Our piece on animals as teachers drew more response than we expected, so here is another lesson from the created world, this one from the soil. Two plants sit side by side at the nursery. Same leaves, same price, same cheerful label promising a fast green screen. Put them in the ground and one stays where you put it while the other quietly takes the whole property line.
The Difference Is Underground
Running bamboos grow from long lateral rhizomes that travel outward just under the surface. A shoot can appear fifteen or twenty feet from the plant you actually bought, and it will keep going. Clumping bamboos grow from short rhizomes that turn upward almost immediately, so the plant widens by an inch or two a year and stays a defined shape.
You cannot tell them apart in a pot. The difference is entirely in habit, and it only reveals itself after three or four years, which is precisely when it becomes expensive to fix.
Why This Is a Neighbour Question
Here is where a gardening detail becomes something more. Once a rhizome crosses the fence, the problem is no longer in your garden. It is in your neighbour’s lawn, under their driveway, in the church’s memorial beds. A number of states and towns have now written this into law, making whoever planted it liable for the damage and the removal.
Anyone weighing running bamboo vs clumping for a church lot, a parsonage yard or a property line ought to settle that question before the first plant goes in the ground rather than after. Loving your neighbour is usually described in large terms, but a fair amount of it is small and practical, and some of it happens eighteen inches below the grass.
Watch: How to Build Bamboo Root Barriers and Contain Running Rhizomes (YouTube)
If You Have Inherited One
Plenty of congregations take on a property with an established stand already in place. Containment is possible: a heavy polyethylene barrier set around thirty inches deep, angled outward so rhizomes deflect upward, with a couple of inches standing proud of the soil so you can see anything trying to cross. The honest caveat is that a barrier is not a one-time fix. Somebody has to walk the line once a year and cut back what has climbed over. If nobody is going to do that, do not plant the running kind.
A Note for Our Climate
Most of Montana sits in zones colder than the hardy clumping bamboos really want, so check with a local grower before spending much. The principle holds regardless of what you end up planting: know what a thing does underground before you give it a home.
Beyond the well-known symbols of the Bible, everyday encounters with animals can also hold spiritual significance. Observing animals in natural settings—like watching 
When it comes to showing your love for Jesus, there are no rules. You do not only have to visit a church or read a bible on Sunday. You do not only pray once a day. You do not wear your cross necklace for one month out of a year. The same thing can be said for manger scenes. They may be more prevalent near Christmas, or Jesus’ birthday, but that does not mean you cannot be happy that he was born throughout the year. For this reason, many churches will leave a manger scene up year-round, and bring it out for other religious events. You can as well. You can even enjoy showing your faith by casting Jesus figurines for manger displays.
In most manger scenes you have a tiny infant lying in a bed of hay, Mary and Joseph, the wise men, an angel, some animals, a star, and of course the manger. It is a tribute to the night that Jesus was born, how the stars guided the wise men to him, and how the angels watched over him. It was during a time before Christianity became something that was widely embraced. A moment that would change the world for the better in many ways. It also gives us hope, even today, about what the future may hold for us. The eternal life that we are promised once we have lived our lives on Earth and we will suffer no more pain. Do you think we should only rejoice once a year when that manger scene is so valuable?
A manger does not have to be something you put up only for special holidays. It doesn’t have to be something you buy in a store. There are numerous passionate people who make their own figurines so that they can create beautiful displays that they leave up all year long. They start with a 
Not many people still invite other members of their church back to their home for Sunday dinners. Therefore, churches are not always as “tight-knit” as they could be. In most all churches, everyone is there and willing to help others, but they lack the bond that was in churches a hundred years ago. Therefore, many of the churches today encourage people to come together not only in the church but through trips. It is all about sharing experiences and building friendships when you have a church outing on the water.
If your church takes a trip, such as a weekend camping trip; bonds will become even stronger. Your congregation can see the beauty that God has filled the world with, go fishing for the foods he has provided, and more. The remote location of your camping trip can give them a feeling of total team work. Kids can learn, parents can work together, and the older group of people in the church can relax away from the stresses that they may feel at home. You may also venture out in a boat to catch fish, shrimp, or anything else that may be in the water waiting for your group. The key to a church outing on the water though is to make sure your equipment is reliable so that those who go out will make it back safely. You can check out marine battery 
Churches are all about the community that they are a part of. They can build stronger bonds by giving things to the community and church members. This is why many churches hold raffles and fun events for a small donation. Trips allow you to further the amount of good you do within the community. You can make it simple, such as picking up trash in the community or hosting a car wash event to raise money. You can also think larger such as a raffle to win a trip, such as boating in a nearby location. The more people you get involved with it, the more money you can put into the community and future trips for the people within your church. Can you think of anything better than that for your congregation and community?
We live in a world that is confusing at best. There are people who deal with struggles every day. For some, they push through it blindly. Others rely on a higher power. Their faith. It gets them through the most trying times. They find more strength than they ever imagined they could find and it often comes when they are struggling the hardest. It is during these times when people often receive the greatest gift of all; seeing Jesus when least expected.
In most cases, you hear about people seeing Jesus when they are fighting for their lives. It can be experienced during a surgical procedure or when the person is in a coma and suddenly wakes up. A car accident, a drug overdose, or other traumatic events in their lives may also trigger a “sighting”. The person who sees Jesus may be told things, such as forgive the one who hurt them, or they may be told that things will be okay if they keep their faith. No two incidents are ever the same, according the way these experiences are explained.
Have you ever heard someone claim that they were able to see Jesus? It happens more often that you may believe, and everyone remembers things a little differently. Their messages are all unique to their situation. For most who have been blessed enough to see him, they say that 
In Montana, there are a lot of people who are devoted to their faith in God. For that reason, these people all want to not only come together and worship Him but share their knowledge and the things he has done for them with the world. This is why Reformation Montana was implemented by some churches and so far, it is a success with all the new members who have decided to put their faith in God.
Reformation, by definition, generally refers to a 16th century movement that was for the reform of abuses within the Roman Catholic Church, which ended the establishment of the reformed and Protestant Churches. It also means the action or process of reforming an institution or practice. Reformation Montana is a group of like-minded churches and people who work together for the purpose of sending missionaries out into other areas of Montana and to the rest of the world to teach and host educational events.
The goals are simple. It is to allow fellowship opportunities to those who are like-minded in their beliefs, want to sponsor regional training and educational events, and those who want to encourage exegetical, expository preaching, and biblical studies. These individuals and groups are able to promote networking and the distribution of information to anyone who wants it through a journal. This, in turn, allows people to channel funds, if they want to, directly to the missionaries and churches as they see fit to do.
Do you really know what makes a church strong? Do you have an understanding of what holds it together and makes it beneficial to the community? The truth is, churches need people to believe in them, to share with them their joys and triumphs, and to spread the word that they are trying to teach. Without people, no one would have a church to go to. The people are the ones who support the church, not the other way around. The preacher is there to teach the word of God. They are there to ensure that everyone understands what it takes to rejoice in the word of God and to help them live a life that is pure. Without people there to hear the teachings, the preacher would not have anyone to teach. The preacher speaks because he has a total understanding of what the bible tries to tell us, and he tells others what they should do for the church.