Articles by Charlotte Gambill

Floundering of Flourishing

'The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon:
Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.'

I have always loved this verse because it expresses so simply and concisely one of the most important distinguishing features of God’s House: it is a place where people flourish. To flourish means to thrive, to prosper and be in the peak of condition. The psalmist is exhorting ‘the righteous’, people like you and me, to put their roots down in God’s House because, if they do, there are consequences - their whole life will flourish.

Plants & Soil

Like me, you have probably heard leaders minister from this verse before. After all, it is a great text from which to encourage Christians to get planted, put their roots down, and commit to the local church. However, there are two elements at work here, the plant and the soil. So, there is also a call in this verse to those responsible for the condition of the church’s soil to ensure that it does in fact allow the plants to flourish.

Plants will only ever be as successful as the soil in which they are planted. Where it is fertile, contains nutrients, is well watered and enjoys abundant sunlight, plants will flourish. The same is true of God’s House. Each believer is like a seed or a plant and they will flourish or wither depending on how well the ‘soil’ of that local church is maintained. The House of God should be like a greenhouse; it should be a place where there is maximum exposure to light, and where growth is accelerated because of the well-maintained soil.

We frequently hear stories about good people who are leaving churches where they have been planted for years. Some are even replanting into new churches many miles away from where they actually live. They are not in poor attitude, rebellious or uncommitted but simply frustrated because, despite their efforts to be truly planted in that House, they are not flourishing. Rather than growing a bigger life, they are stunted in their growth mentally and emotionally, and they are not being helped to make better choices in life. The soil of that House has become deficient in nutrients, more often than not through neglect.

Three Dimensions

The soil of God’s House must be well balanced; it must encourage and enrich our growth as whole people not just ‘spiritually.’ It is here that I believe many churches neglect their soil; they don’t properly emphasise and minister towards the importance of caring for our whole being, spirit, soul and body. For decades the church has over emphasised the spirit realm to the neglect of our bodies and souls.

In order to flourish, plants need three things: water, heat and light. To flourish as a Christian you need nutrients that feed the three dimensions of your being: spirit, soul and body. To just provide ‘spiritual’ nutrients is like a gardener who only ever waters his plants; he never concerns himself with the provision of adequate heat, light or other nutrients. Consequently, the plants never flourish, as they should, they become over saturated, stunted in their growth or even die. And here lies the challenge for every leader. Ministry which constantly over endorses any one of these three elements, is in danger of over saturating the plants in that House.

Proverbs 24:3-4 teaches us that ‘By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge it’s rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.’ The kind of House where people can flourish is one that provides wisdom, understanding and knowledge. All these elements irrigate and nourish your ‘soil’ as a church so that each person planted there will not just be inspired by exciting visionary preaching directed at your spirit but also equipped to flourish through making wise choices which in turn affect your body and develop a healthy soul.

Love Your Soul

A healthy church has a strong spirit, a disciplined body and an educated soul. These give a church huge momentum. To seek out wisdom that holistically develops all three dimensions, is to love the soul. Scripture says, ‘He who gets wisdom loves his own soul.’2 So, it starts with you as a person; if you love yourself enough to gain wisdom for life, you will be concerned about the condition of your soul – your mind, will and emotions. Then, as a leader in God’s House you must love people’s soul enough to supply them with, and help them apply, godly wisdom that grows their individual soul, which in turn contributes to the corporate soul of your church.

Committing to this releases leaders from being held back by soulish problems in their people. For as we all know, bad attitudes or negativity, which are soul issues, can sink a church far quicker than an evil spirit or a demon. Church leaders who are committed to cultivating this kind of soil condition can build flourishing churches with a momentum that meets any opposition running because their soul is keeping pace with their spirit.

We want long term flourishing. We don’t want plants in our Houses that only thrive in one season of the year, springing up in summer but withering in winter, we want people whose souls are taught to come in line with the spirit, not the circumstantial seasons they face. A lot of passionate, spirit-filled Christians who said all the right things from their spirit but never flourished in their thinking, behaviour, attitudes and choices, have not remained planted in the House long-term. Great spirituality does not necessarily mean great longevity in the House of God. But true flourishing does. Psalm 92 goes on to say, ‘they will still bear fruit in old age and stay fresh and green.’3 So, we need to create plenty of room for people to flourish right through into old age. We need churches where we make sure that no one who plants in our House can become pot bound; we don’t tell them to go for it in the spirit but are then controlling in our soul. People can live and die in the same church and have an awesome flourishing life if we get our ‘soil’ right. At 93 Gertrude, our oldest church member, is a living example of how you can stay spiritually evergreen! If we don’t feed people’s spirit, soul and body we don’t give them the ingredients they need to make it long term.

Soul Food

‘You are what you eat’ or so the saying goes. This is certainly true when it comes to your soul. What are you feeding your soul on? Is it helping you to build a great life? We often receive feedback from people who after listening to or reading one of our resources write to let us know that they were helped by the teaching. They were stirred in their spirit but more than that, they felt challenged to pull thinking and attitudes into line and this then physically affected their body too. Basically, they are telling us their soul was fed.

We recently taught our church on the theme of ‘lifting your game’ and ‘leaving the shallows.’ We didn’t just inspire them and then move on to something else, we deliberately took weeks to show them what ‘lifting the bar’ would look like. We spoke about the practical cost by dealing with matters like being punctual for meetings, only doing events that are excellent and how to deal with sloppy, unreliable people. This is what I call ‘soul food.’ It is not a quick sensational snack but a meal that has been prepared with the House in mind. It is mindful of what will make us build a better House, not what will entertain a crowd. ‘Soul food’ challenges the part of you which leaders who want a quite life don’t mess with! After every meeting you should leave with an envisioned spirit but also your soul should be educated for life.

One of the great benefits of being planted long-term in the local church is that we can take the time to talk things through. We are not in a rush so we don’t have to present a new thought every week. As a leadership team we have released ourselves from the pressure to perform; from having to come up with a brand new thought and ‘wow’ presentation every week. We know we are on a long journey and so we don’t want to burn out but rather take our time to develop concepts, to take a thought and keep watering it so that each week the thought grows and becomes established. Why does Pastor Paul commit to teach on the soul for 13 weeks 3 times a week? Because we are providing ‘soul food’ not junk food. This can’t be rushed, it’s too important. Each week strengthens last week’s thought, precept upon precept and line upon line. And whoever is teaching from our team is committed to teach around that same subject because we want to put the same nutrients into the soil of this House.

Leaders who get involved with every ministry passing through town are not protecting their people’s soul, they are often confusing them. Every voice adds something to your soil but having 15 guest speakers in 3 months will not help the soil of your church be productive and cause your plants to flourish. That’s why we are very ‘picky’ about what we feed our church both through the preached word and the songs we sing. We want our soil to be healthy and nutritious and are committed to keeping it that way.

So, slow down, take your time and enjoy building God a magnificent House. Enrich your soil so that however messed up, distant, confused, hurt or useless a person feels they are, they can come and plant in your House and within a short space of time begin to flourish in their spirit, soul and body.

Love Charl

1 Psalm 92:12-13
2 Proverbs 19:8
3 Psalm 92:14