On a trip to the California coast with my sister, I had the opportunity to explore Muir Woods National Monument, a redwood forest. As we walked through the woods, my sister and I noted how the massive redwood trees grew in groves. The national park signs throughout Muir Woods didn’t call them groves or circles or rings, though. The signs noted that the trees grew in families.
Though they stand nearly two hundred feet tall and are often hundreds of years old, the redwoods have very shallow roots, only five or six feet deep. How could a two-hundred-foot tree that’s several feet in diameter survive strong winds or flooding with only five feet of roots holding it in place? The survival of the tree depends on the family. Though the roots are shallow, they are intertwined with the roots of the other trees in the family. The tangled root system provides strength and stability for the families when nature threatens them. I was struck by how much the trees needed one another to survive. I’m not the first to make a connection between the large redwoods of California and the body of Christ, but seeing the families of trees with my own eyes solidified my understanding of how our spiritual growth both depends upon and contributes to the growth of others.
The local church plays a vital role in our perseverance. When we are discouraged, the church encourages. When we’re busy, the church offers help. When we’re suffering, the church intercedes and offers care. When we’re waiting, the church helps keep our eyes on our true treasure. When we’re doubting or fighting sin, the church is engaged in battle with us. We are not strong enough to weather the sufferings and cares of earth on our own. The Lord knew we would struggle. He knew we would doubt and worry and fear and sin. He did not call us to follow him in isolation. You will be hard-pressed to find a Christian flourishing in isolation. That’s because God designed us to need other people, and the church is his gift to us as we seek to follow him faithfully.
We need one another—and not just in the difficult seasons. We need one another in the regular, everyday ruts of daily living. When I look around the church sanctuary on Sunday morning* and see my fellow church members singing and listening and praying and giving, my faith is encouraged and increased. When I listen to the friend who sits a few pews to the right tell me about what God is teaching her in her daily Bible reading, I am exhorted to continue in my own Bible reading. When my Sunday school teacher tells the class about how he’s trusting the Lord in prayer over his health, my affections are stirred for the God who loves and cares for my friend. When I meet with my church family for corporate prayer or to study God’s word together or share a meal, my roots get more and more tangled with theirs. What binds us together is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and because of him, our lives are all intertwined. When one is weak, the others are strong.
The opposite of all of this is also true. When the people of my church aren’t fighting their sin or when they’re habitually absent from corporate worship, I find myself deeply discouraged. If I’m not reading the Bible regularly or interceding for my spiritual family, what can I offer them when they are grieving or suffering? How is my root system supporting theirs if I am not feeding my own faithfulness? How is theirs supporting mine if they’re not feeding their faithfulness? If we’re all intertwined together, then our commitments to lifelong faithfulness depend upon one another. They need my faithfulness, and I need theirs. Paul prayed for the church to be “knit together in love” (Col. 2:2). The author of Hebrews said that meeting together regularly as the body of Christ encourages us to love and good deeds (see Heb. 10:24–25). The togetherness of the church keeps us growing in faith when faced with the things of earth that threaten our maturity. The tangle of roots beneath the surface grows in strength when it regularly feeds off the truth of Scripture, seeks the Lord in prayer, and spends time further knotting those roots together.**
The togetherness of the church keeps us growing in faith when faced with the things of earth that threaten our maturity. Share on X*Or these days, on a Zoom call or in the parking lot for a drive-in service!
**Author’s note: This is an excerpt from my new book, Everyday Faithfulness: The Beauty of Ordinary Perseverance in a Demanding World from Crossway Books, ©2020.
Glenna Marshall is married to her pastor, William, and lives in rural Southeast Missouri where she tries and fails to keep up with her two energetic sons. She is the author of The Promise is His Presence (P&R) and Everyday Faithfulness (Crossway), and Memorizing Scripture (Moody). Connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
