The trellis and the vine and writing and procrastinating
My pastor, Josh Howerton, was kind enough to invite me to join him and some other men from The Bridge Church in Spring Hill for some discipling and ministry training Wednesday mornings. After only one meeting, I’m finding myself blessed beyond belief. Besides the obvious benefits of meeting new friends over excellent coffee, together we’re reading The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-Shift That Changes Everything, which seems to be the ministry book that’s changing everything these days. I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about it. And thanks to the fine fellows at Together for the Gospel, I got my copy gratis.
Only two chapters into this book and I can see why it’s so popular. It communicates a message I’ve been thinking and feeling for a long time but lacked the words to express. It explains why my wife and I became so burned out on ministry so quickly at the church we left in January. It answers the questions of how to turn the Evangelical ship away from the iceberg of irrelevance by emphasizing disciple making over structure building.
Not only that, but it also gives me a good poke in the noggin about why I find it so hard to write, even though it’s one of my favorite things to do.
According to Trellis’ author, Colin Marshall, the reason why so many churches gravitate toward building bigger churches with more programs and away from making disciples is, (ta-da!), it’s easier. As Marshall asks in chapter 1, what would you rather do: help clean up the church’s landscaping or share the gospel with your neighbor? “Trellis” work – structural and administrative stuff – is easier even though it’s exhausting because it’s not risky. Vine work – making disciples – involves getting your hands dirty and finding that all the work you did to plant, water, and cultivate came to nothing because of a record-breaking summer of heat. Okay, I’m working in some of my personal angst over the $150 I blew on perennials this spring that are all dead now.
But one thought I couldn’t escape as I read that part of the chapter is how closely it echoes my own struggles with writing. Applied to this blog, the trellis-vine analogy works out as having the WordPress theme and code structure as the trellis and the words and posts I create as the vine. I put a lot of effort into launching this blog, including more hours than I care do admit agonizing over the theme and all it’s settings. (I’m still not satisfied with it.)
At some point, though, there has to be writing. I must discipline myself to sit down, peck out some words on my keyboard, and hope they fall into some semblance of order and meaning. And then comes the greater risk – that once I hit the “Publish” key no one will come to read what I’ve written. And worst of all: that those who read it will think it’s drivel and leave nasty comments for me to delete.
The discipline of writing has really been one of the great joys of my life, but I still find it unspeakably hard at times. It’s not unlike the struggles I’ve experienced as a runner. Oh, I love running. But the hardest part is getting my sorry self out the door. There’s always one more stack of papers to tidy, one more email to answer, and one more weed in my flower bed to pluck as I head toward the end of the driveway. I’ve completed a marathon and I can tell you certainly: the hardest step is the first one past the starting line.
Running, writing, ministering … all acts of discipline, sacrifice, and great joy mingled with sweat, dirt, and tears. All worth every bit of effort. The empty shoes, blog posts, and souls of the world await.
