A History of City-Reaching: Mission America Coalition Now Called The Table Coalition
Pastors and ministry leaders who want to find out what other city-reachers are doing across North America to share Jesus in their communities can turn to The Table Coalition, formerly known as Mission America. The Table Coalition is the U.S. arm of The Lausanne Movement. The ministry is a collaboration of hundreds of Christian ministry leaders along with denominations, local and national ministries, and local churches who come together to strategize about evangelism in our nation.
Reaching America
The Mission America Coalition began when leaders in America approached the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization with their desire to reach America with the Gospel through Church leader collaboration. In 1974, following the International Congress for World Evangelization in Switzerland, leaders created the U.S. Lausanne Committee to formalize the support of localized evangelism activities in communities across the nation.
In 1993, The U.S Lausanne Committee formed the Mission America Coalition under the leadership of Dr. Billy Graham, Dr. Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade for Christ), and Dr. John Perkins (founder of the Christian Community Development Association).
Dr. Paul Cedar, a national evangelistic leader, was named CEO. Dr. Cedar came to the position passionate about sharing the Gospel in the United States, North America, and around the globe. He previously served as president of the Evangelical Free Churches of America for 6 years in the early 1990s and led churches from California to Illinois. He also worked with The Billy Graham Association and served at Youth for Christ. He took on the role of CEO of the Mission America Coalition after serving as executive chair of the Lausanne Movement for 6 years. His deep ministry on the global, national, and local levels made him well suited to lead the burgeoning efforts of the Mission America Coalition.
The Mission America Coalition hosted numerous events to discuss and collaborate on strategies for reaching cities in the United States. It has grown from a small group of leaders to a coalition focused on national evangelism. Partners in the Mission America Coalition worked together in collaboration for events such as Celebrate Jesus 2000, 911 Remembrance, Shaping Eternity, and more to help spread the Gospel. Other events bring the Church together to design local campaigns that help reach specific communities in a relevant way.
Focusing on Influencers
As one of the founders of the Mission America Coalition, Billy Graham witnessed first hand that leaders could often be isolated from each other. He prioritized bringing leaders together for prayer, support, and relationship-building. The gatherings of The Table Coalition follow this same format. Graham referred to this mutual collaboration and partnership as “the spirit of Lausanne.”
By focusing on people who influence culture, the Mission America Coalition brings together leaders who influence culture for Jesus in all sectors. From pastors to teachers to business leaders, God moves through these leaders to influence culture and promote Christian values.
The Mission America Coalition members value relationships among these leaders so everyone can hear how God is using them in their cities and contexts. Men and women, young and old, from all backgrounds, the people who came together in the Mission America Coalition shared ideas to promote their singular mission of sharing the Gospel in an appropriate way within their local contexts.
Four Goals
The Mission America Coalition, and the Lausanne Committee before it, existed to create a world where–
The Gospel is made available to everyone
There are churches that make disciples everywhere
Churches and the marketplace have godly leaders
Society is impacted
Now The Table Coalition
In 2018, Mission America Coalition became The Table Coalition. This network of churches and missions organizations exists to catalyze partnership within the American Church so that more people know Jesus. The coalition consists of almost 100 Christian denominations and hundreds of thousands of local churches, local and national ministries, and prayer and discipleship movements.
CEO Nick Hall
Minneapolis-based evangelist Nick Hall now leads The Table Coalition as CEO. As someone who speaks around the world through his ministry, Pulse, Nick has shared the Gospel with over 330 million people, with 2 million responses to the message of Jesus. He focuses primarily on Millennials and Gen Z, speaking on college campuses and through his Together events (2016, 2018, and 2022) that have gathered thousands of people in places such as Washington, D.C. and Texas.
Through Pulse, Nick Hall is also raising up young evangelists who can help reach their generation for Jesus. In recent days, he has witnessed another Jesus Movement as people are beginning to see how the world’s ways have failed them. He sees more people responding to the Gospel than ever before at his events. The members of The Table Coalition feel encouraged about Jesus’ work in the world and that their efforts to share the Gospel are not in vain.
Like Paul Cedar under the Mission America Coalition, Nick Hall is uniquely positioned to bring The Table Coalition to the next level in this decade, mobilizing the next generation to take the mantle of evangelism to spread the Gospel across the United States, from Washington DC to Wyoming, in a corporate effort to reach every household for Jesus through shared resources.
How to Reach the Nation
Nick Hall and the members of The Table Coalition, just like the Mission America Coalition before it, believe that fulfilling the Great Commission begins with prayer. Through prayer, they ask the Lord to come and do the things only He can do. They humbly ask Him to forgive sins and heal the nation. They ask for guidance on how to effectively reach their cities for Him. By doing so, they lay the foundation for a move of God in cities across America.
The Table Coalition members also live out their faith as the hands and feet of Jesus. Through service to people in practical ways, they take the opportunity to become the living Body of Christ on the earth. But actions alone won’t explain the Gospel message. They also need to verbally talk about Jesus. As they share what God has done in their lives and explain how Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are real and relevant, they give hope to others.
The message of Jesus is needed today more than ever. People are searching for answers in all the world’s places. It’s time that people begin to understand the abundant life that Jesus offers. That “He came to give us life, and life to the full" within a family of believers.
This “prayer, care, share” model of evangelism is the hallmark of the ministry of the partners in The Table Coalition.
The Table Coalition Benefits
People who join The Table Coalition connect with leaders from similar ministries across the nation to collaborate about evangelism efforts. Together, they learn solutions to evangelistic roadblocks and spark new missional ideas that can be attempted in another context to help build a spiritual infrastructure in an area. One church in Hawaii has the motto, “just try.” By executing an idea to reach a community for Jesus, we can learn about our region by the activities that bear fruit and the ones that don’t and for ways to reach specific individuals and groups.
People in the network also receive monthly e-newsletters that promote national ministry events, provide fresh missional ideas, offer links to evangelism podcasts, blogs, or other online resources, and provide best practices for city-reaching as well as other updates. This communication encourages readers that they are not alone in their evangelistic efforts.
The network also provides collaboration with intergenerational mentors. Younger leaders have much to learn from older leaders, and vice versa. By working together, The Table Coalition members can be more effective in reaching their respective cohorts. At times, younger generations can provide technical assistance in ways to reach people via social media, for example.
Each month, members of The Table Coalition also meet together for a weekly prayer call to intercede for their specific ministries, outreaches in their local area, personal needs, and to share resources. These prayer calls encourage the leaders as they step out in missional activities.
Members are encouraged to hold local Table Gatherings in their area. While meeting online serves a purpose, meeting in person for prayer and mutual encouragement helps to build networks in local areas to develop synergy and collaboration around evangelism. It's a way to grow the economy of Jesus in a city.
If you would like to host a Table Gathering in your area, let us know by completing the form below.
Yes, I want to host a Local Table Gathering
City-Reaching, One Person at a Time
One active partner of The Table Coalition is Q-Place. This ministry empowers everyday believers to establish a safe place to discuss God and the Bible. For most people this looks like having discovery groups in their homes. Based in Wheaton, Illinois., the ministry recently completed a national training for new group leaders. A group in Cincinnati, Ohio is training people to hold discussion groups around Christian faith.
Q-Place is just one expression of what people can do to become more active around evangelism in their communities.
Contact Us
If you’re interested in joining The Table Coalition community, sign up to be a member of The Table Coalition anytime.
