WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT?
A visit to a church service can be one of the most awkward things you can experience, and we want to make your visit a pleasant one. Whether you’re with us in-person one Sunday each month or virtually every Sunday, there’s a place at the table for you!
HERE’S WHAT HAPPENS ON SUNDAYS:
The gathering for worship typically lasts around an hour or less and begins at 10:30 am (ET).
This spiritual community primarily meets online, but is also a hybrid community one Sunday each month, which means that about half of us meet in person and half gather online. There are typically 20-30 people in-person when we meet, and another 20-30 people online. We gather from not only northeast Ohio, but all over the state of Ohio, Virginia, Georgia, Canada, and many other places!
JOIN US AT ONE OF THESE LOCATIONS:
IN-PERSON THE FIRST SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH:
Madison Middle School | 6079 Middle Ridge Rd. | Madison, OH 44057
Park behind the building and come on in… one of our greeters will show you where to go!
ONLINE EVERY SUNDAY:
Facebook or YouTube
ORDER OF SUNDAY MORNING GATHERINGS:
We begin the countdown at 10:23 am and during that time you’ll see some scrolling announcements on the screen of upcoming events and important information. During this time, find a seat/chair/couch, grab something to drink, and get comfortable.
Liz & Mark or some of our great volunteers will welcome us and let us know how we can get involved in what’s going on in the life of the church.
This is a short, pre-recorded segment where Miss Sarah or Mr. Stephen bring an encouraging word, idea, craft, or activity to our kids both online and in-person. If you’re an adult, you may want to pay attention too because these segments are amazing!
Before the teaching time, we usually feature a video segment intended to connect our community in greater measure. Some examples of these segments include “Coffee Table” where Jennifer shares a book, podcast, or experience with us, “Spiritually Speaking” where Heather helps us find God in many different and unique places and situations, “Current Events” where a variety of different people from the Open Table talk to us about a recent or ongoing event or situation that they are personally connected to, and even an occasional feature from our Justice Initiatives Team about an organization that we are actively partnering with.
Our musicians typically lead us in two songs to help us connect with the Divine spirit in us all. On the Sundays we offer both in-person and online worship some of them may lead us live, and most of the time they produce video arrangements of the songs. During this time there is absolutely no expectation of how you or anyone else should act. If you’d like to stand and sing, great! Prefer to sit and listen? Great!
During this time we encourage everyone to submit their prayer requests and praises in the comments of the FB stream or the chat section of the YouTube stream so that we may consider them together.
After we experience worship in music, Mark or Liz will read through the prayer requests and praises, and then we’ll pray together as a community of faith.
Early Quakers/Friends as well as some modern Friends spend the vast majority of their gatherings for worship in silence, waiting upon God’s Spirit to move them. The gathered church often waits in silence for an hour or more, and if motivated by the Holy Spirit, some may speak, some may sing, some may recite poetry, or share a variety of other divinely inspired utterances for the benefit of the group. When we gather at the Open Table, our worship is more programmed, but we genuinely desire to be lead into worship by God’s Spirit… and so we wait for a couple minutes in silence.
Liz, Mark, or a special guest will present a teaching on a spiritual, biblical, and relevant topic. This typically takes about 15 minutes.
Someone will recite a prayer, read a poem, or teach us a new way to connect with God.
Mark or Liz will offer a fond farewell until the next time we gather!