From February 26 to 28, 2025, nineteen Mothers’ Union members from ten churches in the Diocese of Port Elizabeth participated in Farming God’s Way training for home food gardens.
The training began with a biblical reflection, emphasizing God as the first farmer who planted the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8) and entrusted humanity with the responsibility to work and care for the land (Genesis 2:15).
The three-day course combined theory and practical lessons, focusing on three key areas: Biblical, Management, and Technology resources. The six biblical principles taught were:
- Acknowledge God Alone
- Consider Your Way – You Are God’s Temple
- Understand God’s All-Sufficiency
- Reap What You Sow
- Bring Tithes & Offerings to God
- Stake Your Claim
The Garden of Eden served as a central theme, illustrating three key relationships: God and human, human and plants, and the interconnection between all creation. The facilitators emphasized that God created everything we need, but we often fail to see it.
As a church, we often believe we are doing good by giving handouts to the needy, yet we may unknowingly promote dependency rather than empowerment. Instead of truly fighting poverty, we risk creating a community that is reliant on handouts, forgetting that Christ said, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” (Mat 4:19).
The training challenged us to reflect on: What now? How can we inspire others to return to God’s way, acknowledge our past mistakes, and embrace sustainable, faith-driven farming?
In order to have healthy people, we require healthy food from healthy soil—living soil, as created by God in the first garden. We must commit to restoring and caring for the land as God intended.
A big thank you to Anglican Environmental Network SA ( Green Anglicans) and the United Thank Offering for making this training possible.
By: Mrs Vumazonke
