Scripture: Luke 13:6-9
photo credit: budding via photopin (license)
Once upon a time, Back Bay Mission was part of a little German Evangelical Church. That congregation was founded in 1914. In 1920, it was failing: there were 22 people in Sunday School and only 15 people in the service! That’s when Rev. George Hoffman was sent to the church with a simple ultimatum: show a decided increase in attendance over the next six months or the church would close.
That’s when Mrs. McDonnell told him about the people living on the Back Bay. Better yet, she showed him. And the ministry of service we know as Back Bay Mission was born. By 1926 – 12 years after the congregation was founded – the church had 162 Sunday School members, 60 communicant members, and an average worship attendance of 74.
Today’s reading is about a fig tree. A man planted a fig tree and for years it didn’t bear fruit. He went to the gardener and told him to cut it down.
“Why,” asked the man, “should it be wasting the soil?”
But the gardener knew his work, and replied, “Give me another year. I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, all is good. If not, you can cut it down.”
We never actually find out what happened to the fig tree, but we still get the lesson: growth takes time. Organizational growth – like a congregation becoming large enough to be self-sustaining – takes time. Personal growth – like making the journey out of poverty – takes time.
Here at Back Bay Mission, we know that immediate assistance can be a great help. We all need angels to minister to us in the wilderness from time to time.
But we also know that we need gardeners. We need people who will stick with us day after day, month after month, year after year. We need people who will give us the space and the nutrition that we need. We need people who will help us bear fruit.
So do the people we serve.
That’s why we’re adding programs to help our clients grow. Already this year we’ve added home maintenance classes for our housing rehabilitation clients, art classes for our Micah Day Center guests, and a community garden for everyone. We’ll continue adding programs and staff – gardens and gardeners – who can help our clients take control of their lives and grow into the people they aspire to be.
We know that it will take time. We know that there will be times when someone says it’s taking too long. We know that there will be times when someone asks why the soil is being wasted.
We know that there will be times when a tree has to be cut down.
But most of the time we’ll smile and say, “Give us another year, we’ll keep working, and next year there will be fruit.”
