Bonsai churches


As we were discussing about the churches in Tamil Nadu, the leader of a church growth organization said there are so many “Bonsai” churches here. I asked him what he meant by Bonsai. He went on to explain that Bonsai is a type of tree that is grown in Japan. They are trees that are grown in pot and it can be kept in your table. They are very much alive. They grow only to about 7 inches maximum. They even produce fruits. So whatever tree you want, you can grow that at your table. For instance, if you want to grow a coconut tree, you can buy one bonsai coconut tree and keep it on your table. It will grow up to 6 inches and it even produces tiny coconuts for you. Though these Bonsai trees are beautiful and bear fruit, they are useless. The real purpose of this tree is not fulfilled. These Bonsai trees are also very expensive. He went on say that most churches are Bonsai churches. They are alive, beautiful and expensive. But they are useless and they fail to fulfill its purpose. As he said that, his eyes were filled with water because he was not condemning any church but he was grieving over the state of many churches. He finally shook his head and said Bonsai, …that is not the way a church should be.

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