The Garden in Auckland is celebrating its first year as an independent church.
Planted in Auckland’s Mt Eden, the vision for The Garden began to take shape for Lead Pastor Tim Cleary as he dreamed of a church where people could be planted in Jesus—a living picture of Isaiah 61:3: “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour.”
When Tim and his wife Amy first started to pray about this, they were pastors at Curate Church’s Auckland campus. They went to the Curate leadership and shared their heart for an independent church, and were released to plant The Garden.
A year might not sound long, but in the timespan of a church plant, it feels like a lifetime!
With around 80 people who were in regular attendance at the start, Tim says the past 12 months have been a testament to the grace of God.
“Because we transitioned from an existing church, for the first few months we were wondering, ‘Who’s going to stay?’”
Along with some common issues many church planters face, like building logistics and sustainable finances, independence from Curate meant that The Garden lost prayer support, resourcing support, and connection with a wider network.
Tim says they were praying for God to bring the right people along, and they’ve seen his faithfulness. “Over time, we started to welcome new families, people who had no idea we were starting something new, but who wanted to come and be part of who we are. And that's really encouraging.”
In 12 months, they’ve grown from 80 regulars to 120–150 regular attenders on a Sunday. But the most encouraging growth isn’t about having more people in the building.
“How have we seen God at work in The Garden over the past 12 months? I think it's the young people, the young adults. We've seen a bunch of baptisms, but it's almost always young people. We have lots of kids who bring their parents to The Garden—young adults bringing their parents to church for the first time, or back to church.
“This Sunday alone, we saw a full altar call of people, and again, led by young people, who wanted to be more hungry for God. It was beautiful… We’re seeing an increase of love for the Spirit, as well as love for the Word. And I think those two things in conjunction are just so, so powerful.”
Earlier this year, The Garden joined CCCNZ as a linked-in church. For churches like The Garden that come to CCCNZ without any Open Brethren Heritage, it’s a process that includes both theological reflection and relational connection.
Alignment with the CCCNZ Statement of Faith is the first step, along with sharing a like-minded nature, practices, and distinctives—such as plurality of leadership and believer’s baptism.
“Our first priority, our first value, our first ‘seed’, as we call it, is love for the Word. And Brethren Heritage Churches are built on a deep love for Scripture and a priority there. We’re also incredibly passionate about evangelism and mission…”
For Tim and the elders, seeing these priorities among CCCNZ’s network of independent, autonomous churches was encouraging, and they began the in-depth process of linking in.
“It was encouraging to know that even if you don’t have the heritage, there’s somewhere here in the network that you can fit. And our prayer as The Garden is that we would add value to the wider movement.”
The Garden has close relationships with other CCCNZ churches nearby, including Tāmaki Community Church, Mt Wellington Community Church, and their nearest neighbours—Eden Church.
“We connect a lot with Eden. Those guys are just so, so kind to us. I think the world of them for their posture towards us, because they have been so generous. They’re genuinely phenomenal. We’ve had their elders to one of our houses for a meal, and they’ve returned the gesture. The Garden and Eden Church did a Pentecost Sunday night gathering together, and we’re already planning our Christmas gathering together.”
This evangelistic zeal is underpinned by a catchphrase taken from Isaiah 61: that all they do would be “for the Lord’s splendour.”
And as Tim looked around the room at The Garden’s one-year celebration, he saw God’s goodness and grace.
“Everyone crowded in for a photo, kids on shoulders, streamers taped up crooked, and I thought, ‘This is not what I pictured a year ago, and it’s so much better than what I pictured a year ago.’”
“There were weeks this year that felt like tending soil that wasn’t doing anything. And then, without a single dramatic moment, there was a harvest—a room too full for the chairs we had, a community that showed up for each other outside of Sundays too, and people who found something here they didn’t know they were looking for in a church or community.”
“I keep coming back to the word ‘splendour.’ Not the polished kind—the kind that’s a little chaotic, a little loud, full of people who don’t match and somehow fit anyway. It’s what a garden looks like, and it’s what I saw in that room. Not some institution—it was an organism! Living, breathing, and unique. A family that decided to grow together.”
