Catie Nymeyer, a nine-year military spouse, mother of three, and key spouse has used her skills of bread making to foster community wherever she has landed.
Catie and I met when our husband’s were stationed at Joint Base-McGuire in 2020. My husband, Tim, and I had just moved to New Jersey one month before the world shut down, thus leaving us relatively friendless in a new state. However, in April of that year, during the month of the military child (socially-distanced) celebrations, Tim’s Commander’s wife revealed that Catie and I live 3 doors down from one another and we have to get together. After being connected via facebook messenger, and finally having our first awkward encounter in the backyard, we began hanging out more frequently as she and her husband invited us to dinners and backyard fire nights with the local neighbors. Like many military friendships, Catie’s and my friendship was swift from the start. It was vulnerable, real, and Gospel-filled. Catie had managed to harness homemaking and hospitality in ways that I hadn’t seen many others do. She strives to provide her family with her very best.
Catie earned a reputation though amongst the neighbors…she made the best sourdough (or any bread) in general. Catie wanted to get to know the people around her in her community. While talking with her mom about it, she was told of a friend who would bake extra loaves of bread each week and give them away, to both friends and strangers. Catie loved that idea and quickly grasped onto it. She would give warm loaves freely, wrapped in beautiful bows, and would offer to bake any time we had a special meal that would be paired perfectly with sourdough. When speaking with Catie about this, she gave some helpful tips from her experience on how to foster community through baking.
Start With Something Simple.
Catie shares that the best thing to do starting off, is to start simple. Showing hospitality and giving to our friends and friends-to-be doesn’t have to be complicated. We can act from a place that we are already comfortable in, while also pushing ourselves outside our comfort zone as we go along. “Make a favorite recipe that can be easily doubled and shared. Even making take-and-bake cookies or bagged brownie mix will be great,” says Catie, “People love food and love being given food.”
Think about people who made an impact in your life and love like that.
Catie shares that her biggest anchor was prayer. She continually asked the Lord to show her how she could bless those around her. “He is good at revealing ways to help us grow closer to mirroring Jesus,” she states, and that is what she did. Fostering community doesn’t have to come with a large invitation and a well-detailed charcuterie board, although those are delicious. Fostering community, as demonstrated by Catie, can be done so with such simple choices.
She states, “Ask people questions about themselves. Offer to meet at a park or have them over for a play date if they have children with similar ages to your own. Offer to sit outside and chat.”
Don’t listen to the lie that what you’re doing isn’t good enough.
Often when we are sharing a product that we have produced ourselves, even to close friends, we can get so wrapped up in perfectionism that we almost miss the real end product: the community. Catie shares how she has dealt with this same imposter syndrome and how sometimes it’s difficult not to listen to the lies that her bread isn’t good enough or the cookies spread too much. “It’s a joy stealer because I have experienced so much happiness and meaningful friendships by sharing what I have even if it’s not perfect,” says Catie, “God made people relational. He gave us talents to use to make connections. So when I feel like I’m listening to a lie that is telling me no one will like my bread, I just remind myself that by showing love and kindness to someone, whether bread or cookies by box or scratch, is more important than how they look. It means more to that person knowing someone has thought about them.”
By doing ministry this way, it has opened up many opportunities to talk about Jesus with new friends. “When I mention I go to church, people will ask where and it’s an easy way to invite them to go” Catie states. She shares that creating baked goods and meals for others has created a domino effect that not only led to deeper relationships, but others beginning to bake for others as well. She says, “I’ve met some incredible people that I think will be in my life for a long time. It has encouraged people to come out of their shells and they in turn start making things to give to others and new friendships bloom from that.”
By starting simple and embracing the gifts and talent available to you, you can foster community like Catie.