What can we do to keep people from the community coming to the church after a successful seminar? This question was pondered by Leona Bakewell, Metropolitan (Mich.) Church health and temperance leader, during a very successful Lifestyle Matters Simple Solutions seminar held there in April 2004. As many as 80 people attended Simple Solutions; Leona wanted a program to sustain the interest shown in the Adventist health message. She also desired for them to become familiar with biblical truths taught by her church.

Leona asked attendees, "Would any of you be interested in having a Supper Club once a month in which we could try different recipes that we like, and make them healthy and veggie?" Leona says, "The answer was an overwhelming 'Yes!' by 75 people."

Leona sends monthly announcements to former Simple Solutions seminar attendees, inviting them to come to the Supper Club. Attendees are invited to bring a vegetarian dish in a specific category designated for the month. Categories have included beans/legumes, foods of color, pasta, salad dishes, sauces, toppings, soups, breakfasts, picnic food, casseroles, and desserts.

Every Supper Club includes supper, followed by a short lecture or video related to the category of the month. For the first four months in 2005, Food for Thought, the second phase of the Lifestyle Matters program, was presented. There was a demonstration given on making gluten and baking bread a couple of nights.

The Supper Club has been one of the most successful, monthly-recurring community outreach programs ever conducted at the church. An average of fifteen guests attend every month, but attendance has been as high as 30. The guests have become very comfortable and familiar with the members of the church and everyone is on a first name basis. Guests pitch in and help when the Supper Club get-together is finished.

Leona says, "I have had the opportunity to share our wonderful health ideas with my newfound friends, and they have been able to share their ideas with me. As a team, we have built a trust and now have the opportunity to share our faith in an open forum that is not threatening." Leona experienced the depth of their friendship when they supported and prayed for her after a very serious accident hospitalized her for 12 days.

Sandi Stewart, Metropolitan Church Bible worker, says usually twice as many guests as church members attend the Supper Club. The guests come regularly and invite their friends, too. Sandi adds, "It is a wonderful place to bring my Bible study people. I even have one student that had quit studying that attends the Supper Club. We get into the spiritual as well as the physical and no one seems to mind. I will be offering an opportunity for 'free' study guides one of these nights and will pass them around for people to look at."

One regularly-attending lady, who has taken Bible studies, stated, “Everybody is so friendly. It feels like family.”

Yes, it is God’s family learning more about the bounties He has provided.

Joy Hyde is the Metropolitan (Mich.) Church communication secretary.