Fresh harvest, new hospitality

Throughout the harvest season in Mount Airy, Maryland, shoppers browse tables heaped with seasonal produce, pause to chat with neighbors and support local vendors at the community farmers’ market. Nestled nearby is another table offering something less tangible but no less important: a welcome. 

Under the other white tents, the sights and smells of bright summer fruits turn to the subdued hues and hints of autumn root vegetables, but the handmade goods offered at the table set up by St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church remain constant. The small congregation has transformed insights from the Presbytery of Baltimore's Innovation Lab into a new form of neighborhood outreach.

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Under their portable white tent, Diane Bayless and fellow volunteers from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church gather to greet neighbors. On top of their folding table, they lay out handmade crafts tagged with messages of God’s love and communal care. 

The idea emerged after Bayless participated in the Innovation Lab through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Office of Innovation, part of Presbyterian Life & Witness. Returning to her congregation, she brought the lab’s exercises back to the church’s Faith and Fellowship group, where members reflected on the congregation’s strengths, challenges and opportunities.

“Innovation Labs help congregations move from needing a perfect plan to trying a faithful experiment — and discovering what God might be inviting them to do next,” said DeEtte Decker with the Office of Innovation. "What if the most important outcome isn’t who comes through the church’s doors, but what happens when the church walks through its neighbors’ doors?”

“We looked at strengths of St. Andrew’s and our challenges,” Bayless said. One strength stood out immediately: “It’s a very open, friendly, welcoming community.”

The congregation also recognized a challenge familiar to many small churches. Founded roughly two decades ago in anticipation of a housing development that never materialized, the church today sits “sort of off the beaten track,” near a town park but largely out of sight from passing traffic. “Nobody knows that it’s there,” Bayless said.

With weekly worship attendance averaging 30 to 35 people, a small volunteer base, a limited budget and a part-time pastor, the congregation needed an outreach effort that matched its capacity while connecting with the wider community.

The solution was already next door.

Because the town’s weekly farmers market is held beside church property from May through September, members decided to set up a church table once a month. Rather than focusing on membership recruitment, volunteers chose to highlight the resources and ministries already available to neighbors.

“Our goal really is to offer what we can to the community,” Bayless said. 

At the market, volunteers share information about the church’s prayer garden and labyrinth, invite people to join the Caring Quilters ministry, explain its support of Project Linus and Sleep in Heavenly Peace, and promote a public book club that welcomes community participation.

The table itself has become a laboratory for learning. Volunteers watch what sparks conversation and adapt accordingly. Interest in quilting led to more visible displays about the Caring Quilters ministry. Miniature Jesus figurines proved popular with visitors. The church is also introducing handmade quilted prayer pillows created from quilt scraps, each carrying a simple message of encouragement and church contact information.

For Bayless, the project reflects one of the Innovation Lab’s central lessons: faithful risk-taking.

“We were looking at this as taking a risk,” she said. “It’s doing something that we haven’t done before, and we don’t know what the outcome is going to be.”

The lab encouraged participants to measure ministry differently. Success would not be defined solely by whether new people appeared in worship.

“Recognizing that there is no failure,” Bayless said, is part of the learning process. “If nobody new comes to church, it’s not a failure.”

Instead, the congregation measures progress by visibility, relationships and community awareness. Bayless believes the market has already helped residents discover ministries and resources they never knew existed.

“I think that people are maybe starting to see that we’re there,” she said.

That spirit of experimentation reflects the broader support congregations receive through Presbyterian Life & Witness’ innovation initiatives. By encouraging churches to assess their assets, engage their neighborhoods and try new approaches without fear of failure, the church’s national ministries help local leaders imagine fresh possibilities for ministry.

For St. Andrew’s, those possibilities are unfolding one market day at a time.

Between fresh vegetables, local crafts and conversations among neighbors, the church has found a place at the community gathering. Its table offers a simple message: the congregation is here, it cares about its neighbors and its welcome extends beyond Sunday morning.

That invitation, Bayless believes, is worth the risk. “We just need to take the opportunities whenever there’s something for us to get the word out,” she said.

Presbyteries interested in cultivating this kind of imagination and experimentation can contact the Office of Innovation to explore hosting an Innovation Lab for their congregations. Offered in partnership with the presbytery, Innovation Labs bring congregational teams together to listen to their communities, imagine possibilities for ministry, and develop small experiments — with coaching, practical tools and a community of peers learning alongside them. To inquire about a partnership, contact DeEtte Decker at [email protected].