Come Grow with Us

Gardening for Shalom

I took time off from working on my own garden last weekend to go to an event at a church community garden. It was my second time at this annual event celebrating the opening of the growing season at the All Nations Eden Community Garden in Joliet, Illinois. This beautiful and abundant garden and its “Come Grow with Us” community garden day provide a wonderful example of how a community garden can be used to bring God’s shalom (Hebrew: peace, wholeness, prosperity, wellbeing) to city neighborhoods.

Like many church community gardens in Will County, this one functions as a donation garden. That’s what I call gardens which grow food to donate to food pantries. This community garden, on the grounds of the All Nations Church of God in Christ, is one of the programs of the church’s nonprofit organization, the Harvey Brooks Foundation. Harvests from this garden are distributed to the community through the church’s food pantry every week. This service contributes to the wellbeing (shalom) of the neighborhood by providing fresh organic produce to alleviate the stress and health problems of an area which lacks grocery stores that serve the community living here.

But the All Nations Community Garden goes beyond being a donation garden. It is also the site of delightful after school and summer camp programs for children. The children are acquiring lifelong gardening skills as they learn to grow their own food. They’re also developing business skills as they participate in producing and marketing dried herbs from the garden. The mission of the Harvey Brooks Foundation “is to promote and contribute to community development and safety by providing educational programs & services that build character & develop life skills, encourage self-esteem & self-sufficiency for at-risk individuals and families.” In other words, these garden programs are increasing the shalom of the surrounding community!

Sometimes community gardens which have one or both of these shalom-bringing goals struggle to get volunteers and funding. This garden, however, benefits from having several key people who are devoted to the Lord and to serving him with the skills he has given them. They put together the “Come Grow with Us” day and invited everyone in the community to this family-friendly event, as well as grant donors and other supporters and friends of the garden.

Come Grow with Us Community Garden Day

We enjoyed the program and ate lunch—which included a salad made with harvests from the garden! Melvin, the foundation’s business and community liaison, introduced everyone to one another and shared the history of the garden. Tempie, the church member who originally had the vision for this garden, thanked everyone for their part in it. She and her husband both contribute many hours to tending and maintaining the garden. Esther, who has a horticultural background and education, teaches the children’s gardening programs. She showed us what the children have been learning and doing, and she explained some helpful gardening concepts to the adults, such as proper harvesting for continued growth. Two trucks from the fire department were also part of the event this year. I think the adults enjoyed talking to the firemen as much as the children enjoyed climbing into the trucks. 

Then came my favorite part, touring the garden. Anyone who wanted to help plant something had the opportunity to do so, using the Biquinho pepper plants I’d brought along. I think the garden is looking even better than last year. Esther said arched trellises will soon be added to support tomatoes and other vining plants, and they will also provide some shade for those working in the garden. While a storm had brought down their greenhouse, a new one was just delivered and will be installed shortly. Nicor Gas donated the greenhouse, and a representative of the company was there.

Bringing everyone together for an inspirational day like this builds more shalom through the development of all these community relationships. It can also draw in more participants and volunteers. I recommend it to anyone who is involved in church community gardens and/or children’s camps. 

Christian Gardening Network

I also recommend networking with other Christian organizations and people who are involved in garden work. I learned about the All Nations Eden Community Garden and met Melvin, Tempie, and Esther through a network that I started in the Chicago area. The network evolved from a project I did for one of my classes at Bakke Graduate University. I’ve been pursuing a Doctor of Transformational Leadership degree there, as I noted on my Pray page, since I first started this blog. I have now completed all of the coursework and am working on my dissertation proposal. My dissertation is going to be on gardening for shalom, and I hope this network will be instrumental in my research.

Last year our network had both our first virtual meeting and our first in-person meeting. I’m thankful for this marvelous community garden in Joliet and for all of the other connections I’ve made through this network. If you are a follower of Jesus and are involved in any type of garden business or ministry in the greater Chicago metropolitan area, please contact me to learn more about this network.