A few years ago, we began hosting “Friday Night Out” during the summer. The idea was simple: The church would host dinner and games for kids so that adults could go to dinner together.
We borrowed the basic concept from another church, but added the idea of encouraging both intergenerational dinners and the inclusion of people who didn’t attend Incarnation. We hoped that friendships would form across generational lines within Incarnation and that people outside the church would become friends with people inside the church.
Over the last few years, Friday Night Out has been a success! There have been a bunch of great moments where new people have been introduced to people at the church and people within the church who didn’t really know each other got better acquainted. But over the last few years, the burden has been on the people of the church (i.e., you!) to make these dinners happen. One piece of feedback that we have heard several times is, “Could you help us by arranging dinners? It is hard to arrange dinners with people we don’t already know!”
There is something practical in that feedback, and so this year, the church is going to arrange dinner parties, so that people who genuinely don’t know each other can enjoy time together. (This is increasingly important as the church grows.) Each dinner will have a “host” who will manage a few details (like picking the restaurant or setting up the potluck), but the church will arrange the groups.
To that end, if you would like to be included in a dinner, let us know by emailing Katherine. If you are interested in being a “host,” make certain that you make that clear in your email. You don’t need to have children at home to be involved, but if you plan to bring children to the church, include that information in the email, as well. (Childcare will run from 5:30pm-8:00pm.)
Friday Night Out is coming up on June 21, and we hope that as many people as possible join in!