Rooted, Growing, and Bearing Fruit
When The Garden was planted in Fond Du Lac, Wisc. the seeds were sown to help the hurting in the community of 45,000.
“The Garden started with a divorce-care ministry,” said Pastor Kevin Edlefson. “From our early DNA, it’s been a place where broken people can admit their brokenness.”
Edlefson has been tending The Garden since its beginning four-and-a-half years ago and says the church’s name infuses everything they do.
“We wanted to communicate something with the name and also have it be an organizing metaphor: ‘Rooted, growing, and bearing fruit.’ From leadership to budget issues, everything we do tries to follow that pattern,” he said.
“We liked the idea that while a field or a vineyard has one type of plant, a garden has different plants which have different needs.”
With support from Home Missions and Bethel Christian Reformed in Waupon, Wisc., the small but dynamic church is keen to reach out in the community.
Friends of the Edlefsons have joined The Garden, as have those the couple and church members have met through local schools and events such as the city’s annual Fondu Festival and the weekly Farmer’s Market.
“My wife, Amy, had gotten to know a parent at our kids’ school, and one day the woman blurted out that her husband had just left her,” Edlefson said.
“Amy invited her to come to church, and she kept coming because her kids loved it. Soon, she was telling people they should come to our church, too.”
With 30-40 adults coming on a typical Sunday, The Garden is growing slowly but surely, offering healing and truth to all who come.
“In the Garden, we cultivate an environment where our people can grow in harmony with each other,” said the pastor.
As the end of the year approaches and a new one is about to start, Edlefson asks for prayers and support for their garden of faith.
Requests:
- Denominational funding ends in June, so they need financial support to keep going.
- That the church can grow in numbers and reach a critical mass so it can stand on its feet.
- Wisdom and clarity as the church heads into 2013, refocusing and reopening the conversation about the mission of the church, trying to gain a fresh vision for who it is.
- For the pastor’s wife, Amy, who just received her teacher’s certification, to get a full time teaching job.
- For the safety, health and well being of their three children, Emily, 11, Owen, 9, and Anna, 7.
