Recently the Table Project, a private social network for your church, announced that they were being acquired by Gateway Church in Dallas. Now Gateway is a big church. More than 25,000 people, one of the top 25 fastest growing churches in the country, etc. But a church acquiring a tech company? That’s different.
I love seeing the church do more than Sunday morning.
I love seeing the church do more than VBS or neighborhood outreach.
I love seeing the church do more than missions.
I love seeing the church do more.
All of those things are great, but I love seeing churches giving back to other churches. We’re not in competition. We’ve all got the same goal. Why not help each other out?
So Gateway is going to finance the Table Project and keep it free for other churches. And not just big megachurches. (Their FAQ answers that question with a “No way.” Love it. I used to write for the Table and I’m thrilled to see they’ve still got a strong voice.)
It’s the same kind of thing LifeChurch.tv has done with the YouVersion Bible app, the Church Online Platform, Church Metrics and free resource downloads at Open. A lot of churches have shared their graphic resources, like Church on the Move with Seeds, Southeast Christian Church with Stuff I Can Use, Elevation Church and others.
It’s what Creative Missions was about last week. I love seeing the church helping the church.
It’s especially cool when we’re talking about churches building something new (not just sharing their leftovers). Sharing stuff you’ve already made is great, but when churches do something new and share it? That’s powerful. That’s not the kind of thing any sane company or organization would do, and that’s exactly the point. The Church is not a normal organization. We should be extravagant with one another and with the world.
Let’s Talk:
- What are some other examples of churches giving stuff away to other churches?
- How about churches doing new stuff and sharing it?
- What’s something your church is doing that it could give to another church?
Laura Catalano
June 5, 2013
I started EpiscopalShare.org a couple of months ago to share “tweetable” prayers, shareable prayer cards on FB, and church social media tips on the blog.
David Heys
June 5, 2013
We’ve been running a project to read the whole New Testament in one year (260 chapters in the 260 working days in every year) called READ260. Each month we produce some notes and a reading plan bookmark via our website. (http://www.lansdownebaptistchurch.org.uk/category/news/read260/).
Another local church has also picked up on this and is using it with their youth group too. It’s great to see something like this spread locally.
Cameron Smith
June 5, 2013
LOVE when churches give their stuff away!
We jumped on the sharing resources train last year: http://www.ccvresources.com
Kevin D. Hendricks
June 6, 2013
Great examples. Thanks for sharing!
Destiny Church of Jacksonville
June 7, 2013
I created http://www.youthgroup-games.com to give away powerpoint games, small and large group games, and video countdowns. I hope it blesses some of you youth pastors out there.
Elle Campbell
June 11, 2013
Love it! We’re on board too, along with some of our pals from other churches – lots of free editable resources developed by and for our ministries. Stuff for small groups, partnering with parents, volunteer training, and games. :) http://www.stuffyoucanuse.org
Kaya
June 19, 2013
gamechurch.com is reaching a whole subculture of gamers that have been largely ignored by Christian culture through the unique materials they are creating and giving away at video game trade shows
Vince
June 24, 2013
Our team primarily shares work on creationswap.com. We’re a small church but don’t really have the traffic to get the word out about our resources, so creationswap has been our choice of hosting our materials.
Josh
June 22, 2017
Whatever happened to the Table Project? I can’t seem to find it.
Josh Hawkins
July 23, 2017
I was wondering the same. After the acquisition by Gateway Church in Dallas, I can’t find thing on it. Please tell me this didn’t get killed by a mega church.