In her book, This is God’s Table: Finding Church beyond the Walls, Reverend Anna Woofenden invites readers into the beauty, struggle, and delight of planting “a church that is a garden and a garden that is a church.” While tracing the first years of the Garden Church—a unique, outdoor church in San Pedro, CA—Woofenden skillfully exegetes scripture and engages in rich theological and liturgical reflection to portray this church’s mission, history, and practice.

Woofenden’s portrait includes a holistic depiction of the social and ecological injustices faced in San Pedro, as one microcosm of the U.S. Her mission in San Pedro was to be “the pastor to the neighborhood, not just the people in my congregation. I wanted to create a place where all could come together and reconnect to their food, to the earth, to each other, and to God” (43). Because she attends so carefully to the nonhuman creation along with the human, Woofenden’s story provides poignant theological reflections on the concrete realities of life. Her insights into death, decay, and resurrection are especially powerful: “The gospels, the good news, doesn’t promise us a pretty garden with linear rows and predictable fruit. The gospel shows us a messier picture, but also a defiantly hopeful one. It is the gospel of the dust and the good news of the compost heap. It is not always pretty, it does not smell good, but it is always moving into the renewal of all things”  (129). Example after example of renewal, love, and restoration at the Garden Church illustrate creative ways in which church leaders and members can align their ecclesial lives with the work of God.

As a scholar of New Testament and Ecological Theology, I strongly recommend this book to church leaders, clergy, and professors. It will inspire all readers to reconsider how churches might expand beyond their typical walls and re-conceive their mission as supporting the health of the entire earth.

Consider ordering This is God’s Table at https://bookshop.org/lists/recommended-books-a5b33cec-844b-4e64-bd67-fec643ada814?fbclid=IwAR3dQILBIgQ9SShC2L-zcar3eGoyxcBLf93KAfBGiKoPKTCykXn0h7_ruLo.