Around the Table: Gathering People Together and Building Relationships
By Christy Ogden (Independently published)
Tables play important roles. The communion table occupies a prominent place in worship. Families and friends share meals around the table as “the heart of the home.” Tables offer places for homework, games and conversation, and there’s no one-size-fits-all. Christy Ogden, author of Around the Table, understands and reveals how to intentionally use your table for Gathering People Together and Building Relationships that change the world.
Using personal experience, the minister’s wife, nurse and mother of five shares her journey and lessons learned through her family’s tables. The book begins with thoughts by Christy’s dad about her growing up table and the values he and her mom sought to instill, including waiting for family supper each evening until Dr. Sudan completed hospital rounds.
The Waco native takes the reader through her first married table with high-school sweetheart Jordan, an antique refinished by not-then-famous Clint Harp. She continues with the couple’s first “big kid” purchase, a table shared by hundreds of people, their third “stone of remembrance” as church planters in Michigan, and their new table built by Christy’s dad from Jordan’s family lumber.
In each life stage, Christy details table takeaways. Offer a seat at your table even when you may think your home or food isn’t good enough. Start with just one person or two. Invite those who are lonely or need love and encouragement. Intentionally train children around the table. Include their friends. Prioritize uninterrupted meals and conversation, especially with teens and pre-teens. Allow each person to share, sometimes using table questions. Develop holiday traditions around the table. Always, always offer hope, and remember how God uses tables in the Bible.
In short, Christy Ogden’s Around the Table provides personal illustrations, heartfelt stories, practical ideas and a biblical foundation to motivate Christians to foster relationships and welcome others to the Lord’s table through theirs. A quick read, the book makes a great gift for those serious about using their homes to spread Christ’s love.
Kathy Robinson Hillman, former president
Texas WMU and Baptist General Convention of Texas
Waco
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