Sitting on a 100 square foot plot in a small city about 15 minutes from Raleigh, North Carolina, the body of Christ is hard at work: digging, weeding, planting, harvesting – bringing both bounty and beauty to vulnerable people in its midst.
Tree of Life Anglican is a small church of about 75, planted during the “wild” year of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. With their community garden about a mile from their worship space, the volunteers – ranging in age from 2 to 80 – are a living image of the body of Christ.
“Everyone has a job,” Sara Hillegass, the garden’s director, explains with a smile. “There’s no way just one single person could do it all – tilling the soil, harvesting the vegetables, watering the flowers, or dealing with bugs. Yet every single person who comes into the garden is a valuable and needed member of this work. Everyone contributes in their own way to the [garden’s] flourishing.”
And flourishing it is! At the halfway point of this year, the church’s garden has given away over 400 lbs of produce – the hot peppers are a favorite – and has gifted over 100 bouquets of flowers, some to individuals experiencing food insecurity, and some to local nursing homes, all for free.
And, like the flowers that bloom slowly or the vegetables that take time to ripen, the kingdom work of loving others is unfolding as well. This love is not hurried, but is on the steady and sure timeline of God’s plan.
“We’ve learned that the work we do in the garden is just like the work Jesus does in his church,” Pastor Patrick Dominguez reflects. “So often we want the results to be fast. ‘What levers can I pull to get an immediate outcome?’ But the work of the garden is hard and slow, and when we put in the time, we reap the literal fruits of this labor.”
The transformation happening in the garden isn’t reserved to the seeds that sprout into salad-makings – it’s happening among the people as well. Patrick+ and Sara shared the story of one woman who comes to the garden every Tuesday to help with the flower harvest.
“She’s typically more reserved, a bit quiet, but feels safe in the garden. One day, she opened up and shared some prayer needs.” Sara recalled. “Through her willingness to be prayed for in the garden, more people began offering prayers for one another, and it led to a special prayer time. The garden is creating space for intimacy, authenticity, and connection, and for a sacred space for the Spirit to work. I’m not sure we could have had this level of openness and vulnerability without the garden.”
At Tree of Life’s community garden, we’re reminded that the work of contending for shalom with Jesus, the great Gardner, includes growing nourishing food and beautiful flowers: food for the body and food for the soul.This work is often slow when it comes to mending lives—all our lives. Every person brings something valuable to the table.
This story originally appeared in Matthew 25 Institute’s Stories That Shape Us, Issue No.11 on August 22, 2025.
