There’s a Place at the Table for You
How a Midweek Break can Help Ground you in Faith and Community
On Wednesday nights at A&M United Methodist Church, there’s a lot happening. Children ring chimes. Youth gather with friends. College students and adults open their Bibles and wrestle with questions of faith. Choir members rehearse music for Sunday worship. In the middle of it all, people from across our church family sit down together for dinner.
It’s one of the busiest nights of the week at A&M UMC. But the full calendar isn’t really what makes Wednesday nights important. It’s the community we build while we’re here.
It Starts Around a Table
Wednesday nights begin at 5:30 p.m. with dinner in the Great Hall. Meals are $5 per person and free for college students.
Keeping dinner affordable matters, especially when the cost of groceries and eating out continues to put pressure on household budgets. But the table offers something else we need, too: a place to belong.
On any given Wednesday, that table might include a Texas A&M student who has just arrived in College Station, a family trying to get everyone fed between school and bedtime, and church members who have been part of A&M UMC for decades.
For an hour or so, those different lives intersect.
“Wednesday nights are the cornerstone of our community. Around the table and in our studies, different generations and people from different backgrounds get to dig a little deeper into our faith together."
- Lance Richards, A&M UMC Senior Pastor.
That’s part of what we mean when we say there’s a place at the table for you. You don’t have to be a certain age. You don’t have to know everyone already. You don’t need to have all the answers about faith. There’s room for you to come as you are.
A Place for Every Generation
Beginning at 6:15 p.m., the church heads to a set of tailored studies, group discussions, and activities. Having something for different ages isn’t simply convenient, although we know how important that convenience can be for families. It allows children, youth, college students, parents, working adults, retirees, and everyone in between to participate in the life of the church at the same time and in the same place.
Additionally, free nursery care is also available for children age 4 and younger.
“On Wednesday nights, we create space for each other, and ultimately get an incredible sense of belonging,” said Lindsey Runyan, A&M UMC Associate Pastor. “People feel challenged in their faith, not about whether we agree or disagree, but rather knowing all a part of the body of Christ, working together in the same mission to live, learn, work, and play like Jesus.”
This fall, our adult groups offer several different doors into that community.
The Community Between Sundays
Sunday worship is at the heart of our life together, but a church family is built through more than an hour of worship once a week. Wednesday nights give us that time. There may be meals to serve, lessons to teach, conversations to have, children running around, music coming from the choir room, and plenty happening throughout the building. But underneath all that activity is something much simpler.
Pull up a chair. Bring the kids. Come for dinner. Stay for a study, Youth Group, or Choir. Meet someone you don’t know yet. There’s a place at the table for you.