Southside Community Church first launched in the southern portion of Wooster, Ohio to reach a populace that generally wasn’t being reached with the Gospel. The church’s heart is to be a place that can be entrusted with new believers. Out of that effort, Southside has launched a new ministry in the form of a community garden on its grounds.
Pastor Greg Grimwood first thought of a garden a few years ago, but after hitting some roadblocks, he prayed for God to send a solution. Stephanie Grenert stepped in with a passion for gardening and serving the Lord. She broke ground in mid-May and has coordinated with her team of volunteers to plant corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, pumpkins, flowers, and more for this year’s harvest.
Produce will be harvested and offered to those in need within the congregation and to surrounding neighbors and friends, giving congregants a personal step of outreach. “I think our community garden is going to be something God can use for us to be more generative…to bless others in tangible ways,” says Greg.
Many who tend the garden are children during Sunday school. Planting seeds, tending, and harvesting are palpable ways teachers can apply theological lessons as they lead the children.
Pastor Greg especially appreciates how God called on someone from within the church to use her talents and experience in a way that is “far more effective” than Greg or anyone else in leadership there. “We want to empower and release people to carry out their God-given vision,” he says.
Down the road, Southside Church hopes to plant more gardens and reach more people in the Wooster community.
