Progressive dinners were popular a generation ago. It is way of getting to know one another, of being in one anothers' homes and thereby getting a better sense of each other’s wants and needs.
In a progressive dinner, you eat an appetizer here, a salad there, a main dish at the next stop, perhaps a second entree at yet another stop before ending at another house for dessert.
Most people have a lot of fun and we develop deeper relationships. Fellowship bonds are strengthened. The Bible says the early church “ate their bread from house to house.” Maybe they had the first progressive dinners. It also says that they prayed.
Here is an idea for prayer and ministry in your church -- turn a progressive dinner into a prayer event.
A half dozen or so couples are chosen, somewhat randomly, to participate in the event. Another group may comprise yet a different “soup, salad and supplication” experience. You may have several of these simultaneously on the same night.
They will end up visiting in one another’s homes – and of course, praying in each other’s homes, for one another in the course of fun evening.
You may want to arrange the couples in groups who are nearest one another. That cuts down drive time and increases prayer time.
In each home, pray for the couple and the family that lives there. Pray for the house itself. Pray for their neighbors. Pray for any schools and businesses around them.
Go to one home for salad – visit, fellowship, eat and pray!
Go to a second home for soup – visit, fellowship, eat and pray, but don’t hurry. Don’t spend 30 minutes in fellowship and only five minutes in prayer.
If time permits, go to a 3rd home and repeat the process.
Over dessert, at yet another home, discuss the evening. What happened – in the spiritual realm? What are the impressions of what God might have
done? What gifts has grace brought?
This simple but powerful experience will create bonds that will last for years. As each couple shares needs, and others bear those very real burdens to God, right in the home where they daily face trials and tests, what a blessing! There are couples in your church that have never had someone pray for them, in their home, for problems and challenges they face. Such moments are profoundly impacting.
In a progressive dinner, you eat an appetizer here, a salad there, a main dish at the next stop, perhaps a second entree at yet another stop before ending at another house for dessert.
Most people have a lot of fun and we develop deeper relationships. Fellowship bonds are strengthened. The Bible says the early church “ate their bread from house to house.” Maybe they had the first progressive dinners. It also says that they prayed.
Here is an idea for prayer and ministry in your church -- turn a progressive dinner into a prayer event.
A half dozen or so couples are chosen, somewhat randomly, to participate in the event. Another group may comprise yet a different “soup, salad and supplication” experience. You may have several of these simultaneously on the same night.
They will end up visiting in one another’s homes – and of course, praying in each other’s homes, for one another in the course of fun evening.
You may want to arrange the couples in groups who are nearest one another. That cuts down drive time and increases prayer time.
In each home, pray for the couple and the family that lives there. Pray for the house itself. Pray for their neighbors. Pray for any schools and businesses around them.
Go to one home for salad – visit, fellowship, eat and pray!
Go to a second home for soup – visit, fellowship, eat and pray, but don’t hurry. Don’t spend 30 minutes in fellowship and only five minutes in prayer.
If time permits, go to a 3rd home and repeat the process.
Over dessert, at yet another home, discuss the evening. What happened – in the spiritual realm? What are the impressions of what God might have
done? What gifts has grace brought?
This simple but powerful experience will create bonds that will last for years. As each couple shares needs, and others bear those very real burdens to God, right in the home where they daily face trials and tests, what a blessing! There are couples in your church that have never had someone pray for them, in their home, for problems and challenges they face. Such moments are profoundly impacting.