Blog

A Tremendous Gift

Meeting needs within the church and connecting the community is what the Table is all about. And it's thrilling to see it happening:

Read more stories of how the Table is impacting people and churches.

Has the Table impacted you or your church? Share your story.

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The Table is Free, But Free Is Not Easy

The Table is a free gift to your church. We call it "price less." It's one of the major things that sets us apart. We're not going to be a drain on your budget and we're not here to up-sell you or lock you into some monthly commitment. We've taken money out of the equation. It's part of who we are.

People often hear that and ask how we make money and if we'll always be free. Good questions with good answers in our FAQ section.

While the Table is free, that doesn't mean a private social network for your church is easy. The Table may be free, but free is not a strategy for your church.

The reality is that launching the Table at your church is a lot of work. It may not cost you money, but it will cost you time, effort and energy. You need to recognize those costs as you consider the Table for your church. We're not trying to scare you away, but help you to understand the gravity of what you're about to embark upon. We think the community and spiritual development potential of the Table can be huge for your church (just check out these stories!). But it's going to take a lot of work to get there. You can't just sign up, send out some emails and sit back and wait for community to happen. Nothing worthwhile is that easy.

Successfully launching the Table requires a solid strategy, leadership buy-in and a lot of work. We've put together a roadmap to show you how it's done. Our lack of a price tag may tempt you to dive right in, but you need to invest the time to plan and thoroughly think through how the Table is going to work at your church.

The Table is a gift to you, but accepting that gift means you have to make the most of it.

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Merry Christmas: Re-Gift the Table

We at the Table Project would like to wish you and your church family a merry Christmas. We've already given you the best gift we can: Making the Table free for your church.

But there are plenty of pastors, church administrators, small group leaders and people in the pew who would love the community-building power of the Table, but sadly don't even know about it. Since the Table is free, the only thing holding them back is somebody spreading the word.

This is where you come in: We hope you'll spread the holiday cheer by "re-gifting" the Table. Tell other churches about the Table. Give them a free gift this Christmas by letting them know about the Table. Tell your pastor friends, your family at other churches and your pals across the country. It won't cost you anything and it won't cost them anything. But it will build community and strengthen local churches as people serve, pray and connect with one another. Now that's a merry Christmas!

Below we've drafted some handy text you can use to easily spread the word, though we encourage you to personalize it. People really get excited about the Table when they hear how it impacts people's lives—receiving prayer in the moment of need, getting much needed help and connecting with people in the pew. Post these snippets to Twitter, Facebook or send an email:

• Help your church slay anonymity, champion prayer & squash apathy with the Table. Plus, it's free! Merry Christmas. http://tableproject.org
• Don't just go to church, be church. Check out the community-building power of the Table. It's free! Merry Christmas. http://tableproject.org
• The Table helps my big church feel small. Check it out for your church. And Merry Christmas, it's free! http://tableproject.org
• The Table helps my small church feel big. Check it out for your church. And Merry Christmas, it's free! http://tableproject.org
• The Table helps me remember names at church. You should get it for your church, it's free! Merry Christmas. http://tableproject.org

Thanks for your support and again, merry Christmas.

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5 Ways the Table is Different

We've talked about why your church might see benefits in a private social network like the Table versus a public social network like Facebook. Now it's time to talk about why you should pick the Table as your private social network.

There are other private social networks out there geared for the church. We're happy to be working alongside them and thankful that we're not in this alone. But we think we have something better to offer.

Here are five things that set the Table apart:

1. Nonprofit - Being a nonprofit means we're about our users and mission first. We have no obligation to make a profit, which gives us the freedom and flexibility to serve our users first. This isn't meant as a slam on our competition—we realize they consider themselves ministries as well. But the difference is in the DNA. We're set up to serve a mission, and a business is set up to serve a bottom line.

2. It's a Gift - We offer the Table up to churches completely free. This isn't a low-level trial offer, this is a limitless, any church, any size, any usage for free. We like to call it "priceless." We wanted to eliminate any barriers that can keep your church from growing, and even $10 a month can be a big barrier for a cash-strapped church.

3. Open Architecture - If the Table isn't doing what you need, you can build something to do what you want. We're working on our open API that will allow you to develop your own app for your church—and, if you're willing, share it with all the other Table churches out there. To be fair, our API isn't available yet. But it's in the plan and we're working on it (sign up here to be notified when it's ready). Other church social networks aren't even planning on it.

4. Integrators - The Table is not about re-creating the wheel. If there's something better out there, let's work with it. That's why we integrate with Fellowship One. That's why we import blogs, podcasts and videos. That's why we connect with Facebook. There's no need to rebuild what already works. We can just be the social frosting that brings it all together for your church.

