A Tree-mendous Ministry for our Neighborhood

On April 25, 2020, an EF2 tornado passed through our church neighborhood, destroying and damaging trees.  The First Christian Church property has lovely large old growth trees.  We lost several of them in the tornado and many more sustained damage.  

Due to the pandemic, our services have been online for the last year.  We are returning to in-person worship as of July 2021 and are eager to begin pursuing the development of our outdoor area once again. We have elderly and low income neighbors who live very close to our campus.  In recent years  the church has wanted to open our property to the community for use as shared space for recreation, fitness, and meditation. However, the damaged limbs must be removed to do so safely.  We have a quote from an arborist of $3000 to do the required work.  Our annual budget for FY2021 is $139,400.

First Christian has had a successful community garden in place for several years.   We also hope to construct a labyrinth, a fire pit, benches for birders, a walking path, and play space in time. Our congregation loves to have outdoor concerts/sing-alongs with our own String Band and would welcome our new friends for cook-outs and musical evenings.  A shared park-like space would give nearby residents a safe space to make connections with other community and church members.    

Our church's centennial is this October and we want to move forward with our plans in order to have some resources open to our neighbors by that time.  This is a tree-mendous opportunity to participate in outreach ministry for so many.