#re-planting

One of the driving points in the recent correspondence to Evangelicals Now was that we needed pastors willing to go into small churches and commit to preaching twice on a Sunday and once midweek. The suggestion was that there was a reluctance on the part of younger  potential pastors and that this was primarily because they were unwilling to sacrifice themselves for the gospel and preferred to…

The church where we currently serve started as an additional site for a city wide, larger church. Then, in 2019, the sites were launched out as autonomous churches with their own elders.  Of the three smaller churches, one struggled for various reasons through the pandemic season and sadly had to close, one saw a lot of encouragement and grew through conversions.  The third struggled during the…

My first real experience of Christian ministry was  in the context of church revitalisation.  A little Pentecostal Church between Bradford and Leeds had fallen on hard times, suffered a split and was down to its last half a dozen elderly members.  My dad had preached there regularly after they first approached a larger church for help.  I started to preach there too and then began to do some door…

As promised, here are some follow up thoughts from my article about how to help churches without pastors.  In that article, I suggested that it is likely that you will find yourself in a wider conversation about the need for revitalisation.  Whether the conversation starts with an intentional request for this kind of help, or whether it starts with a request for help covering for the lack of a…

When I’m called in to do a re-landscape, the first thing I look at are the bones of the landscaping. It took years for a palm tree to get to the height that balances with the house, or for an oak to provide a beautiful canopy to shade and offer cool sitting areas for the homeowner. As for the bougainvillea growing up and over the arch of your front entry; why would you want to remove something so gorgeous? But other plants just tore out after about 12 to 15 years down here in South. And rather than leave plants that are going downhill, having weak stems and are prone to insect and disease problems—we need to take them out.

It’s my job just determine what goes and what stays. Once a determination is made, I can begin the design. Bed lines are often changed to add new interest and to accommodate the growth of the larger plants remaining in the landscape. This is the opportunity to create a whole new look. Pathways can be added, vignettes of privacy can be snuck in and views that have matured over the years can be enhanced. This is also the perfect opportunity to incorporate some beautiful container plantings. I especially like to do this in areas where the roots are so thick that you can’t dig a new plant into.

Since the original landscape was installed, there have been many improvements on the plants available, hybrids have been created that will tolerate the southern heat better and new varieties have been introduced to the market. This is a perfect opportunity for the homeowner to take it vantage of these.

It’s rather like the old saying for a bride: something old something new and something borrowed. The old: the mature plants that will stay anchored landscape. The new: different varieties of plants now on the market. And the borrowed? Reusing some old standbys that helped create the foundation of a good landscape.

Don’t be afraid to take out a shrub here there, or even an entire hedgerow. This is the south and things will grow quickly.

Before you know it your new landscape will look like it’s been there all along.

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