The DinnerChurchCollective owns a training house in Seattle, WA to host church leaders for a 3-day training and observation event. These visits include accommodations, breakfast’s, training sessions, opportunities to observe a couple Dinner Churches in action, and fireside dialogues with experienced leaders during the evenings. it is assumed that each one attending a Dinner Church Immersion has read the Dinner Church Handbook or the Overseers Handbook, both of which can be ordered from this site.

The training sessions offered at Immersions are both dialogue-based and observation-based. The dialogue sessions begin with a theological review of the historic dinner church, and work progressively toward practical issues and large scale strategies such as an overseer who is tasked with planting city or regional areas might need. Of course, due to the fact that everyone will have already read the handbook and have undoubtedly gathered some questions, we let the attenders steer much of the discussion.

The observation opportunities will include attending two dinner churches in session, and engaging in those evenings in several different ways. One way is to actually work at the buffet table and see the encouragement that is offered by the servers; in serving food they are serving the Gospel. Another way is to sit back and observe the way non-churched people worship and listen, as well as seeing the prayer and one-on-one conversations taking place across the room. Still another way is to sit at a table, and eat with people who start off as strangers but turn into friends by the end of the night. Many of the visiting leaders will have the opportunity to talk with these new friends about Christ and some will even get to pray a prayer of healing for them. Sitting at a table and turning strangers into friends is the most meaningful role in the room. A final way to engage in the evening is to interview the worship leader, artist, security personnel, pastor, buffet table leader, and those who showed up that evening to be a part of the “lift” team. All of these conversations prove to offer rich practical insights.