Field Trip! Visiting Sanctuary+Seed
God calls the Presbytery of the Highlands
to nurture, equip, and enable the presbytery community
as we exemplify the love of Christ in and through creative ministries
preparing our faith communities to embrace and engage a new season
Vocation Statement: Presbytery of the Highlands
On June 18, members of the Highlands Presbytery Church Development Team (CDT) visited the newest member of the presbytery community, the New Worshipping Committee known as “Sanctuary+Seed (S+S).” It was an opportunity to see it in its natural environment and meet several members of its leadership and community, and to experience a powerful demonstration of what it means to be creative and “engage in a new season,” and for the Presbytery to nurture, equip, and enable. S+S in one of the many “1001 New Worshipping Committees” that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is seeking to support in a spirit of collaboration and experimentation, and the first new church development in Highlands Presbytery.
Our two guides were the Rev. Lissette González Sosa, newly ordained Organizing Pastor of Sanctuary+Seed and Director of Faith Formation at the Bound Brook Presbyterian Church (BBPC), and Michael Bolton, Chair of the Board, whose wife, Rev. Dr. Merideth Mueller-Bolton, is on the Church Development Team and has been the liaison between the Presbytery and S+S. BBPC’s pastor, Rev. Linda Owens, and Jung Dettleback, BBPC elder as well as liaison between S+S and BBPC, also made significant contributions to CDT’s understanding of this initiative.
At the November 2024 Presbytery meeting, Lissette was examined for ordination to the ministry of Word and Sacrament, for the purpose of serving as Executive Director/Wild Church Pastor of Sanctuary+ Seed, a ministry validated by the Presbytery at its September 2024 meeting. This new worshipping community is possible only because of the generosity of Christ Presbyterian Church (CPC) in Martinsville, and the creativity and courage of BBPC. CPC, in preparation for closing, asked the Presbytery for permission to give its property and proceeds from property sales, to BBPC, the two only fifteen minutes apart. The Presbytery approved this somewhat unusual request, understanding that this innovative ministry was in process, given Lissette’s existing position at BBPC.
For all the saints gone before us
Counterclockwise from the bottom: Sanctuary+Seed Board Chair Michael Bolton, Jung Dettleback, and Lissette Gonzalez Sosa, and Church Development Team members Betsy Englehardt, Merideth Mueller Bolton, Sarah Green, Mary Beth Mardis-Lecroy, CDT Moderator Carie Morgan, and Resource Staff Steve Shussett. Photo by Linda Goodson.
Rev. Lissette Gonzalez Sosa and Sanctuary+Seeds’ First Major Purchase
Rev. Sarah Green (Wharton United Community Church) checks out the Grow Room
Like any traditional church, Sanctuary+Seed is made of up multiple dimensions. According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, our chief end is to “to glorify God, and to enjoy [God] forever.” As expected of any church, worship is integral to S+S, scheduled at 2pm every Sunday to allow BBPC members to attend their home church, and create a new (not Sunday morning) space for its other worshippers (more on that later).
Raised garden boxes and trellises
Worship, known as “Wild Church,” invites people to reflect on the theme of the day, take time to connect on the day’s text through a “holy saunter” or “wild wandering” on the grounds, by reflecting on it and then sharing any insights with the larger body.Outdoor worship is rain, snow or shine, with an attendance of 2-10 people on any given Sunday, in addition to up to 30 volunteers who benefit in their own ways. As Lissette said, it is process of communing with “nature as a way to understand God’s love for us.” In commemoration of CPC and its history of interfaith relationships in the community, the day’s texts come from a variety of faithful resources.
This is in keeping with Sanctuary+Seed’s intended audience, of younger people, especially Nones, Dones, Millenials (born 1981-1996), Gen Z (born 1997-2010), Gen Alpha (born 2010-2024), and those who have experienced “church hurt.” While many who attend will say “we’re not church people,” it is not unusual for them to come with expertise in areas of interest to the church, like graduate students exploring the intersection of ecology and theology. Lissette sees this as a chance to speak to the unchurched, both to teach and learn from them. To attract people to a different kind of church, it’s important to welcome and present something different.
But as with any healthy church, loving God is the first commandment, and another is just like it: loving neighbors. But in the case of S+S, “neighbor” takes on a new, intentional meaning.
Michael Bolton, a Master Gardener, led a tour of the 3.3-acre outdoor property, containing a food forest, trellised gardens, and raised garden boxes as well as a brook and labyrinth. Three beehives are also coming this summer. Indoors, there are plant hangers and grow rooms where seedlings take root, and smaller plants are strengthened for later outdoor planting.
All of this results in actual and planned ministry and community outreach. There are community dinners, with grown foods cooked by a volunteer chef, and plans to contribute food to the Bound Brook Food Pantry to combat food insecurity and injustice in the area. The beekeeper will be teaching classes and donating honey. Volunteers built and tend to the above ground planters, and the materials used were donated. Lissette is looking forward to presiding at weddings under the garden trellises. Merideth Mueller-Bolton has led a bird walk.
Then there are the “Ultimate Volunteers” like Chef Keith Bellamay, Sheila Breeding, Jung Dettleback, Linda Owens, and her wife, Laura Goodson, who consistently contribute in many important ways. This is in addition to the more than thirteen Alcoholics Anonymous groups that have met in the former CPC for decades, as well as community groups like the Deer Ridge Singers community choir and the Bridgewater Garden Club who meet there and make their own contributions to the ministry
The people, however, are not the only ones who benefit from Sanctuary+Seed. According to Michael, “Our ethos is not to get rid of deer, chipmunks, and rabbits. We are meant to work for the church and all creation.” Lissette continued, that their mission is to understand creation in a new way. “We are part of the creation story.” In the spirit of the Native Americans whose ethic was to “Take some, leave the rest,” S+S is not only providing food for human neighbors in the area, but also leaving food for the animals who will then spread the seed.
The relationship between Sanctuary+Seed and Highlands Presbytery is, like S+S itself, new, growing, and a work in progress as both explore their relationship and responsibilities. But the members of the Church Development Team left both impressed and enthusiastic about the ministry Sanctuary+Seed is doing, and the people and the nature that they are reaching.
Lissette is a featured speaker at the upcoming 10th Anniversary Celebration of The Farminary, “Princeton Theological Seminary’s 21-acre sustainable farm, where theological education is integrated with agriculture to train faith leaders in the areas of ecology, sustainability, and food justice.” The event takes place from September 24-27. Information on all of the speakers and registration for the event can be found here.
