The Colourful Garden

Tom

Hey, I’m Tom and I became a Christian when I was 28yrs old. Before I knew The Lord, I listened to everyone else’s view of Him, and came to the conclusion that He hated me because I didn’t live a life of the “traditional Christian”.

I walked into a church the second week of 2015, and heard who God really was, and within the 90 minute service I knew that God was the exact opposite of what I believed, that He actually loves everyone, regardless of circumstance.

As followers of Jesus, we have a responsibility to tell everyone they are loved, human rules, denominations, etc, just get in the way, all it takes is humility and a loving heart.”

May God bless you. Here are some of my thoughts and I am grateful for the opportunity to share!
A 2019 article on the National Church Trust website stated that in 2019, the UK had 40,300 churches and 50,000 congregations (some meet in schools, etc.) Norfolk, not only has the most churches at 650, but it also has the most concentration of churches in the world.

Norfolk hasn’t the most churches just by chance, God has commissioned us “Norfolk folk” to spread the word! How great would it be if a global revival started in Norfolk?! There’s no reason it can’t.

There are currently 11 Garden Churches with around 100 people of all ages, that’s a great number, but we do need to start multiplying. I don’t know about your Garden Church, but the one I’m in is a family. We laugh a lot and cry a lot, and in Covid times it has been a lifeline. It feels as if it is how church should be: a group of people meeting and growing together, being there for each other, and constructively criticising each other if needed to help each other grow in faith and love.

There are 33.2 million people in the UK who call themselves Christians, and 30,000 Christian denominations worldwide, they are big numbers. How wonderful is it that there are so many ways people have sought to follow God? The past has sadly shown us though, that instead of being one family, we have let our differences divide us, and we’ve hurt so many in doing so. I believe there is a future though and it is bright! The Garden is the perfect place for folk to unite and form the family God wanted, a diverse but unified group of people who are hungry to not let religious ways divide but to focus on just wanting to worship in simplicity and to love Him, and love each other.

How awesome would it be to have, for example, a Russian Orthodox Garden, meet up with a Pentecostal Garden? Society says they would clash, but let’s change that narrative, let’s become one church, bigging each other up and learning from each other’s ways of worshipping God. Focus on the simple gospel.
The aim of Garden is to congregate, educate and then propagate, we’re all gardeners, let’s make the garden a colourful one.

Love Tom