Tammy Giffen on Neighbourhood Contextualization, Processing When People Leave, and What Helps Canada Feel Smaller
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We know that a church is more than a building, but how does changing a space change a church? What does it mean to pastor in a way that is contextualized to the neighbourhood you’re in & the needs around you?
We talked with our friend Tammy Giffen, Lead Pastor of Groundswell Church in Truro Nova Scotia about what it’s like to grow roots as a church in a new community, how to process staff changes, and how to create safe spaces for young leaders to flourish.
That's exactly what Tammy Giffen and her team at Groundswell Church in Truro, Nova Scotia have been learning the last few years.
In 2020, after partnering with another local church, they were gifted that church's building.
The move took them from meeting in a Cineplex Theatre off the highway, to a historical church building in the centre of town across from the library and civic square. A new neighbourhood meant how they did church in this new context had to change.
In this week's episode, Tammy shares what it’s like to grow roots as a church in a new community, how to process staff changes, and how to create safe spaces for young leaders to flourish.
It’s clear that she sees her work as joining in on what God is up to in her community, and we hope you’ll be as encouraged as we are by her open-handed, faithful posture towards ministry.
Tammy Giffen
Tammy Giffen is the lead pastor of Groundswell, a multi-site church in Central Nova Scotia. Groundswell is a church plant that launched in September of 2018 with a vision to be a church unchurched people love to attend. She came to know Jesus as an adult when she was invited to attend Alpha. Since then she has been passionate about breaking down barriers to church and helping people meet Jesus. Tammy is married to Peter and has three children; Taylor, Wesley, and Mya.