The relatively new Creation Tenders group at Covenant Christian Reformed Church in Sioux Center, Iowa, has been doing some wonderful work for creation care, from collecting electronics for recycling (inspiring a new city-wide program?) to developing a Creation Care Day Camp curriculum for kids. Covenant also has a table at church during the growing season where people can share excess produce from their gardens, which has been very popular, even early in the season.
Another project has been a community garden in collaboration with Christ Community Evangelical Free Church. The garden, located in a trailer park on vacant lots owned by Habitat for Humanity, has 18 plots, about half of which are cultivated by Latino families who live in the park. The partnership between Christ Community and Covenant is a great example of the Spirit moving to inspire creativity across denominations, as the Covenant group showed up one day to several plots that had been mysteriously tilled, only to find out that Christ Community had been pursuing the exact same idea through other channels. Habitat the city arts and recreation community both chipped in to provide water access.
We've heard people at several churches on the tour reflecting on how much land their churches have that could be used for community gardens, which are beneficial on so many levels. They provide an opportunity for people from various backgrounds to come together in one place, inevitably inspiring conversations. They provide a wonderful space for teaching children about stewardship of creation. They provide food for church and community members. They stand as a beautiful, living metaphor for the work of soil preparation and seed planting that happens within the church. So we say, if you're considering starting a community garden at your church or on other land in your neighborhood, go for it!
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