What We Do

Advocacy / Education

The Family Table will come alongside your church; by sharing about the needs of children in the foster care system of Los Angeles, the various ways to help, and listen to your team in order to best facilitate what God wants to do in and through your church. We’ll assess your desire and capacity in order to help you understand the role God is preparing for your church. Contact us for an info session and someone from our team will share with your church or small group to help raise awareness of what God is doing in your community!

Equipping

We not only mentor and train your church to implement and execute your plan, but will be available and accessible to walk with you throughout the entire process: for encouragement, support, and resources. We will make sure you have the tools you need: an understanding of the system, introduction to the agencies and non-profits working in your area, and practical ways to get involved in meeting the needs of abused and neglected children.

CarePortal

Family Table’s CarePortal network is an exciting collaboration that connects churches, agencies, and community partners around addressing the needs of hurting children and families.  This is done through a geographically based communication system that invites the local church and community to help. Opportunities on CarePortal include supporting children and families in crisis, foster care support, reunification efforts, adoption finalization, and assisting youth who are aging out.  To learn more about the scope of CarePortal watch this video that explains what we call the Grid.

The Family Table utilizes the CarePortal platform to connect churches to real time opportunities for meaningful connections in your community.  CarePortal is a tool that helps churches take a significant first step in engaging the child welfare crisis in their local community. Your church is likely already providing for physical needs and engaging in relational care and support to those around them. CarePortal helps to accelerate the good work you are already doing in your neighborhood to those who need it the most.

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Coaching

• Discover:
  We begin by establishing a biblical foundation for orphan care, assessing your present efforts, and seeking the Lord’s direction in crafting a mission statement for your church’s strategic engagement. You will be guided through developing a set of core values, discovering and articulating a unique vision to align with God’s heart for vulnerable children and compel your church to action.
• Develop:
  Your coach will assist you as you develop a strategic plan in order to realize your churches unique contribution to the foster care crisis in Los Angeles. This plan will include a broad set of opportunities, making it possible for everyone in your congregation to be involved. Then we’ll help you start building strong partnerships with local agencies and support ministries who also embrace the active role of the local church and can provide expertise and resources which your teams will need.
• Deploy:
  Finally, your vision is set in motion, partnerships are established, and the whole church is mobilized. Care for widows and orphans becomes integrated into every aspect of body life, and your community will know how to pray, how to help, how to advocate for the needs of abused children, and how the church of Jesus Christ is uniquely designed to make a difference in their lives by bringing the love and hope of the Gospel!

What We Believe

The Family Table wholeheartedly affirms the five historical “solas” associated with the Protestant church. Sola Scriptura teaches that scripture alone dictates that our entire faith and practice is based on the authority of scripture as God’s revealed will and written Word (Psalm 119:18; Psalm 138:2; II Tim. 3:14-17). Sola Fide teaches that our justification, or right standing with God by being declared righteous, is by faith alone and not on our merits, good works, or religious habits (Gal. 3:6-11). Sola Gratia means that our salvation is by the grace of Jesus Christ alone, an unearned, undeserved gift that God has given apart from our good works (Eph. 1:3-8). Solo Christus means that Jesus Christ alone is the mediator between God and man, and that salvation comes through Christ alone, thus removing the need for any other ‘go-between’ (Acts 4:12, 1Tim. 2:5-6; Col. 1:13-18). Last, Soli Deo Gloria reminds us that all glory is due to God alone, since we ourselves did not initiate, seek, or provide salvation for ourselves (1 Cor. 10:31, Eph. 3:21, 1 Pet. 4:11, Rev. 1:6, 7:12).

We Believe and Affirm:

• We believe and adhere to both the Apostles and Nicene Creeds.
• We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
• We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
• We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
• We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
• We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
• We believe that local churches must be faithful to the content of unchanging Biblical doctrine (Jude 3).
• We believe that local churches must be faithful to the continually changing context of the culture(s) in which they minister (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).
• We believe that God created the heavens and the earth. He also created man and woman in a state of sinless perfection with particular dignity as His image bearers on the earth.
• We believe that our first parents sinned against God and that everyone since is a sinner by nature and choice. Sin has completely affected all of creation including marring human image and likeness so that all of our being is stained by sin (e.g. reasoning, desires, and emotions).
• We believe that because all people have sinned and separated themselves from the Holy God that he is obligated to save no one from the just deserved punishments of hell. We also believe that God in His unparalleled love and mercy has chosen to elect some for salvation.
• We believe that the salvation of the elect, by God’s grace alone, shows forth in the ongoing repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ that leads to good works.
• We believe the local church exists to act in obedience to Jesus’ commands to make disciples, and that the gospel should be passionately and urgently proclaimed to all people so that all who believe may be saved through the power of God’s Spirit.
• We believe that true Christians born again of God’s Spirit will be kept by God throughout their life, as evidenced by personal transformation that includes an ever-growing love of God the Father through God the Son by God the Spirit, love of brothers and sisters in the church, and love of lost neighbors in the culture.
• We believe that God is Lord over all of life and that there is nothing in life that is to be separated from God.
• We believe that the worship of God is the end for which people were created and that abiding joy is only to be found by delighting in God through all of life, including hardship and death which is gain.

Who We Are

The Family Table was formed in 2018 as a response to the foster care crisis in Los Angeles by pastors and ministry leaders active in the local church. The problem is complex, resources and time are limited, and it can be overwhelming to know where to begin. Despite the challenges, many still want to be part of the solution. We realized that like most churches, we lacked the tools and resources to accomplish this goal on our own and needed some help. Through years of teaching, coaching, and developing leaders and churches, we have the experience to help other churches become involved with this great need in our city. The Family Table was created in order to coach and resource the local church so she can better participate in God’s purposes for vulnerable children in the foster care system of Los Angeles.

Meet Our Coach: Pastor Mike Brown

For twenty years, Pastor Mike has been serving the church by training and equipping missionaries and church leaders through Radius International, Eternity Bible College, and the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course, while planting and pastoring a local church in Los Angeles.

He began his ministry as assistant pastor and director of a local Bible College in Los Angeles before moving to a rural village in Mexico to begin a ministry hosting & training short-term missionaries called ‘El Puente’. It was in Mexico that Mike realized that his Christianity was more American than Biblical, and studied how to contextualize the gospel without diluting the message, gaining cross-cultural community development experience first hand. In 2007 Mike returned to Los Angeles to plant a church in the North Hollywood/Burbank area. While planting Soma Burbank (later Redeemer Burbank), he served as a adjunct professor at Eternity Bible College and Radius International, equipping long term cross cultural workers. Mike is a popular instructor with the Perspectives of the World Christian Movement missions course, and a sought after speaker, teaching conferences, seminars and workshops across the United States and Mexico.

Mike has been married to his wife Amy (also a gifted Bible teacher, counselor and discipler) since 2002. They have four children from ages 17-9; Michael, Luke, Hudson, and Gracie. They both enjoy reading, writing, hiking, spending time in nature, and having kids that are old enough to leave home so they can have coffee dates together.

Contact Us

We look forward to helping your church become a vital part of the caring for vulnerable children in the foster care system!