Open Table Launches at LBF

By Gary Keith, Lead Pastor

After more than two years of praying and planning and educating and building connections with our community, LBF will start a new ministry to those who are  experiencing poverty and I couldn’t be more excited.

During the month of February we will be training those of you who have
volunteered to be part of this “Home Mission” effort. I’m grateful for a man named Jon Katov, who started The Open Table in 2005 after his own encounter with poverty and a deep Christian desire to do something that will last.

As we begin this “Home Mission” it reminds me of my trip to Kenya in several ways. For example, I knew what I wanted to see accomplished in Kenya, but I had never met the actual people, so I needed to be ready to flex and adjust to their needs and not just my own pre-determined ideas of what to do. Starting this new Open Table ministry will be the same.

I know that our end goal is to help people in poverty return to a self-sustaining lifestyle, but I really can’t predict everything we will face or every situation that will come our way. With the Open Table model, the person we are helping has full veto power to anything that the table suggests. This is to maintain the dignity of the individual. It is also important for the individual to believe that they are in control of their life and that they can do this for themselves.

Yes, it is true that there is still much to learn as we enter this world of helping people in a genuine and authentic way. And in an effort to help in that learning, our elders and staff are reading a book called When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor and Yourself. Although we are just beginning our reading, even the first chapter reminded us of something we may have forgotten or not thought about lately. The author asked, “Why did Jesus come to this earth?”

Now the answer for most of us would be to provide salvation, to provide forgiveness for our sins, to do what we could not do for ourselves. And you would be correct. But let’s not forget what Jesus also said: 

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

So as we start this new ministry to the poor, rest assured that we are smack-dab in the middle of God’s will for us as a church. May His name be glorified and His reputation enhanced in our community as we move forward.