​The Courtyard Memorial Garden is sacred ground. It holds the names and memories of those who have died and are buried there and it tells part of our story. Placed in the mainstream of church life, the Courtyard was designed by architect Keith Westenhaver as part of the new education wing that was dedicated in 1991. The Courtyard was meant to be a quiet place of comfort after worship, a gathering place for conversation, a place for Sunday School activities and it continues to function in these ways. It later transitioned to a Memorial Garden, and now cycles the on-going flow of life and death.

Burial in a church or a church yard has been a venerable and ancient custom throughout the centuries. It was once common to find a burial ground surrounding the village church. Burial after cremation in a church memorial garden, a place of prayer and peace, replaces the churchyard in urban areas, and testifies to the holiness of the body.

For I am convinced that there is nothing in death, or life, in the realm of spirits or superhuman powers, in the world as it is or the world as it shall be, in the forces of the universe, in the heights or depths – nothing in all creation – that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 38-39