A Guest Blogger: Miss Linda

(The opinions stated within this blog are expressly those of the author. But we do agree with her!)

From time to time Dr. Steve Mooneyham will give me a book that he would like for me to read.  To be honest, sometimes I read all the words and then other times I will read one or two sentences from a paragraph.  Being the flower person that I am, the title of the book by Dr. Ken Hemphill, “Bonsai Theory of Church Growth”, intrigued me so I ask to read the book.  I read all the words in this book because comparing church to a Bonsai Tree is perfect analogy.  The more I read, the more I could see the relationship.

 Now I will probably get in trouble here (then when am I not in trouble) but at least I will know who reads the article.  I could see some of our churches in this book.  We wonder why we are not growing and reaching people for the Lord when what we are really doing is trimming the roots by not letting the Lord lead.  The older I get, the more I find that things change!  This happens with or without my approval so I am learning to adapt.  If we could just realize saying “if we build it they will come” will not always work.  Most of the time we “build” it the way we want it.  When I say build it, I don’t refer to just the physical building itself.  It could be Sunday school, worship, discipleship training, fellowship, missions, etc.  We must study the soil to see what kind of seed or tree it will grow, and then we must prepare both the container and the soil.  Many times we say we can’t do anything more or different because we do not have the leaders or the money.  That is trimming the roots and making a bonsai ministry.  Some of our churches find themselves in an area that has changed.  The people in the area may have gotten younger.  If so, a traditional church may not meet the needs anymore.  Or the opposite could be true.  We must never lose sight of our vision of reaching the lost and we should always be willing to say “whatever the cost.”    When we forget our goal of growing a healthily, thriving plant it dies.  The same goes if we lose our vision of reaching the lost.    God did not say build it then sit down and wait.  He said “go out and bring them in”.  (Linda translation) 

To my way of thinking, this book should be taught in every church on the Gulf Coast.  When we think about the Coast being 85% unchurched, we must realize that just  maybe we are doing something wrong.  I guess what we really need to be asking ourselves is… do we truly want to reach the unchurched or do we just want to be able to say, ”Well, we tried! “