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My name is: Annette Ethridge
Church: Open Table UMC, Raleigh, NC
How do you engage in Holistic Mission?
Holistic Mission is engaging in the mission of God through love and compassion. During these days of cultural struggle, Jesus’ compassion stands out to me more and more, for example, Jesus feeding the five thousand. Jesus was going to a place of solitude after the death of a friend. The crowds followed. He abandoned His need for the need of the crowd. He had compassion on them and healed them. Not only that, he fed them instead of sending them away. Serving 5,000 people would be draining mentally, emotionally and physically. What is impossible for us alone is possible through the redemptive power of our God.
Holistic Mission is the active representation of the redemptive power of God. We see through the eyes of God’s love and compassion, and we engage in what is set before us with the purpose of restoration. As a group of people, we unify, and we act.
Open Table UMC’s story is a story of Holistic Mission. It began in 1942 when Trinity UMC was birthed in the Oakwood neighborhood near downtown Raleigh. After many years of thriving ministry, the church began to feel it was becoming disconnected from the community. So in 2016 it made the bold decision to re-launch as a completely new church dedicated to embracing the redemptive power of God for the whole community. Open Table was born – a new church building upon this foundation. Today, Open Table is a place where we love our neighbors, no exception. We love by our actions, by our actions, we serve.