gardening

Reimagining the ‘Charity Garden’

This new column will explore how food intersects with faith around issues of justice, race, ecology, poverty and more.

Creatively feeding the spiritually hungry

One of my earliest memories of feeling fully spiritually alive beyond the church was in my mother’s kitchen. My family often entertained guests, and the time put into preparing meals was a gesture of hospitality and caregiving.

Monarch way station reflects Texas church’s commitment to caring for creation

Webster Presbyterian Church, just a few miles southeast of Houston on NASA Parkway, has been called “the astronauts’ church.” Just a stone’s throw from the Johnson Space Center, the church has become the preferred house of worship for astronauts, engineers and other employees at the center.

Creative ways to use your church property

Leaders at First Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennesee, had a difficult decision to make. The congregation had existed on a downtown block for more than 200 years. It has had three sanctuaries on the site and the graveyard has tombs for signers of the United States Constitution. Numerically, the historic congregation was holding steady, but its most recent building was old and in decline. Should members invest in costly renovations so that the building could be used for 21st-century ministry? Or should the congregation move to a more modern space closer to where the members live?

Texas church cares for God’s creation in unique ways

Webster Presbyterian Church, just a few miles southeast of Houston on NASA Parkway, has been called the “Astronauts’ Church.” Just a stone’s throw from the Johnson Space Center, the church has become the preferred house of worship for astronauts, engineers and other employees at the center. But the church has also become known for its strong commitment to earth care. Recently, Webster was recertified as an Earth Care Congregation.

Humble Beginnings Yield Impressive Results for Earth Care Congregation

Humble beginnings yield impressive results for Earth Care Congregation Nearly three years ago, Fellowship Presbyterian Church (FPC) in Huntsville, Alabama, launched its witness for environmental conservation by simply changing its lightbulbs. Since then, FPC has greatly expanded its environmental ministries, becoming a PC(USA) Earth Care Congregation and organizing a food distribution community program to complement its environmental commitment. As PC(USA) Associate for Environmental Ministries Rebecca Barnes says, “We recognize that earth care ministries do well to encompass issues of poverty and hunger alleviation, peacemaking, and more. Caring for all in God’s creation includes social justice.”