Healthy churches require good seed and deep roots. That is the point I made in my previous blog. In this blog we will discover more wisdom from the garden. As I learned from my dad, when you plant a garden you must avoid overcrowding, but don't force plants to stand alone.
It is like this, when you plant a garden, you first must make sure the young seedlings are not overcrowded. If you grow a garden from seed, you must thin out the plants as they begin to grow. If you plant from small seedlings, you must space them out. If not, the plants will grow weak and spindly. My dad taught me to use the hand trowel I used to dig holes for the seedlings also as a measuring tool -- leaving ample space between each plant. Plants need space to grow, to branch out, and produce flowers.
The same is true with growing vegetables. I paid my way through university working among the farmers of the Holland Marsh, a vast and lush garden community just minutes north of Toronto, Canada. My wife Jeannie grew up in this area, and like another Jacob of old, it seemed that I had to earn her hand in marriage by working on the family farm. But it was there I really learned the importance of creating space for plants to grow.
When helping Jeannie's dad grow tomatoes in the family greenhouse business, we carefully spaced each plant along the row upon row of tomatoes. We did this for at least two reasons. First, each plant needed sufficient sunlight to produce healthy, ripe, and large tomatoes. Also, and perhaps equally important, if the plants were too close and had no room to "breathe", the plant became susceptible to all kinds of diseases: fungus, blight, leaf spot, and fruit rot, just to name a few. Every few days we would painstakingly "prune" the tomato plants to avoid overcrowding.
While it is important to avoid overcrowding, I also learned the importance to not force plants to stand alone. Plants need each other. The tomatoes on the vines needed each other for cross pollination to occur. Otherwise there would have been no fruit on the vine. Plants also give support to one another by leaning up against each other as they begin to grow taller and branch out. In the greenhouses, we created this necessary support by stringing the vines up to overhead wires.
One of the annuals my dad planted in the flower gardens, the marigold, did not really have the best fragrance. The blooms were actually pretty, but one of the main reasons we planted these marigolds in the flower gardens was to ward off a number of insects that would plague the other annuals. The garden pests were distracted by marigold scent. It seemed to work. Each flowering annual added to the beauty of the garden. Some produced delicate and vibrant blooms. Others stood on guard against pests. Together they created something very beautiful.
Healthy churches also avoid overcrowding, but they make sure that no one stands alone. We need to create space for God to work in the lives of people. None of us have a monopoly on God or the truth of his Word. Recently I led a leadership retreat in which we created space for each leader to spend up to 3 hours alone with God. No church agenda. No prescribed outcomes. No expected results. Just space for people to come away and spend time soaking in the truth of God's Word and being filled with the Spirit and presence of Christ.
But as we create space for God to work in the lives of individuals, if we want a healthy church, we must make sure that no one stands alone. We need each other. No passage in Scripture makes this more clear than I Corinthians 12:12ff. We are reminded that ... the body is not made up of one part but of many. ...The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” .... But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Healthy churches know the importance of each individual in the church. We all have different passions and gifts. But as we work together pursuing our passions and using our gifts, as we support one another in our spiritual growth, and as we hold one another accountable, the church as a whole becomes a beautiful thing. Like a healthy garden, much fruit is produced as people grow in the faith and see many others become part of God's growing family.
Also, no church should stand alone. One of the blessings among Reformed churches has been the partnership in the gospel as churches belonging to both a Classis and a denomination. We know that we are not alone, but there are other church leaders and churches who can help us chart and stay the course as we seek to expand our gospel impact in the communities we serve. In my role as a denominational ministry coach I have the unique opportunity to stand alongside individual churches, Classes, as well the whole denomination -- to provide support, encouragement, and accountability as we seek to bloom in the places where God has planted us.
What is true for established churches is equally true for planting new churches. No church planter should ever stand alone. When God called us to plant a church in the late 80's, the first thing that I did was enlist an army of believers who pledged to pray for this new church plant. We had a number of supporting churches. And I surrounded myself with people who could coach and mentor me as I piloted through some uncharted waters. I knew the importance of not standing alone. As we engage church planters here in Australia, we make sure that every one them has a trained coach. We insist on a supporting church. And persistent prayer must be a priority. No one stands alone.
One last bit of wisdom from the garden. Remember the marigold. It was needed to ward off pests. One of the blessings of being part of a church, or Classis, or denomination, is accountability. When we are in the thick of ministry we often are blind to the ploys of the evil one, or even our own shortcomings. We need others who can alert us of dangers or correct us when we have gone astray. The blessing of church discipline! Praise God for the marigolds among us who can ward off error or the things that might destroy us or diminish the good work God has begun in us. How wonderful it is to know that no one stands alone!
Next time: healthy churches position themselves in places where they will thrive.