Blog: Community Highlight: Grace Lutheran Community Farmer’s Market

In the shadows cast by the pandemic and the death of George Floyd, the congregation of Grace Lutheran Church in Durham, North Carolina, began having some tough conversations.

“Several of our [black] members were uneasy about the Christian response to racism,” said Dan Heuser, a congregant at Grace. That led Grace pastor Rev. Dr. David Brooks and a handful of his congregants to form the PALS (Prayer-Activity-Learning-Service) racial reconciliation group. Members went through a CPH study, watched movies, and held educational events and discussions to explore the topic of race.

Eventually, they decided they wanted to do more than talk. They wanted to take action. They specifically wanted to embrace the message of Matthew 5:16 and let their light shine.

This past April, the Grace Community Farmers Market began to blossom. The farmers market is held on the campus of the church. Heuser, who spearheads the market, said Grace specifically invited black farmers to come and sell their products. In addition to the farmers, vendors sell prepared foods, honey, tea, soap, and candles. As part of its partnership with Walltown Neighborhood Ministries, Grace gives $15 market vouchers to some of the Walltown residents who experience food insecurity. Walltown is a historically black, working-class neighborhood in Durham. Walltown Ministries is a coalition of Duke University and churches, synagogues, and nonprofits committed to outreach within the neighborhood.

Supporting black farmers and helping those who are food insecure meet two of the three goals that Heuser said Grace was trying to achieve through the market. The third goal involves the community of Trinity Park, which Grace is on the edge of.

“Trinity Park is a white, affluent area,” Heuser said. “A lot of [the residents] are kind of suspicious of Christianity, maybe antagonistic toward it. They don’t really understand the [broader] church. They look at how we vote, the church sex scandals…”

It’s another opportunity for Grace to let its light shine.

“There are very few places in America where black and white, poor and wealthy, faith and faith-averse can come together on an equal footing,” he said. “That’s what we hope that the market will be – a place where trust starts to develop between the groups and they begin to share stories.”

For the April market, Heuser said, they “contacted every friend and acquaintance that we knew.  We knew that first one, if we started off poorly, that would be bad.

“We had several hundred people attend.”

At the subsequent markets, more residents of the Walltown and Trinity neighborhoods attended.

That’s just what Heuser and Grace were hoping for.

Want to check out the Grace Community Farmers Market? The remaining markets of the season will be held on August 10, September 14 and October 12.

These outreach spotlights are designed to encourage congregations to serve and love those God has placed in their community. Got a story to share about what God is doing through your congregation? Please email Robin Domeier.