Why we exist.

The word Al-Ma’idah* in Arabic, means ‘the Table’ but the word means more than a piece of wood, it conjures an image of a table filled with food and conversation. 

We have been working on building bridges between the Christian world and the Muslim world for 5 years and have been able to facilitate meaningful conversations and real friendships between people of different beliefs and cultures. 

Again, we are an unapologetically Christian organization and believe that Jesus is the only way to God, but that doesn’t hold us back from talking to people who think differently, it actually enhances the conversation.

Anyone who has come to our events, or watched some of our podcast will see quickly, that we are eager for Muslims to represent themselves in their own words.

As people who believe in truth, we don’t have to be afraid of learning about different ideas and interacting with people who think differently.

You will find our culture is free from coercion, but encourages persuasion, as we have seen many friendships between Christians and Muslims who disagree deeply, but share mutual respect.

God is the one who changes hearts and minds. Our job is to represent what we believe to be true and show hospitality.

*(Yes Arabic speakers, we know ‘Al’ is translated to ‘the’ and that our name technically translates to ‘The the table’) It just flows better in English, like when people refer to ‘The Al-Asqa Mosque.’)

What we actually do.

Educate. Equip. Engage.

Educate. 

Training Christians to understand Islam as a worldview and Muslims as human beings. 

We have been reading the Islamic source materials, interacting with and studying the Muslim world for more than 6 years and have begun developing resources to help Christians fearlessly meet and befriend their Muslim neighbors in true companionship where an open, two way discussion of faith is a a natural part of the friendship.

We want Christians and Muslims to be well acquainted with the people and world-views around them and to know their own and each others source materials well. 

We believe that when people are educated for themselves, instead of relying on the words of others great things will happen!  

Because of this, we are committed to making Christianity more accessible for Muslims and Islam and the Muslim world more accessible for Christians. Some of this happens through our podcast and media content. Some of it happens through trainings we run at churches or other Christian organizations.

Equip.

Helping Christians feel confident and competent to interact well with their Muslim neighbors.

So often we want to share the deepest things of our life and faith with others, but don't feel like we have the words or skills to do so. Our hope is to help Christians to understand the Muslim community in such a way that we are able to share what we believe in a respectful and friendly way that cuts past superficial interactions and rehearsed arguments, so that we can communicate in friendship, but also with courage and clarity. 

Engage.

Helping Local churches connect their people to their Muslim neighbors.

As well as providing training we want to use our network to build real tangible relationships between local churches in the Seattle area with the Muslim community. Muslims have events that Christians will be welcome at, which we’d encourage visiting. More importantly, we want to help you invite your Muslim neighbors into your community, so how do you do that?

We have generally built everything around food and want to help you think through how to show great hospitality!

We aren't just here for academics, we want to make sure everyone we work with is committed to practical engagement of the Muslims in their city.