Watering Bamboo

Posted on Friday, January 19th, 2007 at 3:14 pm

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1 Corinthians 3:5-7 5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.  6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.  7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

There is an old story about Chinese bamboo that makes the rounds with motivational speakers.  While I don’t know enough about bamboo to verify the truth of the story, the point that it makes has some value. 

This particular kind of bamboo, so the story goes, is planted, and watered, for the first year, and nothing happens.  It is watered for the second year, and nothing happens.  It is watered for the third year, and nothing happens.  It is watered for the forth year, and not even a small bud shoots forth from the earth.  Then in the fifth year the bamboo breaks out of the soil, and grows and grows and grows.  This is because the bamboo was using the first four years to put forth a strong root system that would sustain it when it began its assent toward the sky.

I think about this bamboo plant every time I read or hear about some new study of church planting.  Some will ask questions like “If this church were a business would you buy stock in it?â€? or “How long should you keep thinking that simply preaching the Bible is going to change anything?  If you have been at it for a year and have seen no results, what makes anyone think that things will change in the second year?â€?

We live in a time when many churches almost refuse to think theologically. Only if a program “worksâ€? is it to be used; yet the question of what “successâ€? really is in ministry is rarely thought about, particularly from a biblical standpoint.  While it may seem like a church is successful when it has lots of people and many programs only God knows if there is real kingdom work going on there.

On the other hand, there may be some small church, not many people who attend.  This church may be faithful in proclaiming the word of God, teaching those who are there, praying and building up the few whom God has placed there.  It may be that the members of the church work hard to grow, they witness, invite others both to church and to other events, they pray for the community and for each other, yet at the end of the year, there is very little numerical growth.  After three or four years there still seems to be very little numerical growth.

What may very well be happening in that small church, in the work of those faithful people of God is that a foundation is being built.  This foundation may reach into the life of a child who may grow up to be a minister and touch thousands of lives, yet the church in which he was nurtured was not “successfulâ€? according to the criteria of many.

My point here is to encourage you not to give up watering even if you haven’t seen any results in a while.  You don’t know what is going on underneath the surface.  It may be that God is doing a great work in getting someone “groundedâ€? for a wonderful kingdom opportunity.  Your job is to keep watering, God will bring the growth.  Be faithful. 

Keep the Faith

DrSamLam