Tending the Garden of Faith

The Garden of Faith is the space inside ourselves where we plant the chapters of our faith journey. Some folks' garden is a neat plot with straight rows, regular sprinkler timers, and labels placed carefully by each seed. Other gardens look like the abandoned shed that nature is reclaiming - no rhyme or reason to the layout, watered only when it rains sideways, and that one sprout is growing out of the solid metal ceiling beam? How....nevermind.

Peak Garden

Whether chaos gardening, carefully planning, or some variation thereof, your garden grows from the love of your Creator and the support of your community. Cyclical, adaptable, ever-changing, consistently different, our journeys are the continuous sharing, questioning, and loving in communities, What are some sections in your garden's journey? Are there Augsburg Fortress and Sparkhouse resources to tend and nurture faith garden's at every stage? You bet your watering can there are!

Planting Seeds

A baptism, a first Bible, a new sunday school class, a day at camp, books read aloud. That first seed of faith welcomes the newcomer into the gardener's love.

peak garden seed

Growing Roots

A root starts to develop, slowly taking its time poking through the shell of the seed into the rich earth. Slowly this faith is made conscious, aware. It means something, though what, we can't yet grasp. Sunday school, Bible presentations, VBS, worship engagement and the questions that sprout. This faith has begun to grow into its own.

peak garden childhood

Children's Curricula
Sacred Storytime
Operation Restoration VBS
Sanctuary Scribes
Spark NRSVue Bibles (Coming Aug 3, 2026!)

Nurturing Sprouts

Slowly unfurling its tiny leaves, these sprouts need careful attention. Water, sunshine, and fertilizer build and grow those tiny cells reaching up and branching out. Conversation and discussion teach it resilience as it strengthens to withstand the buffeting winds of questions and doubts, worries and concerns. Confirmation, small group study, individual and community reflection, these young sprouts are making this faith their own. Solidly grounded, they grow wildly, reaching out to find right balance of light and water, learning and adapting. Questions get bigger, grow deeper and tug at the roots. A guiding trellis can support this new growth in its journey. Nurturing takes time, effort, patience, and attention.

peak garden youth

Maintaining Growth

There is no "end" to this journey. The plant may be fully sprouted, proudly blooming and sharing light and life, but it has not "achieved faith". Adults are still those first baby sprouts, only now with more leaves and understanding, deeper roots and even deeper questions. Habits of learning gained in early chapters support them in this time. Small group conversations continue with community of all ages and understandings. Intergenerational events support the connections and living faith from seed to flower. Personal or communal reading of resources from others asking deep questions continue the growth and exploration. All done while sowing its own seeds and tending nearby sprouts.

peak garden adult

The Garden of Faith grows differently in each individual. Some plants grow better in the sun or the shade, in dry or wet conditions. Some are perennial, some annual, and some only begin in the heat of a fire or rush of a flood. They can put up sprouts in days or in decades.

Your soil may be rich, or maybe it's rocky. Is there community around providing fertilizer and trellises? Is it a drought period, when growth is slow and painful? Or is it a lush season with perfect conditions, launching the ready into their next chapter, and excitedly anticipating the arrival of the dormant? Are you the community - providing opportunity and safety for growth of any ages?

These journeys unfurl their leaves and grow deeper and taller in their own way at their own pace. Wherever you are at in your journey, check in with your garden and see what, or who, needs tending.