Blooming Neighborhood Connections

Hi everyone!

I’m Calvin Church’s Community Connector. What does a Community Connector do? I have to admit, I used to introduce this position as being something nebulous…I knew the ultimate goal was to help Calvin Church be a good neighbor. But how to do this? 

Two years later, and I finally feel like I fit. I see God’s plan for this job, as it unfolds in small steps. I think I can best describe my work with one illustration:

Last summer, under the special care of the Creation Care team, Calvin Church’s native garden was thriving. Where just a year before we had little more than a bare patch of earth, lush, beautiful flowers bloomed, grasses swayed, butterflies daintily fluttered and bees buzzed. It was an absolute wonder to behold! 

Bees weren’t the only creatures buzzing about the garden. Neighbors both from Eastown and Clark Retirement were exploring and enjoying the garden, sometimes while we were at church and often when we weren’t. 

After getting endorsement from Creation Care, I reached out to these neighbors, asking if they’d like to come to a little happy hour our committee would host. Our first meeting was joyous! It was a beautiful evening on our patio: we had nametags, snacks and lots of friendly conversation. One happy hour led to another…and then, this winter, the same friends we’d made in the garden invited us to a gardening workshop at Clark Retirement. Earlier this spring, we watched a webinar together and went on a field trip to visit the native garden grounds at Marywood. We are now collectively dreaming about a joint project: what would re-wilding the grassy water swale between our two properties look like?

This summer we have happy hours planned for the last Thursdays of May through September. We’ve extended invitations to ECA gardeners as well as King Park neighbors. I see God’s work in these new friendships that are growing stronger with our care, in stories shared on the patio as the sun slides behind the houses on Ethel…but not before pouring its golden light on our faces. And, I thank God for the gorgeous garden that pulled us all together.

Friends, I think I might just have the best job in the whole world! My first role is to simply be present within our congregation and the neighborhoods surrounding us. To befriend people, to listen and watch, to inquire of their passions. And then, after some time of this, I can begin to see where introductions between church congregants and neighbors might ‘fit’. I then consider ways of getting these people together. My job is about befriending others, and in turn sharing my new friendships with others. It really, truly, can’t get better than this. Thanks be to God.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” Hebrews 10:24

– Heather Conklin