5. Flexible and Customizable - The way the Table is set up individual churches can customize the experience. If prayer is important for your church, you make the Prayer Wall the default home page. There are a number of other ways the interface can be customized and allow the Table to be flexible for different groups or campuses.

Learn more about our story, our guiding manifesto and who's behind the Table Project.

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Free Faith Icons

We're hard at work on our iPhone app and in the process we saw a need for some icons. When we looked around the marketplace to see what we could find, we didn't come up with much. The world of Christian software could use some non-cheesy graphics.

So we decided to make our own.

And share them.

Check out FreeFaithIcons.com to get your hands on some slick and stylish faith-related icons. Feel free to use them for your own iPhone app or web project.

When we say we decided to make our own, we mean we teamed up with Squared Eye and Rogie King at Komodo Media. Squared Eye had the idea, Rogie brought the creative muscle and we made it happen. And now we're sharing them with you. It's kind of like a digital potluck:

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The Table Goes Public

Yesterday the Table launched publicly to U.S churches. We had over 400 churches sign up on the first day alone. Wow.

Here's a glimpse of churches using the Table around the country:

We've got all but four states represented. C'mon, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Hawaii: We've got a seat waiting for you.

We're grateful for the response and eager to see churches pull up a chair and discover how the Table can help. While it's so encouraging to see all those churches, this isn't about big numbers. It's about creating conversation and community. That won't happen in a day, but we're thrilled to see the potential.

It's been a long journey and getting to our public launch is quite a milestone. But we're not the type to throw a big party and toot our own horn. We've got a lot of work to do. We're answering questions and fixing bugs and helping people figure out how the Table can work for their church. We're also working on new features, making the Table bigger and better as we go.

Thanks for checking us out. And we hope you will pull up a chair. Because the Table is our gift to the church. It's completely free with no monthly fees, limits or boundaries. That's the way community should be.

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The Table will be free to everyone Feb. 23rd.

The last couple years have been a wonderful journey for the Table Project. In summary, an idea was conceived, dozens of churches verified the need and collaborated on the design, "The Table" was built and now after over 100 churches have tested the system, we are excited to open the doors to everyone!

The momentum is growing for private social networks within churches. As these types of systems are rolled out, churches are seeing how different the conversation is on a private custom network than their public facebook page or twitter stream. We are proud to be the only community software built for the church that is absolutely free.

We encourage growth on your Table by not putting any restrictions on members, groups or content. It was our goal from the beginning to create a delightful product that was both enterprise level and no cost to the local church. It is our gift to you, and we are excited to see how you use it.

Help us spread the word.  

1) Send this link (http://bit.ly/gSb0Vu) to anyone you know in ministry that may want their own private social platform.

2) Tweet "The @table is free to everyone Feb.23rd"

3) Post our video on your blog or website.

Still wondering about everything the Table will do for your church? View this video and be watching for our new feature pages that will make their debut on this site in a few days.

 

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Let's Get Together

Update: All 50 accounts have been given away.  Stay tuned for our public launch!

The Table is currently in "Limited Release", which means no one can get an account right now unless they participate in our Twitter contest.  Take a look at all the creative churches who got together already and tweeted the pic of their party. 22 churches have received free accounts which leaves 28 spots left.  All you have to do to get an account is:

1)Have a get-together

2)Make a sign - "We want the Table"

3)Post your pic on twitter with the words "We want the @table!"

As a bonus, the largest get-together (longest table) wins 4hrs of free consulting with the Table team.

Current leaders - Jefferson Baptist - 64ft!(Winners)

Anchorage City Church - 64ft! (Winners)

Crossway Christian Church

Arun Community Church

Endcliffe Church

Journey Chattanooga

Keystone Church

Seymour Heights Church

Wooddale Church 

Cornerstone Church

Berean Bible Church

Adventure Church

705 Community

First Christian Church

Grace Church

Great Hills Baptist Church

Hill Country Bible Church Northpoint

Moffett Road Assembly of God

Soma Community Church

The Cabin 

Tigard Christian Church

First Evangelical Free Church - Minneapolis

Willamette Church

West Gate Church

Victory International

Vertice 24

Trinity Church - Joppa, MD

The Oaks

St. Stephens Edina, MN

Rock Church Wilmington

Redeemer Lutheran

Phoenix First

Park Chapel

Oasis Centro Cristiano

Mercy Vineyard Church

Journey Church Columbus

Grace East Church

First United Methodist Church - Springdale

First Baptist Church- Muncie

Discovery Church

Cumberland Church

Coastal Community Church

Calvary Church - CO

Bethel Lutheran Church

All Saints Parish

St. Joseph Church

Community of Hope Church

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