Dinner Church

Join us as we embark on a journey of worshiping in a new way. Dinner Church invites everyone to come together for worship and a meal while welcoming participation in all parts of both. Dinner Church engages all people of all ages in an extended worship service of Holy Communion around the dinner table.

Open Table Dinner Church gathers seasonally at 6:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall at United in Christ. Everyone is welcome to come as you are!

Winter (November-February): We gather monthly on the 2nd Wednesday
Spring (March-April): We gather weekly on Wednesday evenings during the season of Lent
Summer & Fall (May-October): We gather on the 2nd & 4th Wednesdays each month

Our current schedule can be found below (click on the image for more information):

In short: Dinner church is a meal AND an interactive worship service in one.

Dinner church is centered on sharing a meal together through worship. By its very nature, dinner church disrupts the ‘traditional’ view of worship a Dinner church is rooted in the Book of Acts. It invites participation in worship as the meal and goes beyond offering a meal prepared by others, followed by a worship service.

With dinner church all are welcome and invited to: 

– Begin the meal with breaking the bread, and communing one another.
– Engage with scripture, and one another, bringing all of who we are to the table.
– Share in song together through the practice of paperless singing.
– Eat together, family style.
– Listen to a shared message and mutual conversation.
– End the meal with consecrated wine or juice by communing one another.
– Clean up together as an act of service.
– Be sent out with song and a blessing, trusting in the goodness of God’s unconditional grace and love. 

The reality is in traditional Sunday worship at United in Christ we feed people with worship and expect you to come to us, but with dinner church the model of worship is the work of the people, where are all fed through our work together in meal and worship. 

Anyone…literally anyone. Dinner church is perfect for all ages including children and youth. We seek to be intentionally open to all regardless of who a person is or how society has sought to unjustly divide us based on things such as race, gender, gender identity, wealth, sexual orientation, vocation, etc. God welcomes all – and we do also. 

The food? The food will be a blend of hearty and healthy – but not too healthy.

Dinner church invites us into a time of sharing a meal together as part of worship so the meals will be simple but will always include a from scratch main entree, a side, and (of course) a simple dessert. Water and a seasonal beverage (lemonade, iced tea, etc.) will also be available.

We hope to post our next two menus here online each month so you can prepare.

For those with allergies we will try to be as inclusive as possible based on who is coming. We will seek to always have a vegetarian option and will also have gluten free and/or vegan if you have those needs. Just let us know.

Creating Open Table Dinner Church has been a labor of love for everyone involved. Our entire community is excited to try something very different to open our doors and our hearts to Morrisonville and beyond. Our commitments are to being truly welcoming to all and sustainability.

Everyone is welcome here. There are no caveats or prerequisites to coming to dinner church. It is also 100% free. Any donations received will be shared with our local food pantry in DeForest. Yes, you are welcome. Yes, your children are welcome. Yes, your parents are welcome.

We are also committed to sustainability. We believe in taking deliberate care and note to our environmental impact. We will only use reusable and sustainable items in preparation and serving of the meal. Specifically, the use of single-use plastics, non-compostable paper products, and Styrofoam will not be a part of our ministry. 

We will continue to follow the recycling practices already in place in the church and will seek the addition of a compost bin for all biodegradable waste wherein compost can be used by congregation or community members.

We are also planting a vegetable garden on the church grounds who’s harvest will be used in preparing our meals.

So, come and check us out. It IS different – but that’s the point.

+Rev. Jason Poole-Xiong
Pastor, United in Christ Lutheran Church & Open Table Dinner Church