New Covenant Presbyterian Farmer’s Market Begins! Come and Join Us!
We at New Covenant Presbyterian Church are opening our 5th Farmer’s Market. When we started our Farmer’s Market, we had no idea whether or not it would be successful. We opened with only 4 confirmed vendors, and were ecstatic to have over 200 people attend our very first grand opening. We now have close to 20 vendors and 400-500 people attending every week! Numbers only tell part of the story, though.
Our true success is that we have integrated our church into the neighborhood. We at the church used to bemoan that no one was interested in what we were doing. We tried to figure out, how can we get into the neighborhood? We were looking for something the neighborhood needed. We looked at the church’s strength–our great location, sturdy building and large parking lot.
Here are the other successes that have happened as a result of the Farmer’s Market
- We know our neighbors and our neighborhood
- Our neighbors know us, we are now “the church with the farmer’s market”
- We have become a gathering place for the community
- Our focus on neighborhood ministries has served to guide us
- We have opened our building to many more communities, sharing more space than just our parking lot
- We have a community following, a group of people who don’t come on Sunday, but come to all our other events
- We have learned a lot about local food and farming and how it works, both at the church and in the neighborhood
- We know how to reach out to the neighborhood, how to communicate with those outside the church (I cannot emphasize how rare and wonderful this is)
- We have (indeed) gained new members, although we are trying to focus more on God and less on our numbers
- We are exploring more ways to help the neighborhood: exercise, babysitting, knitting, prayer booths are some of what we have tried.
- (Bonus) We have learned that we as a church do not have to be in charge of every community or event. It is much better to find other communities or people to partner with so that we do not go it alone
Contextually, a Farmers Market was the best way for us to reach into the neighborhood. What are the ways churches can partner to do ministry? The more we churches can free ourselves to explore new relationships in our context, the more we will know who the people in our neighborhood are, and our ministries will flourish.
Come and check it out! Meet our farmers & crafters. Learn about the food they’ve grown. Try to understand the handiwork of our friends and neighbors. Grab a bite to eat. Sit at a picnic table and listen to some music (on first Tuesdays). Draw a picture with some chalk. Greet a stranger. Take a seat at the church tent and discuss the weather. Come, and be our neighbor 🙂
Tuesdays 3-6pm thru the first week of October.
