We’re Moving Right Along
The planting team of Open Table United Church of Christ is excited to share a few updates about our progress and future plans. At the April 24th Ursinus Association meeting, those present voted to accept our fledgling church into the association. This was the first (and most critical) step towards becoming an official UCC congregation. Since then, we have been hard at work getting all of our paperwork in order with the National Church, and making sure that we cross every “t” and dot every “i”. We haven’t had a new church plant in the Penn Southeast Conference in several decades, so it’s been a learning experience for everyone!
On June 4th, at the Pennsylvania Southeast Conference Spring Meeting, we were officially introduced as a new congregation, and had some incredible conversations with local pastors and lay leaders who are hoping to work with us in ministry. We made it very clear that our church is a non-traditional church which is seeking to reach out to many of the people who are not comfortable in our traditional churches. We are not in competition for members, rather we hope to be like an opposing hand, helping to compliment the work of our existing congregations. This vision brought energy and excitement to the conversation as we collectively dreamed together what God might have in store for our region in the coming years.
Our planting team has been meeting every other Sunday to grow in community, figure out all the necessary details of the new church, and to plan for our launch. Currently, we do not have a permanent location, though we are close. We are meeting at Riverside Park in the meantime. Our official launch date is September 11th, and we are planning to worship in the afternoon so that people from the local churches can come celebrate with us.
If you would like to join us in reimagining the church, feel free to join us on a Sunday morning! You can also help support us financially by clicking here. There is also a place to donate to the church through a secure server and an address to send checks if need be. Thank you for your prayers and support as we do our best to follow the movement of God’s spirit!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Zack