William Carey International Development Journal

I love to see the analogy of the Cogon Grass and the Church. I only see the positive charactreistics of the cogon grass, how about the negative characteristic of the Cogon grass e.g. The life span and the being depletors of Macro nutrients and other negative side of it. How does it relate to the current church situation.

In response to Mr. Adang, I would like to see the analogy of the Cogon Grass and the Church as a modern parable. As such, parabolic interpretation doesn’t necessarily have to cover all parts/elements of the parable for one to understand the central truth being conveyed by the story teller. Hence, it is natural for the blogger to leave some details that are not part and parcel of the main focus of the analogy.

I’m not an agriculturist myself and so someone else is in a better position to answer the technical side (i.e., the negative characteristic of the Cogon grass that Mr. Adang raised).

I was born and raised in SE Asia and I know very well that cogon grass can be a perennial problem to farmers and landowners alike. However, it is the first time that I’ve read this type of analogy. Very informative and quite frankly, very encouraging when taken from the perspective of the nature of the Church. Kudos to the student blogger. Thanks Editor for posting this article.

This is an excellent analogy. The first sentence of this article states that Cogon Grass is one of the most obnoxious weeds known.  The rest of the paragraph states that they try to eradicate by burning but it still comes back. More detail is irrelevant to to the main point.

This analogy is interesting and engaging, the information and ideas the student blogger had stated allows the reader to think more and go deeper. Thanks for posting the article.

I agree and appreciate the analogy of the Cogon Grass and the Church, when it refers to the power of the Word and basically nothing will prevail against it. I also think it is symbolic of the fact that the war is already won because of the Resurrection of Christ but, there will be battles to fight along the way.
Although the statement is true of “some churches”, I would be careful in keeping the comparison of the “church” and then selfishness/self-centeredness, without further explanation. Is the problem the wealth or the “church”?  I think it would sound better to use an analogy that explains what can happen if wealth is put ahead of staying rooted in the Word of God as in your first comparison.
Could the church at Corinth, Sardis,or Laodicea be a comparison? We all become depleted spiritually, when we fail to abide in the ONE who has provided it ALL.

I apologize that I accidently clicked the ‘submit” tab instead of the “notify” tab and was not finished.
To conclude; Cogon Grass does well in low pH so, where do the roots go or how can they survive when the soil changes? Either way, using an analogy like this can be so powerful in relating a truth. How many parables did Jesus use? Great job Student Blogger and Thank you Editor for the article!

Interesting comparison! I didn’t realise that the church and cogon grass have several similarities. Very observant and very creative line of thinking! I must admit though that I wasn’t that comfortable with the comparison because in the Scriptures, weeds would usually picture the bad guys or even the evil works, both of which would be burned in the last days. Even in gardens, the weeds are the villains. Being an agriculturist though, the blogger might have his reasons for doing so—that I want to discover.

Thank you all for the comments! You are all gracious!
@Jethro…You are indeed a fellow agriculturist. There are indeed a lot of negative effects of this weed. Once you have cogon in your field, well, I would say, “roll up your sleeves”. As mentioned, the similarities is only up to the ability of the church to withstand persecution. Like what you and I are observing in our locations.
@Joseph…You are a shepherd! You know the weeds that I am talking about though in your place right now, this has been eradicated already except probably in some mountains.
@Debi & Marilu… Thanks as well.
@Ricky…Thanks! You do not want to see this weed in your farm. I agree with you, “...careful in keeping the comparison of the “church” and then selfishness/self-centeredness, without further explanation.” Your question, is it wealth or the church? It is neither, you have answered it already. It is the use of wealth in the church that is not for the furtherance of the kingdom. It is happening now, “empty cathedrals without people that are up for sale”.
@Dan… Thanks! Technically, by definition, weed is an unwanted plant, e.g. a corn plant in a field of wheat is considered a weed. As mentioned, I only want to relate how the church thrives in the midst of intense persecution. Recently, the emerging church in the country where I work was persecuted. In one of the “swimming party” for new members, a “spy” was able to enter the party, took a celfone video of the event and later on the video was shown in the local television prompting a crackdown on the emerging group. While escaping in a neighboring country, a couple who has joined the group had a dream. In the dream, they both saw themselves going back to their own people and sharing their new found faith. Ever since they come back, they have visited lots of homes and people are becoming to meet again. This is the similarity that I would like to point out.

We had an earlier blog about William Carey, the agriculturalist. I wonder what his comments would have been on this analogy of cogon grass and the church? I agree it seems odd to use a “weed” as the point of comparison for something positive, but perhaps we can look at this from the point of view of the evil one: in that case the Church IS like cogon grass that he is trying to eliminated but can’t!

I well remember our first encounter with cogon grass burning in the Philippines.  We thought the mountain side was burning down!  But our crisis response was quieted by a wiser, seasoned brother: “Just wait.  It will burn itself out in minutes.”  And so it did. 
In much the same way, the heavy trials of persecution and suffering endured by many of our brethren in limited access nations are ultimately short lived as they produce for them an “eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
Thanks for making the comparison for us to think on.