When a small church dares to dream beyond its size, age, and limitations, remarkable things can happen. At St. James United Methodist Church in Missouri, a bold vision is taking root—literally. Faced with food insecurity, community division, and the absence of shared ministry among local churches, Certified Renewalist Rev. Alecia Fischer envisioned a Peace Garden that would nourish not just bodies, but relationships and hope. Through Alecia’s leadership her vision of Growing Peace: A Community Garden for Transformation began to blossom.

Born from a desire to unite a fragmented community, the Peace Garden is more than a patch of vegetables—it’s a ministry of presence, healing, and harmony. There’s no shortage of reasons Alecia’s dream might have stalled: fear of failure, lack of experience, an aging congregation, or financial uncertainty. But what mattered more was the Spirit’s call to act.

As you’ll see below, Alecia’s vision, and volunteers from both St James UMC and the community, show how Kingdom transformation is possible when people say yes to a Jesus-sized dream—no matter the obstacles. Growing peace is never easy, but it’s always worth it.

The Vision of Growing Peace Takes Root

There are several rationales for our vision of a Peace Garden in St James, Missouri.

• The Church owns an empty lot, an open field maintained by church members.
• There used to be a community garden many decades ago which was replaced when the community center/senior center was built.
• Two schools are across the road from the church/vacant lot.
• Our church just installed an emergency food pantry outside on the edge of this lot and discovered that it is used all the time. In fact, all the emergency food pantries in town are used daily.  There is a need for food in our community.
• The Church wants to make a difference in the community around them. St James has a homeless problem, a drug problem and other issues that members of the Church want to help address.

People became excited about the possibilities of helping change the community of St James with the peace garden.

Challenges or pushbacks I received while gaining buy-in included: the loss of the empty lot/field, the cost of the project, the hours and people needed to put forth and maintain the project, and what would happen if it was neglected?  How I navigated and overcame those questions, with research on grant money available from various sources, conversations with school, church and city administrators, conversations with garden club members, and conversations with the people that administrated the former city garden.  I presented those conversations to the vision team and communicated the vision over and over in all of our communication.

The unanticipated wins with gaining buy-in were that even those who didn’t like gardening were excited.  People started thinking beyond church members who were excited to be a part of the visioning team and being a part of the ministry.

Vision Takes a Village

The community of St James will be transformed to be more peaceful, less violent, and experience less food scarcity.  People will treat each other like loving neighbors and not enemies.  This ministry will fulfill our denomination’s vision of Making Disciples for transformation of the world and as the vision is fulfilled it would transform our little corner of the world.

We started by thinking about a huge celebration to kick off the vision of the Peace Garden; everybody loves a party.  Then we thought and talked about all the steps that it would take to get to that party.  As we progressed through the steps, the big bold vision started to become more concrete and more of a reality than just a dream.

The community of people that were involved with the vision, beside the team, included the church trustees who are in charge of the property, the council that approves church ministries, those willing to serve on the vision team, community members who would be part of making this dream a reality, city, church and school officials, community businesses, grant programs and others in the community who were excited by the Peace Garden.

Feedback can be a blessing and a curse.  It was nice to hear the positive feedback, that we were on the right dream for the community. The negative feedback helped us to look at other opportunities that we might have missed or overlooked.  Sometimes the feedback came from professionals that were more knowledgeable about certain areas than we were.  The feedback helped to improve what we thought was possible and that at the same time was bigger than us.

One example was the condition of the soil on that property, so raised beds were agreed upon as better gardening spots.  Another feedback was on how to get water in that area for watering plants and vegetables.  Instead of running hoses across the road, installing a pipe system that would have a faucet on the property was suggested.

The Big Win is Peace

The culture is shifting at St James UMC.  Three years ago, I would have described the Church culture as fearful, inward focused, full of disciples but not apostles.  Now the church is less fearful, more willing to go on faith and trust.  They are focusing more on outreach, mission and reaching the community for the Kingdom.  I have seen an increase in their spirituality and more involvement in the Means of Grace, (worship, bible reading, prayer, small groups, etc.)

I also have experienced renewal as the congregation shifts toward renewal.  I am less fearful, bolder in adapting new things, willing to gently push them towards exciting new Jesus-like dreams.

Through Creating a Cultural of Renewal®, I have become aware of my DiSC® style and how that motivates me as a leader, and how to communicate better to other DiSC styles for the advancement of the kingdom.  We have seen a growth in membership, bible studies, participation in more outreach ministries, financial stability and in general more happiness for me and the church.

Blessings on this journey have been the connections that I have made across the Creating a Culture of Renewal community and the connections that I have made within my church are now stronger, healthier relationships.  A big win was that we did not take a vote, whether to remain in the United Methodist church.  Through peaceful conversations we were able to love each other and stay in relationship with one another despite our differences.  Three years ago, that would not have happened.

Neither would the miracle of the Peace Garden.

Help Miracles Grow in Your Ministry

Like Rev. Alecia Fischer, you’ll probably have to scale a few obstacles to make your vision a reality. But Alecia’s story reminds us that pairing Creating a Culture of Renewal® with a Jesus-like dream can help clear the path for miracles to flourish.

Learn more by joining us us for our upcoming free interactive seminar: How Christian Ministries are Achieving Success. In this empowering 90-minute session, you’ll learn what’s working for leaders like Alecia and discover how Creating a Culture of Renewal® can help you cast your own Jesus-like dream, and bring about real, meaningful change.

Register here and start the journey toward your own vision fulfilled!

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