About Us

Love Your Neighbor #NoExceptions


Our story begins in 1942 when Trinity UMC was birthed in the Oakwood neighborhood near downtown Raleigh. After many years of thriving ministry, the church began to feel it was becoming disconnected from the community. So in 2016 it made the bold decision to re-launch as a completely new church dedicated to engaging the community in new ways. In Sept 2017, Open Table was born – a new church building upon the foundation of this incredible history. 


Values

Every day we work towards being a church that is: 


Christ-centered

  • We believe that God wants to bring about a new person by redeeming every part of us. We embrace the salvation Jesus offers as the hope for the healing of our relationships with God, each other, ourselves, and creation. We believe that all of life is spiritual, and that all of our fears, failures, and brokenness can be restored and made whole.


Diverse

  • We believe that our differences make us stronger and that we are called to be reconciled to one another across boundaries of age, race, economics and ethnicity. We welcome the immigrant, stand up for racial justice, embrace one another's viewpoints, and stand against the forces of injustice that divide and dehumanize us. 


Inclusive & Affirming

  • We believe that all people are created in the image of God and that all people deserve to be loved, embraced and included - no matter what. All means all. We make no distinction and place no barriers based on gender or sexual orientation as all are welcome to serve and lead.


Justice-based

  • We believe that Jesus is God in human form and that the church is God's ongoing presence in the world. Led by the Spirit of God, we are passionate about relieving suffering and fighting injustice, joining the God of the oppressed in living out the transforming message of the resurrected Jesus. Jesus calls his church to be a compelling force for good in the world, and we believe that the church is at its best when it serves, sacrifices, and loves, caring about the things God cares about. We were created to live for something larger than ourselves. "Justice is what love looks like in public" -West. 


Generous

  • We take great joy and are intentional in partnering with God to change the world, embracing the truth that all of life is sacred, hope is real and tomorrow can be better than today. We celebrate the divine in the daily, pursuing lives of hope, gratitude, and worship. God invites everyone everywhere into this way of life, and we believe it is the best possible way to live.



We do this through the practices of:

  • The rhythms of liturgical worship
  • Eating, praying and studying together
  • Building relationships and partnerships with those in our community
  • Listening to each other, learning from one another, and serving each other
  • Giving our time, money, and resources to those in need