Our Mission
Learning the way of Jesus together
Our Values
Authentic
Community
We are called to be a family living a common life around the table, led by God’s Spirit and submitting our actual lives to God’s transforming work.
Holy
Communion
God longs to dwell with His people and we strive to live this “God-With-Us” reality in both our worship and our daily lives.
Great
Co-Mission
We have been sent, not to accomplish something for God but in partnership with the God of Mission who longs to reconcile the world back to himself.
Our Affirmations
We follow the Evangelical Covenant Church, which does not have a doctrinal statement but 6 “Covenant Affirmations”:
We affirm the centrality of the word of God.
We affirm the necessity of the new birth.
We affirm a commitment to the whole mission of the church.
We affirm the church as a fellowship of believers.
We affirm a conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit.
We affirm the reality of freedom in Christ.
Our Story
Table Covenant Church began during the summer of 2014. Pastor Mike Han and his wife Min felt a call from God to plant a new congregation in Fairfax, VA. They gathered a small core team and together, Table was approved as a church plant of the Evangelical Covenant Church in 2015 along with our sending church, Community Covenant Church in Springfield, VA.
The first preview service was held on Sunday mornings at University Mall Theater in Fairfax, VA. In 2017, we moved to meet in Daniel's Run Peace Church with a Sunday evening service.
Table was born out of a desire to see Asian-Americans who did not feel at home in their immigrant churches to find a place to be disciple and exercise leadership as well as a desire to catch people who felt disillusioned by the polarized ends of many churches (mainline vs evangelical, liberal vs. conservative, etc.).
We discovered that our mission as a church was to learn the way of Jesus together and this mission has taken different forms depending on the needs of the congregation. Right now, we usually have Q&A time after each sermon and having meals together after service each week. Every week, we celebrate Holy Communion and seek Jesus' kingdom in Northern Virginia together so we can join in God's great Co-Mission. We welcome a diversity of thought and truly welcome people of various backgrounds and theological dispositions to add their voice to our community.
Our congregation is multi-ethnic, and majority Asian-American. In this way we reflect our Fairfax community and our denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church, a theologically and ethnically diverse denomination. Like our denomination, we affirm God’s call to leadership in the local church equally in women and men, and strive to see people taking leadership in the congregation and community according to their gifts.
Timeline:
June-August 2014: "Thirteen Sundays" - Sunday evening gatherings at the Han's place to discern whether God was calling us to plant
Sept 9, 2014: 13 of us decide that "yes!" God was indeed inviting us to plant a new church in Fairfax
Sept 14, 2014: First "Launch Team Meeting" at the Han's (goal is to recruit 30 commitment adults, raise $10,000 in funding and establish one local church partnership)
May 28, 2015: Mike and Min Han approved to plant at the ECC's Church Planter Assessment Center in Minneapolis, MN
Sept 10, 2015: Mike Han attends ECC's Church Planter's Intensive Training in Minneapolis, MN
Oct 10, 2015: Launch Team Training Day and Signing of Church Planter Agreement with ECC
Jan 10, 2016: First Preview Service at University Mall Theatre in Fairfax, VA
April 3, 2016: Begin Bi-Weekly Rhythm, alternating between Sunday Service and Home Groups
Aug 16, 2016: Joe Riffe and David Tassell join the Table Pastoral Team and start holding staff meetings at Daniels Run Peace Church in Fairfax, VA
Jan 8, 2017: Begin weekly worship at the University Mall Theatres and two regional "Table Groups"
June 4, 2017: Move to Daniel's Run Peace Church and begin 5 pm evening service.
March 25, 2018: Joe Riffe transitions off of the Pastoral Team
May 2018-Jan 2019: Worship together with Hill City Church
Jan 2020-March 2020: Worship in new location at Northern Virginia Korean Seventh Day Adventist Church; David Tassell transitions off of the Pastoral Team; Phoebe Jones joins as Children’s Pastor
March 2020-May 2022: COVID-19 Pandemic — gather online, outdoors, become a full member congregation of the Evangelical Covenant Church, establish Constitution and By-Laws, put in place first Leadership Team and official Membership
June 2022-May 2023: Alternating between Joint Worship Services with Community Covenant Church and House Church gatherings
June 2023: Officially vote to merge our two congregations, begin worshipping weekly in the church building
Pastoral Team
Lead Church Planter: Michael Han
mike [at] tablecov.org
A native of Canada, Michael grew up in Edmonton, AB and did his seminary training at Regent College in beautiful Vancouver, BC. Upon graduation, he spent the next 7 years serving on staff with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, first as a Campus Minister then as a Ministry Director.
Michael met his wife, Min Cha while she was also a student at Regent. After 3 years together in Vancouver, they moved to Virginia and started their family, first with the birth of Sammy then with Joshua (JJ) and now with baby Ellie.
Children’s Ministry Pastor: Phoebe Jones
phoebe [at] tablecov.org
Phoebe is our most recent addition to the staff team and one of our rare extroverts! She oversees our “Kids Table” ministry in addition to working a full-time job and working toward her masters degree at Virginia Theological Seminary.
Partnerships
