6 minute read
Growing in God’s love by Ruth Leigh
Read the second in a series of articles from our friends at Counties
The town of Brinnington sits on a hill overlooking the Tame Valley two miles north of Stockport and is the place around 8,000 people call home. Built in the sixties to house the ever-growing population of Stockport and Manchester, historically it has high levels of disaffection, unemployment and crime. Abuse of drugs and narcotics is common and the people of Brinnington have a lot to contend with. However, amid these challenges, one church is modelling God’s love to their neighbours through a remarkable project.
Brinnington Community Church is pastored by Martin Korchinsky who is also a Counties evangelist. “Around eight years ago, I was approached by a member of the community (not a churchgoer) who had secured funding for a community project and was looking for a home for it. They hadn’t thought about the church property as a place where it could grow, but when I suggested it, they agreed it was a great idea. We rent our building from Church Growth Trust (CGT), so I asked them if they would be happy for the church to host the project, funded by the charity Groundworks. With the green light given, work began on the Brinnington Community Garden run by the Green Thumbs community garden initiative.” and placed on pallets. Filled with soil, each one was transformed into a raised plot for a local person. Well-drained and versatile, these gardens are sometimes planted up with flowers, but their owners mostly choose the self-sufficiency route, as Martin explains.
“At any one time, we might have potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, radishes, broccoli and mange tout growing. A lot of our gardeners enjoy growing food for the table and rotate their mini gardens with the seasons. Others have created fairy gardens for their grandchildren while others produce their own fruit and flowers. We have 36 containers at the moment and here at the church. We are delighted that so many people from our neighbourhood are coming up to enjoy the community garden. It’s wonderful to see friendships blossoming as people work with the soil.”
Martin himself had a background in gardening before he started working for the Lord 20 years ago. “The opportunity to chat with the
The funding paid for large, repurposed plastic water tanks which were cut in half 7 people in the garden, give advice on their crops and develop authentic relationships with them is a huge blessing. Most do not have a faith background and would not feel comfortable walking into a church building, but they have no problem in being part of the wider community which is being built on our grounds.”
The church offers a warm space three days a week which includes a hot lunch. Community groups such as AA, Food Bank, Weight Watchers and Narcotics Anonymous also meet there and some of the people who come to these groups have found a faith. Most have no Christian background at all, but because of the gentle evangelism and transformational friendships with people of faith, they are finding Jesus for themselves. Martin looks on the garden and the community activities as a stepping stone into church.
“Many of the people in our neighbourhood suffer from anxiety, isolation and loneliness. Around a quarter of Brinnington’s residents have a serious health condition and around 8% receive benefits for mental health conditions. Having a friendly, welcoming place where they can come, and garden with others outside in the fresh air, is really helping them with their mental health. Many now feel comfortable enough to access some of the groups we offer and even come to some of our services.”
Julie is one of the people benefiting from the community garden. “At one point, I was drinking a bottle of vodka a day. I stayed indoors for around four years and was in a bad way. Nowadays, they can’t keep me inside! There’s just something about the soil. If I’m having a down day and I go and do some digging or gardening, it just lifts me up.”
The garden has turned a fairly bland outdoor space into a bio-diverse, sustainable green area. There is more wildlife, attracted by the wide variety of flowers, fruit and vegetable plants, old water tanks and pallets are being upcycled and repurposed instead of being dumped and precious natural resources are being used wisely without depletion.
Issues around mental health are being dealt with through the community garden and its unique ability to bring people together in a safe, creative space. In addition, the church’s open door policy, offering friendship, support and gentle evangelism is encouraging some local people to start to explore faith. Several are taking communion while others now attend Sunday services regularly.
This respectful and loving attitude to sharing the Gospel is a unique blend of the indoors and outdoors working together in a harmonious whole. The garden has had an entirely positive and transformational effect on the community and its inhabitants’ wellbeing.
Whatever the size of a congregation or its location, through authentic and respectful relationship-building and a focus on sustainability, the Good News of Jesus can be shared with a much wider audience. In Brinnington, a thriving community project is bringing joy into lives which have often been beset with challenges and is signposting people to the Lord.
Giles Arnold, Chief Executive of CGT says, “I have known Martin and his wife Angie for many years, having supported them through the Church Planting Initiative when he was first planting Brinnington Community Church. I have a huge respect for the way he keeps on going, loving the people of the Brinnington Estate and sharing the Gospel with them. We were delighted to support the Community Garden project, as we see this as a natural development of the work Martin and others from the church are doing.”
