wfn.org | Galloway urges worshipers to nourish the soil of faith

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6614 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

12-June-2001
GA01057

Galloway urges worshipers to nourish the soil of faith

by Jerry Van Marter

LOUISVILLE, June 12 - The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is losing members
because it too often "preaches a gospel of plenty while conducting a
ministry of scarcity," Tuesday's General Assembly preacher told worshipers.

	The Rev. John T. Galloway, pastor of Wayne (Pa.) Presbyterian Church, noted
ruefully that he was assigned to preach on the topic of "bearing fruit" in
the wake of news that the PC(USA) lost another 35,000 members in 2000.

	Bearing fruit and increasing membership are not the same thing, Galloway
said, "but they are related." Preaching from the parable of the fig tree in
Luke 13, Galloway said the role of the church is to nourish the soil in
which the trees of faith grow. If a person comes to a tree and finds no
fruit, he said, "that person is not going to say, 'Hey, there's no fruit on
this tree - I think I'll invite some friends over!'"

	In the parable, the tree was given a reprieve while the gardener tended the
soil, trying to build up its nourishing power. "We need to see ourselves as
living in the reprieve," Galloway said. "We must be preoccupied with the
soil, preparing it to nourish the tree."

	He told of a pear tree in the yard of his boyhood summer home. Summer after
summer the tree produced an abundance of pears, but he didn't like pears, so
he never ate any, Galloway said. Then, one day, he picked a pear and began
to eat and discovered that he really liked the pear. He called his sister
over, then his parents, and pretty soon people from all around were eating
from the tree. "May it ever be so," he concluded.

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