Our Story

The Table didn't come from nowhere.

In January of 2017, Brett Tilford and a group of others launched a satellite campus of a larger church. The values that now define this community — thoughtful, inclusive, eclectic, communal, vulnerable — came partly from that earlier place. The people who helped start The Table came from there too. Some were mentors. Some were literal family.

That earlier community was beautiful in many ways. Over almost three years, gay and lesbian folks began to attend regularly. The church wasn't fully affirming, and they couldn't fully participate in its life. It wasn't dramatic — not big and ugly — just slowly, increasingly uncomfortable for everyone. Eventually Brett and others felt they couldn't continue in integrity. Both Elder teams met for months hoping to find a way through. They couldn't.

It's neither true that they heartlessly kicked us out. Nor that I, in willful rebellion, led those people astray. The truth is — we tried. Both of us. All of us. Our Elder team met with their Elder team for months. We were even hoping for a middle way... and it just didn't work out. We just couldn't figure it out. So we said goodbye. I still miss them. I know they miss us. I pray for them. I know they pray for us.

— Brett, Forgive & Forget, November 13, 2023

In November of 2019, twenty-nine adults from Collin and Dallas counties gathered for the first time as The Table. The first few months were unbelievable — energy, excitement, momentum. Then the world shut down. The church survived that season, but it lost a lot.

The vision Brett named in a Table Talk video just before the launch hasn't changed: The Table exists to shift a generation from reactionary to visionary through the person and work of Jesus.

We meet inside First United Methodist Church of Sachse, on Sunday evenings at 5pm. Twenty-nine became more. The story is still being told.

We're saving you a seat.