"They Broke Bread Together:" Why Your Most Useful Disciple Making Tool Might Be Sitting in the Middle of your Kitchen
My husband and I joke that locals in our host country never meet together without food. Any simple mid-morning meeting can be made better with a baguette and a glass of juice. The idea that any event—big or small—always lends itself to time around a table sharing food led us to what we like to call “Dinner Table Theology.”
A Place Where Everyone is Welcome
Jesus modeled Dinner Table Theology throughout the Gospels by eating in the homes of sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors. He shared moments of honesty, vulnerability, reconciliation, and repentance as he was welcomed into people’s homes. Just before his death, Jesus introduced what is now a sacrament of our faith—communion—while sharing a meal with his disciples. After his ascension to heaven, we see the first church continue his tradition in Acts 2:46: “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.”
Over the years settling into our host culture, our dinner table has seated many people. We’ve wept with a young woman afraid of her husband’s relapse into drug addiction. We’ve blown out candles with friends who have never had their birthday celebrated. Once, a young man we were discipling started his first “big boy job” and we helped him create a workable budget to stay out of debt. My husband recently looked a fatherless young woman in the eyes and affirmed that all the problems in her family’s lives are not, in fact, her fault. All around the big dinner table in the center of our house.
The Place Where We Get to Know a Person of Peace
But we’ve also sat at other people’s dinner tables. We ate food we didn’t recognize at weird times for our daily rhythm. We’ve powered through unfamiliar accents and awkward social interactions hoping someone will drop a meaningful comment about their lives or ask a spiritual question. We’ve noticed that—without fail—around the time we (as Americans) think the meal should be wrapping up for the night, someone opens up and we learn the most precious things about our host’s lives. So often some flimsy plastic table has been the starting point for the messy journey of cross-cultural disciple making.
Jesus modeled how gathering around the table for a meal can be a way to get to know our neighbor. He knew we’d have to eat everyday anyway, so we might as well utilize it as a disarming way to care for people who are interested in learning more about Jesus or simply need a good friend. For years, the Church has broken bread together as an excuse to pray, read Scripture, love on one another, care for the sick, and listen to the intrigued ones amongst us.
Who can you invite to your table? Who could use a moment of peace at your table enjoying a meal with a good friend?
This article was guest-written by one of our Waha users. If you’ve got a story to share about your experience using Waha, let us know at stories@waha.app and we might feature it here!