Blessing mums, planting connections

Since the commissioning of Everhope Church on Reformation Day 2021, planted by Rockingham Mandurah Lutheran Church in Perth’s southern suburbs, we’ve sought out different opportunities to connect with the local community on their own turf.

Some of these have fizzled out after one or two attempts, but one initiative, which is going into its fifth rendition, is our Mother’s Day succulent outreach.

These days, takeaway coffee cups, printed with patterns and artwork, look a lot nicer than they once did. And one of our members, Cherie, had a mentor who would use the coffee cups as pots, giving succulents to mothers of a local playgroup. When our first Mother’s Day as a congregation rolled around, Cherie put this idea forward as a cheap yet personal way to bless the wider community.

We have members collect coffee cups throughout the year, and then a month before Mother’s Day, we pot succulent cuttings in each cup, giving them time to take root before the outreach.

Then the day before Mother’s Day, we meet to put each succulent in a gift bag, together with a small encouraging note and a wrapped chocolate. We pray over every succulent and every volunteer who is about to head out in pairs.

Each pair will take about 20 succulents in a car and head to a different hotspot of the local community. Perhaps a beach, a shopping centre carpark, or a playground. We intentionally approach women who may be mothers, without assuming that they all are.

Most interactions look something like this: ‘Hi there, sorry to interrupt, I was just wondering if I could give you this and wish you a very special weekend.’ Sometimes we’ll give them to men or boys who then, in turn, have a gift for their mum for the next day.

The goal of this outreach isn’t evangelism, but rather what’s known as pre-evangelism. We simply want to add blessing to the community.

Anyone who asks or reads the note inside will know that we’re from a church. We don’t expect that they’ll begin attending, but on this occasion, it’s enough that they’re thankful there’s a church around that has thought of them.

In a time when many are suspicious of Christians, it’s good enough that – at least on this occasion – they’re grateful there’s a church around.

Following the outreach, we’ve seen people posting in community Facebook groups messages such as:

‘Got a Mother’s Day gift from complete stranger this morning. 😊 didn’t get chance to say thank you. ❤️ what a lovely gesture to appreciate mothers all around us 😊’

and

‘I got one too, I met the couple who were dropping them off, they were lovely. I think they said they were from the Everhope church.’

Another woman messaged our church’s Instagram account:

‘I’ve been meaning to message since Mother’s Day … the day before I … had such a day and a half to say the least, and my little boy was absolutely out to make the day a whole different experience which was making it feel extremely overwhelming … then right at the crux of it all someone in gods very wonderful timing came over and gave a plant to us and it totally changed the course of my heart for the day, so I just wanted to say thanks for your ministry and time over the Mother’s Day weekend! I certainly felt the love that day and it’s my hope and prayer that others were also blessed by your church.’

When our church was meeting at a local sales office, the Facebook page of Seaside Estate chose to highlight the initiative:

‘On the eve of Mother’s Day, Everhope Church spreads love and appreciation by gifting succulents to the remarkable women in our community. This year, we were honoured to have them choose Seaside share space as their hub of kindness and generosity!’

Months later, when the Estate realised they didn’t have a team to run the sausage sizzle at their event, we already had credibility in their mind and asked if our church would be willing to serve in this way.

Normally, that’s as far as it goes – community members become glad that there’s a thoughtful church in their suburb. But occasionally, it’s resulted in something more lasting.

One succulent outreach a few years back, a pair of volunteers had an otherwise unsuccessful time of outreach. I’d accidentally sent them to a fairly unpopular park, so they still had heaps of gift bags left over. But in their desperation, they felt led to knock on a few of the houses near the park. Jacob, who answered, was extremely warm and fascinated to hear what church the women were from. Jacob and his now-wife Jesse visited the next Sunday and have been integral to our community ever since, Jacob now embarking on theological studies.

That’s the adventure of our Mother’s Day eve outreach. Nothing much may come of it, or perhaps God will use that small interaction to change someone’s whole day, or occasionally their whole life.

Matt Schubert is Pastor of Everhope Church in Perth’s southern suburbs.