Encounter. Transform. Respond: The Emmaus Experience is the theme for our 2023 Dakotas Annual Conference. In the Emmaus story, Jesus was revealed in the breaking of bread. We know this experience continues as people encounter the living Christ around the table. In this lunch-n-learn session, held on June 9, 2023, presenter Rev. Michael Beck dives deeper into the Dinner Church model of Fresh Expressions. Fresh Expressions seeks to transform communities and individuals through championing, resourcing, and multiplying new ways of being church. Fresh expressions are your opportunity to invite new people to Jesus in new places working alongside your current church setting.

Church was not always done the way we do it. There was a time when Christians gathered around tables, included the strangers and the poor, ate together, and talked about Jesus. This form of church occurred mostly during the first three hundred years of Christianity and was highly effective in bringing lost people to Jesus. While the church of today is very meaningful to Christ-followers, it is failing to help our lost neighbors and their way to the Savior. That is no small concern for Jesus’ churches, all of which are called to be in the rescue business.

OTHER RESOURCES: 
Imagine Day—Gather a team for Imagine Day with Rev. Dr. Michael Beck, a United Methodist pastor and director of re-missioning for Fresh Expressions US will take place on September 30, 2023 at 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. CDT at hub sites across the Dakotas and Minnesota Conferences.

Burritos and Bibles—Michael Beck and his wife love to go to Moe's Southwest Grill so they started forming relationships and gathering people. It has sprouted into a dinner church. A model of Fresh Expressions. Watch the video.

Dinner Church Collective—The Dinner Church Collective Is a website for a nation-wide community of mealtime missionaries spreading the W2ord about a simple, effective and historical approach to starting new forms of church.