Spring is here.

I know spring is here because of the advertisement I received in the mail yesterday: a brochure for Scotts Lawn products.

“Wouldn’t you love to have home-grown vegetables this summer? Visit your local Scotts LawnPro retailer to buy seeds, then follow these steps to have a bountiful harvest: Plan before planting, clear the area of weeds, prepare the soil to grow healthy plants, feed every 7 to 14 days.”

Sounds good, but I’ve got one problem - grubs. And they are taking over my lawn.

I started to notice the damage last summer. At first I didn’t know what was going on. Then my neighbor came over and said it. “Grubs.”

“No problem,” I replied. “I’ll just wait until next season. I really don’t want to spend the money now.”

I gave myself the wrong advice. With the snow finally melted, I can see the damage has gotten much worse. Now it is going to cost me even more money and time.

Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to have a vegetable garden. The steps in the brochure look easy enough. But the grubs will win. And what good is a garden, when the rest of your lawn looks like a mud wrestling pit?

Many of the parables that Jesus told are organic in nature and maybe this experience is a parable for established churches.

Let me explain. I’ve talked with many churches who want to have a bountiful harvest. They are sincere and Christ-loving. They purchase the seeds, follow the steps and expect the harvest. But revitalization is so much more than buying seeds and following steps.

You have to deal with the grubs.

Grubs come in many forms:

• dysfunctional ways of relating to each other,
• unresolved conflicts,
• inappropriate uses of power,
• bureaucracy,
• even past success.

These grubs are buried in the soil of your church. They are hidden and often difficult to identify. You can see the damage, but you don’t always know where the problem is coming from.

Here’s the point: you can buy the seeds and follow the steps of revitalization, but the grubs can lay waste to any potential harvest.

AW Tozier once wrote, “The harvest follows the plow.”

It reminds of Hosea 10:12
Sow for yourselves righteousness,
reap the fruit of unfailing love
and break up the unplowed ground;
for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he comes
and showers righteousness on you.
 
I’m told that grubs are hard to get rid of. Sometimes the grubs get so bad, you have to plow up the whole yard. And if that’s the case, it’s time to get some outside help. A “do-it-yourself” approach won’t work.

There is hope for churches who admit they have grubs and who are willing to take invasive action… (in a graceful and truthful way, of course). But for churches who are steeped in denial or who think they can put it off to next season, their potential for an abundant harvest is greatly compromised.