the month of November, the vestry team will keep track of your pledges and use it to set our budget for 2020. Your pledge helps us be realistic and plan.
We want to end by saying thank you. We are so thankful for what God is doing in our little church, and you’re a big part of that. Thank you for your partnership with us in the gospel!
Grace and peace,
Ben Sternke and Matt Tebbe, Co-pastors
P.S. Sometimes people outside our church are inspired to support our work. If you know someone who might be interested in giving, have them visit us online at thetableindy.org/give
