Spring is a time of new beginnings, particularly in nature. What a wonderful season to begin a community garden at your church! A garden gives master growers a chance to share their skills with those who are enthusiastic to learn, and it can have several other benefits too.

Creative Use of Space

A garden is a creative way to teach the wonders of nature. Many churches don't have gardens because they think they take up a lot of room. However, you don't need a lot of space to start a garden:

• Small patch of unused playground
• Nearby vacant lot 
• Sunny corner of lawn

In fact, it's probably best to start small. The first year, you may only have a few containers of tomatoes and a section for fresh herbs. The more the participants learn about where their food comes from and how to grow it, though, the more eager they will be to come up with creative ways to expand the garden.

Feeding the Community

Once the garden starts producing, you must figure out what you're going to do with all the produce you grow. This bounty can bond your members as they reap the tangible rewards of their labors. Pies made with berries that they have grown and hearty stews with loads of vegetables fresh from the garden may start showing up at church potlucks.

If you reap an abundance of produce, you may even have enough to share with local food pantries and soup kitchens. Many of these organizations get more canned goods than fresh food. They are sure to welcome a partnership that allows them to share wholesome, locally grown options with those they serve.

Promoting Good Health and Wellness

A garden isn't just an encouragement to eat more vegetables, although that is a likely outcome. Tending it can also be great exercise. Members who are looking for opportunities to spend time outside or add more movement to their schedule may jump at the chance to do so with such an enjoyable activity that they can engage in with their friends. 

Gardening is also a stress reliever. The repetitive tasks of tending a patch of plants demands that the workers slow down from the daily bustle of their lives. It reduces the pressure to multitask and improves focus, and it gives your church community a relatively quiet, peaceful place to reflect and pray or have unhurried chats with each other. Overall, gardening can improve the mental health of your congregation.

Building Stronger Relationships

Some of the strongest bonds are forged when you share knowledge with eager learners. You may have members of the church who are hesitant to volunteer for spiritual teaching or leadership positions, but they are perfectly at home with their hands in the dirt. Their wisdom and enthusiasm can be contagious to others who have never grown their own vegetables before, and before long, they find that they have become fast friends in the process.

Any activity that a group of people can do together has great potential to strengthen relationships, and gardening is no different. The camaraderie is likely to spill over into their everyday lives through shared recipes, dinner invitations and the excitement of each new planting season.

A community garden can have many benefits for everyone in your congregation. Just having a garden on site is a reminder of how well God provides for humanity and illustrates the role that people play in that provision. Whether they are in charge of deciding where to start the garden, what to plant, how to tend the plot or with whom to share the blessings of what they grow, the members who get involved are likely to love it.