Garden 58’s support of Christian unity

Garden 58 presents practical opportunities for Christians from various churches to work together with each other & with God in obedience to His Word.

We can all see the beauty of unity reflected in the agricultural world through cross-pollination (have you seen The Biggest Little Farm?!) & in true inspiring stories such as the Thai cave rescue- in which over 10,000 people from more than 20 countries worked together to save a boys’ soccer team & their coach! We even see unity so well-displayed in American football: where even though each team has special coaches for a whole list of positions, they all communicate and work together under one head coach!

God & the tasks He has called us to merits humbling ourselves under the grace we have been given in order to work together in His love. (God is, after all, willing to be unified and work together with sinners such as us!)

How thankful the paralyzed man must have been for his four friends who shared strong faith in what Jesus could do & did what was necessary to get him to the Messiah! Luke 5:17-26

Garden 58 believes that there is a diversity of members in the body of Christ, and we all have certain ways to contribute to the kingdom of God.

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

We believe there are many areas believers in Christ can work together while still attending a variety of churches!

I Cor. 12:12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

We believe that God has designed us to experience healing & thriving through entering into His work in people’s lives.

Isaiah 58:6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9a Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’

We want to follow the instruction in Isaiah 58 to stop pointing the finger & speaking negatively of each other, and to humble ourselves instead by concerning ourselves with the tasks He has laid before us.

Isaiah 58:9b If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. 11 And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

We see Jesus as our example in bringing diverse types of disciples to work together for the gospel & the kingdom of God & we carry close to our hearts Jesus’ prayer for our unity in John 17.

John 17:20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

*Please do not hesitate to ask any questions you may have about how this has worked out so far or about any concerns you may have!