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MONTREAL PREACHING PEACE TABLE

MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT

The Preaching Peace Table is a weekly lunchtime gathering of urban pastors, leaders and preachers who break bread and read the gospel passage together from the lectionary. The guiding question, asked by our facilitator is always the same, “How would we preach this passage for peace in our city?” The communal learning and reading approach helps those around the table imagine together the principles of gospel peace in their city and promotes unity amongst the body of Christ in Montreal.

Image by Joel Muniz

HOW THE PREACHING PEACE GROUP WAS BORN

The director of Street Psalms reached out to other pastors in the city of Tacoma who preached from the lectionary and asked if they would be interested in meeting for a weekly discussion of the gospel lectionary text as a way to prepare for their sermons. Because Street Psalms helps urban leaders love their city and seek its peace, we attended their weekly discussion of the Gospel passage that asks one a simple question, “How do we preach this text for peace?” Since the start in 2013, there are now ten Preaching Peace Tables around the world.

THE NEED

Too many pastors lack the support and collegial community they need to minister in an urban context, especially in vulnerable urban communities. Far too often energetic, gifted, and compassionate pastors are hobbled by overwhelming need, rivalry, resentment, and most dangerous of all, isolation. Nowhere is this truer than in the task of preparing weekly sermons.

THE RESPONSE

The Preaching Peace Table does 3 things:

Sets a table where urban pastors can prepare their sermons within a diverse community.

Cultivate a community of practice that offers peer learning, mentorship, coaching, and soul care.

Provide urban pastors access to thought leaders and a global network to enliven their professional lives and their church community.

The Montreal Preaching Peace Table started in January 2020 gathering leaders and pastors around the lectionary each week. They meet for lunch on Thursdays and together they write a collective prayer before digging into the biblical passage.
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