Together Again Dinner
In June and July of 2021, 100 people gathered at the Together Again dinners to fellowship and reconnect with our church family. We caught up with the Pastor of Life Groups, Jonathan Scheffrahn, to hear about this heart passion and how the dinners came to fruition.
How did you come up with the idea for Together Again?
Coming out of the season of COVID, we realized that some people in our church family, even though they were coming to church, had not yet started fellowshipping apart from Sunday morning. I would see them on Sunday morning, but I wouldn't see them any other place. So coming into this fall, where we're asking the whole church to be in groups for six weeks for the Fall Series, I was thinking we should do something to help encourage our people to fellowship and share a meal together.
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
I've been reading Acts 2:42-47 and looking at what things the early church did. What did they do? Well, they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, breaking bread together, the fellowship with one another, and to prayer. Well, three of those four things happened at the Together Again dinner. I’m hoping this softens the ground heading into this fall–remembering that we need to be in proximity to each other, sharing a meal together, listening to one another, telling stories, and encouraging one another.
What was the goal behind having this event?
My primary goal was to invite people to fellowship with other people and say, “Boy, I enjoyed being at dinner with those people. I enjoyed hearing stories, I've got to do this more often.” And then at the end of the first dinner, we said, “Here are five more opportunities to do this over the next month where you can go to a men's event or women's Fri-Yay,” all these different things. We want to just encourage people to feel like they can go.
My goal for the second dinner was very similar; however, I just wanted to do more potluck style so our people got to bring something to share. For instance, Rene brought his chicken that he had spent all day cooking and Debbie Tran brought her cheese and onion enchiladas that were wonderful. But I think that my primary goal was just to have us do the things we read about in Acts 2:42-47 with each other and experience how great that is.
Do you think you will have more Together Again dinners in the future?
I think some people look at these events and say, “I don't need another potluck event.” If that person is in a life group, they are likely already doing smaller events like this. For instance, my life group is having a potluck this week. There's my community. I do see this being a great event to repeat every July or August to help people make connections for the Fall Series. I think anytime I look around and say, “Man, it's been a long time since we've had a cross-generational event,” I could see doing another Together Again dinner.
How did you feel seeing people together?
Joy, so much joy. Sometimes as a pastor you worry about people when they go home and wonder, “Did they make any connections?” But to see them all in a room where everyone is connected, getting to be encouraged, and encouraging one another is a wonderful thing. I think emotionally, I loved seeing all the faces. It reminded me of all the things we missed out on in 2020.
How much did you see God working in this event?
In Scripture, God’s heart is for those that are disconnected. I saw people having conversations in both events, people that were not connected anywhere, and they came to this event and now they're here making connections. God is definitely at work in encouraging you all to take the next step. And this was one step in that journey.
I also saw some people coming in with a lot of heavy things on their minds. Getting to see them smile and laugh and share some of those heavy things at the dinner table must have made things feel less heavy. Galatians 6:2 talks about sharing one another’s burdened to fulfill the law of Christ. Well, part of sharing some of those burdens is just helping bear the emotional burdens that people are handling and maybe talking about those people. As you talk about it, it holds less and less power over you.
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” - Galatians 6:2