A Place to Grow
The great American philosopher Yogi Berra (😇) once said, “You can observe a lot by just watching.” I recently have done some "watching" in The Garden. The following questions and answers summarize my "observations." They have helped me better understand and appreciate The Garden's ministry. I hope these questions and answers likewise serve you.
What is the purpose of The Garden?
The purpose of The Garden is to serve and witness primarily to local young adult “creatives” and youth, helping them to find their purpose and calling in life. This happens through a network of relationships with a common outreach mission (known as a “missional community”). The congregation, recognizing the alignment between this purpose and End #2 – People in surrounding communities who are currently not believers in Jesus Christ connect with Him and the Holy Cross community – voted on this purpose when approving the purchase and renovation plan on 3/3/2019 and again on 4/16/2019. We discontinued the after-school high school youth “drop-in” component of our plan because it failed to attract consistent, sufficient numbers of young people. (Since then, the Lord has provided us with space through the North Anthony Shopping Center purchase that serves our youth even better.)
What outreach is accomplished by The Garden? How is this measured?
The book "Joining Jesus On His Mission" proposes five outreach-missional questions for ourselves and others (see https://dwelling114.org/blog/tag/5+Practices). Where The Garden engages in these practices and raises these questions, especially among young adult creatives and youth, helping them to find their purpose and calling in life, outreach takes place. This outreach is measured quantitatively by number of encounters and qualitatively by the stories flowing out of these encounters.
What principles guide The Garden in selecting art to be displayed?
The Garden selection process uses a set of written guidelines titled “Philosophy of Art,” created and administered by The Garden personnel and overseen by Pastor Ahlersmeyer. Also, The Garden staff works with prospective artists four-to-six weeks prior to an exhibition to dive deeply into the meaning behind the art they created.
How do individuals and/or groups get to use The Garden?
The Garden provides space to activities that promote Gospel outreach through a one-time event or limited series of events. The Garden, as part of its business plan, also rents space for private events (see https://www.thegardenfortwayne.com/rent).
What is it costing Holy Cross to operate The Garden?
Since The Garden engages in the Holy Cross’ work of outreach, the better question is: What is Holy Cross investing to operate The Garden?
Our financial plan for The Garden anticipated that operational expenses for the first three years (May 2020 – April 2023) would be supported through generated income and received gifts, as well as various grants from The Lutheran Foundation (TLF), Mary Cross Tippmann Foundation (MCT), and the Holy Cross Ministry Opportunity Fund ($31.5k). (See Table, below).
As of 12/31/2022, day-to-day operation of The Garden has required a total investment of only $12,751 since it came online in 2020. (For reference, this equates to less than 0.3% of our total annual giving at Holy Cross over that same time period.) We have been able to touch the lives of thousands of people from the surrounding community these past three years by investing less than $12/day!
From 2021 to 2022, we saw rental income nearly triple, and we expect it to continue to grow, albeit at a slower rate. We have ~17yrs remaining on our mortgage (LCEF, 2.75% APR, variable), so we are also investing into an asset while doing God’s work in this place.
Outreach is going on at The Garden, after all, it is "a place to grow", and many things, by the grace of God, ARE growing.
~ Pastor Ahlersmeyer
