Posted by Greg Ligon
The Garden is the multi-site extension of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Indianapolis. Led by Linda McCoy, The Garden is celebrating 10 years of ministry since the launch of their first location in an area dinner theatre. That location now has 3 services and a second location launched a couple of years ago in another “unlikely place” – Oak Hill Mansion, a local banquet hall will soon move to two services.
Three take-aways from my evening with their team include the following:
1. The power of team – I spent a couple of hours with the worship programming team as they pounded out the elements of the next several weeks of services. Gathered around the table were a wonderfully eclectic group of folks with gifts, confidence and a balancing humility that created a team dynamic of honesty, creativity and effectiveness. They are a team that works, prays and plays together … with wonderful results.
What makes team work at your place?
2. “Making Spaces” – When faced with the loss of the rental space that housed their “Garden Kids” children’s ministry, the team got creative and are currently housing the ministry in a large RV parked on the lot of the dinner theatre during the three services each Sunday. Now that’s a portable church!
What creative space have you made to meet the needs of your venues or locations?
3. Leveraged investment in the community – The Garden is committed to giving 10% of the tithes and offerings received each month to a local grass roots organization that can truly benefit from the contribution. Maybe even greater than the cash is the gift of a professionally produced video that the organization can use to further their fundraising and development efforts. This was all made possible through a local partnership that funded the purchase of a professional editing bay … that incidentally is also used for original productions used on Sunday mornings.
How are impacting your community and creating new resources for your church at the same time?
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