Born in a Funeral Home, This Black Church is All About Life

Children jumped rope outside while neighbors gathered for meals in Chapel C of Gardner Funeral Home. And in another room, caskets waited for the funeral home’s other work.

Living Testimony Ministry began in a place associated with death, but its founders were determined to nurture life.

LEARN MORE: The Forest Rev. Jeremiah Wright Planted Is Still Growing

Twenty-one years later, the Pentecostal congregation continues that work through reading support, puppet ministry and street outreach — including pots of chili that have become an unexpected bridge between church members and their neighbors.

“We were having Bible study with caskets in one room and the people in another room,” the Rev. Judge Gardner recalled.

Literacy Concerns

Gardner and his wife, Ena, the ministry’s co-pastor, entered the funeral industry in 1995 and purchased their own funeral home in 2004. The following year, they began the ministry through a study group called “Walk Through the Bible.”

The building became a community gathering place. Ena cooked large meals and welcomed children, drawing puzzled questions from people who expected a funeral home to look and function differently.

Her concern about literacy helped shape the outreach.

Sitting on the concrete stoop, she asked passing schoolchildren to read the funeral home’s sign. None could read “Gardner,” she recalled. Some recognized only “fun” within “funeral.”

She began buying sports and automobile magazines, hoping familiar interests would encourage young people to practice reading.

“I am so, so concerned about our young people and their inability to read,” she said.

Addressing Children’s Needs

In 2009, the congregation used members’ tithes and offerings to purchase a former Kingdom Hall building in the Woodlawn neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. Moving out of the funeral home opened the ministry to people who had been uncomfortable attending services there.

But acquiring a church building never displaced its commitment to serving beyond the doors.

Before the pandemic, volunteers read with children every Thursday at Woodlawn Community School. Participants underwent fingerprinting and background checks, Judge Gardner said. He remembers one girl progressing from shyness to reading aloud in front of her class.

When volunteers noticed a child without socks during winter, the ministry organized a sock drive. Scarves, hats and mittens became part of meeting needs that emerged through relationships.

At a pediatric care facility, members brought puppet shows, music and meals, including Mother’s Day dinners for families. They also pack meals through Feed My Starving Children.

“If you’re not serving, then you’re not doing anything,” Ena said.

Meals and Prayer

Today, street outreach remains a major focus.

Early efforts sometimes involved handing out $5 to people who said they were hungry. Eventually, Gardner and the men of the congregation began bringing food directly to the corner, setting up tables with tablecloths and serving with gloves.

People come for meals and prayer. Some stop their cars.

The outreach also taught the church to listen closely. When the congregation invited neighbors inside for a special dinner, the co-pastor prepared chicken, macaroni and other dishes. The guests had a different question: “Where’s the chili?”

Their preference helped send the ministry back outside.

“We go to their house since they don’t want to come to ours,” Ena said.

The congregation has welcomed people returning from incarceration, and the pastors are exploring how to support their next steps. They are also developing nursing home outreach with the message, “You are not forgotten.”

‘You Weren’t Born Saved’

Attendance at Sunday service can range from 20 or 30 to about 75, Gardner said. The couple sold the funeral home in July 2025 and now devote themselves to ministry full time. Their measure of faithfulness reaches beyond Sunday numbers.

People “need some food and they need to be warm,” Ena said. “They need to be safe.”

Gardner teaches members to resist looking down on anyone they encounter.

“You weren’t born saved,” he said. “And good people get caught up in bad things.”

For his wife, the ministry’s endurance remains a testimony in itself.

“We’re still standing; we still believe in God,” she said. “And we’re still looking up.”