Outreach

CLA Community Garden

Having something like a community garden at our church can create a natural space for people to be welcomed and loved on.

Hello CLA!

It’s been an honour being a summer student for City Serve and having the opportunity to be a part of building the community garden at CLA. I got to learn how to do many things that I had no idea how to do before, and be a part of a team which had such a unified goal of blessing the community.

It has been amazing to see how the garden has already brought together so many people, both gardeners and people who don’t even necessarily have an interest in having a plot in the garden.

CLA Community Garden close up

It’s not rare for someone to be sitting at the picnic tables enjoying the space. There was one interaction that stood out to me. This was with a man who was driving by and stopped to look at the garden. I approached him and he said that he used to attend Christian Life Assembly but hadn’t come to a service for many years. He then asked me when services were and said that he’d like to start coming to services again. I think this shows how having something like a community garden at our church can create a natural space for people to be welcomed and loved on.

It’s been so fulfilling to be a part of building something that will continue to create opportunities for God to move.

Kiera Martens