"I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly." John 10:10
The Table is a campus ministry serving Louisiana State University dedicated to living life with Jesus together. At The Table, we make room for students to be themselves and encounter Jesus no matter if they have been a Christian their whole lives or if they are just a little curious about Jesus. No matter where you are in your walk with God, there is a place for you at The Table.
Christ
Central to everything we do and who we are is the person of Christ. We strive to learn how to live the way Jesus lived, encountered in Scripture, traditions passed through the centuries, and formed by the Spirit.
Trinitarian
At the core of Christianity, we find our model for love in the Trinity. It is from the mysterious three-in-one that we learn what it means to be a loving, unified, and diverse people. We are a community that believes the natural goal of Christianity is eternal unity with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and that we have access to that relationship in the here and now.
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Thoughtful
We are a community that values thoughtfulness in how we approach faith, life, and the people around us. We are okay with taking things a bit slow. We think it through, weighing the cost of our words and the implications of our actions. To be thoughtful means that there are no questions or issues that we are unwilling to tackle. Instead, we seek to mirror both the calm and the depth of Christ in whom all are welcome.
Inclusive
We are a radically inclusive community. While many constantly search for an enemy to exclude, we want to keep searching for new people to bring to the table, understanding that we are seated next to a Savior who ate with everyone. No matter what socioeconomic bracket, racial identity, sexual identity, mental facility, or moral standing, we want to create a table big enough to hold everyone.
Diverse
Radical inclusivity means that we want to live into the tension that “difference” creates and celebrates its beautiful chaos. We think there’s beauty in bringing unexpected people, ideas, and traditions of Christianity together because it’s in that place of creative tension that new life happens. That’s why we want and need people of differing theologies, politics, personalities, backgrounds, and giftedness in one community. Sure, it’s uncomfortable at times, but we’re all better off for it because without the new and different we cannot stretch and grow.
Communal
We are a community devoted to the principles of communion. To participate in the sacrament of communion is to lean into the mystery of Christ’s present nearness and to be bonded to each other in an equally mysterious way. As a communal campus ministry, we are committed to being present for one another and allowing the depth that is fostered in being in communion with one another to resonate out into the world around us. We believe that to be in communion with one another is to participate in the reparative, restorative, renewing life of Christ.
Vulnerable
We are a campus ministry committed to vulnerability as it is the linchpin to all of our other values. It takes vulnerability to be introspective in the way that thoughtfulness requires. It takes vulnerability to allow the risks and challenges in the way inclusivity requires. It takes vulnerability to do the work of synthesizing eclectic ideas and making room for the ways our assumptions will be challenged when we do so. And it takes vulnerability to foster the kind of depth and relational intimacy that communion inspires.
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