The Garden Church – A Missional Church in Boston

We pursue intimacy with God as our first calling. We believe God is present and active, inviting us into an interactive relationship with Him. In response, we prioritize prayer and seek to discern what God is doing in us and around us. We make space to be with Him, enjoy His presence, worship Him, and listen for His voice. As we tune into the Holy Spirit, this connection transforms our thoughts, behavior, and attachments, forming us into people whose first identity is “beloved.” Being with Jesus comes before doing for Jesus—contribution flows from connection. As we root ourselves in God and live from the overflow of our relationship with him, we experience healing and wholeness.

We follow Jesus in all of life. By reading and rehearsing Scripture, we discover who Jesus is and find our place in His story. His words, works, and ways reveal a map for living in God’s Kingdom. We become like Jesus by doing what He did. Like Jesus, we turn toward the Father and learn to live in the Spirit’s grace. Like Jesus, we move toward the lost and overlooked with compassion. As we apprentice after Jesus, we develop habits of character so that our instinctive response in a broken world is to love like He did.

We live life together. Through Jesus, we are welcomed into a spiritual family—the church—where we experience and come to embody God’s love. In this family, we practice vulnerable, committed, and caring relationships, learning to share life deeply across our differences. In community, we come to see ourselves rightly and find the part we were uniquely designed to play. As we practice love in these relationships, we become a collective embodiment of Jesus’ coming Kingdom.

We embody and extend Jesus’ grace and good news to all. Our community exists because of God’s radical hospitality. He loves us unconditionally and welcomes us into His life. We joyfully extend that invitation, opening our lives to others – offering from our abundance and receiving help in our need. We share our gifts, resources, and homes with those who’ve become family through Jesus and invite others to join. Jesus loved us when we were“enemies” and “strangers.” In His footsteps, we expand the borders of love to include those unlike us. We cross social boundaries to proclaim and demonstrate God’s limitless love for all.

With courage and creativity, we join God in His renewal of Creation. Through Jesus, the forgiveness, healing, beauty, and justice of God’s Kingdom have already begun to grow in the present. So, we pay attention to the people and places in our lives, discerning how God is at work. We bless others and share their joys, hurts, and longings. We steward our resources as gifts given by God to be shared. As people transformed by the Good News, we invite others to encounter and embrace Jesus. We bear witness to His coming Kingdom—creating beauty, speaking truth, standing for justice, and contending against spiritual and systemic forces that hinder the full flourishing of God’s shalom.