The Friendship Table

The Friendship Table

Known as North Carolina’s International City, High Point was once home to thriving furniture and hosiery industries. Although the International Home Furnishings Market is still held in High Point each fall and spring, the city continues to struggle following to loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs over the past twenty years. Although the population of the city of High Point has finally leveled off at around 108,000 people, median household income continues to decline. The median household income in High Point has dropped to $42,299 – less than all surrounding areas – and nearly 22% of High Point residents live below the poverty line. Since 2000, High Point has seen a 77% growth in the number of people living below the poverty line – ranking it the tenth fastest growing area for poverty in the nation. Out of this deep poverty also comes a lack of access to food. In 2014, according to Food Research and Action Center’s Index of Food Hardship, the Greensboro-High Point area was rated as the number one area in the nation for food insecurity. In 2018, according to Food Hardship in America, Greensboro-High Point still ranks in the top five worst metropolitan areas for food hardship. The city rose to 14^th in 2021 by establishing over 40 food banks. Yet, food insecurity persists.

Through collaborations, this project has the potential to serve 3,000+ inner-city High Point residents who live in zip code 27260, the 4^th poorest zip code in North Carolina in cities of 60,000 or more, and the only zip code in the top ten located in the Piedmont (Central) Region of the state. Through participation in local community-based organizations working in this zip code, members of The Friendship Table can participate in grass roots food projects that will help shape their experience in personal ways and add to their knowledge and understanding of the causes of food scarcity. 

To address this overwhelming need, we plan to established an intentional community of four to six young adults (21-28) to participate in an eleven month intensive program of service and food justice work, leadership training, vocational discernment, and intentional community living under a rule of life. (Due to Covid-19, we were unable to have a live-in community and had a part-time director for 2020-2021.) The community is called The Friendship Table as a nod to our desire to build a bigger table that allows access to all: access to Christ in our midst, access to the love of God in community, access to St. Mary’s and The Episcopal Church, access to enough food, access to healthy food, access to resources for empowerment and justice. With a full-time director, The Friendship Table can commit more time to the work of these organizations and learn more about the structural foundations resulting in food insecurity. St. Mary’s parishioners have created a pesticide-free Good News Garden and The Friendship Table members can work with this endeavor as a natural piece of the food production aspect of food justice and creation care. 

The Friendship Table seeks to make the Good News of the Kingdom known in real and tangible ways by responding to human need in service and seeking to transform unjust structures in society. We want everyone to experiences the “enough” of the reign of God: enough love, enough access to resources, and enough food. With the focus on spiritual formation, the participants will find themselves in an environment in which growth in the faith is encouraged and facilitated, through spiritual direction, participation in the Servant Leadership School of Greensboro’s introductory courses, and through worship and reflection within the group. Likewise, those with whom they interact will come into contact with genuine servants of God and be invited into the faith, whether overtly or subtly. Another strong focus of the community will be on creation care as a natural piece of the food production aspect of food justice. 

One neighborhood elementary school in High Point regularly has thirty or more nationalities and ethnic groups represented. When we call High Point the International City, we don’t just mean during furniture market. In High Point, working with marginalized and under resourced segments of the population means exposure to a breathtaking diversity of cultures and religions. 

High Point is largely missing the age demographic we are seeking to recruit into the program. Not only will the intentional community be a means of enrichment for the participants, but it will be a source of energy for the community as a whole. We are seeking to partner with the High Point Food Alliance, which has been successful with community gardens, and with High Point University, which is establishing its own intentional Christian communities of undergraduates.

The Community’s Rule of Life will be explicitly Christian in nature and will establish expectations and norms for the community regarding prayer, worship, and the sacramental life. Community members will each be enrolled under the care of a trained Spiritual Director and will participate together in the Servant Leadership School of Greensboro’s two basic courses. The community will also establish norms for itself around prayer and Bible study at home in the shared living space and will participate in other formation activities as planned by the Program Director. Members will be expected to worship regularly at St. Mary’s and will be encouraged to find an additional faith community separate from St. Mary’s if their faith tradition is one other than The Episcopal Church.