The Art of Planting In The Organic Church

Did you have a chance to plant a seed of truth into someone’s life this week?

 Planting is sharing God’s truth with our believing and non-believing friends

It can be intimidating and seem very overwhelming at times to step into especially if we are trying to muster the courage up in ourselves to do it apart from the Holy Spirit.

Again we must remember that we start with cultivating.  Everyone has a story and if we miss listening to their story, if we don’t begin by opening our eyes to see them, opening our ears, understanding where they are coming from, and opening our hands that we show we really care about them, then what we have to say will most likely be lost on them. So, the seeds of truth that we plant may never make it into the ground. 

Now, planting can seem contrived and so it is very important to remember up front that people without Jesus are not our projects, they are not people we have to convert, they are not numbers. They are people for whom Jesus died for and gave His life so that they could come into relationship with God and a deeper relationship with you. 

If we really love our friends, our relationships will progress naturally to the place where we begin to plant seeds of God’s truth into our conversation with our friends. So we are going to focus on planting in season, learning to plant first with believers and as we become sensitive to the Spirit’s leading, discover planting in the right light.  Finally, we will bring planting full cycle as we learn to clearly share our own spiritual story.

I really believe that the power of life transformation takes place in us as we internalize what God has done in us and share it with others.

Mark 4:26 -29 

The parable of the Growing Seed...specifically v27

This is what the kingdom of God is like.  A man scatters seed on the ground.  Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.

The reading of this passage should come:

1. As a great sense of relief.  The salvation of those all around you does not depend on you.  We are not the key agent, we are not the ‘movers and shakers,’ the ones who get things done!
2. As a huge reminder of what is going on here!   Planters are not growers: it is the Holy Spirit’s responsibility to grow the kingdom. Our calling is to listen to the Spirit and be obedient in faith to His promptings.  It is organic, it is a mystery, and we are called to join in the harvest.

As one of “God’s spies,” are you always on the prowl to spy on the beauty, truth, and goodness Jesus is birthing in the world?  The greatest and most magical mystery of all is the mystery of Christ Himself.  The second great mystery is the church, His body.           Len Sweet in Christ Manifesto

The sowing of the kingdom is the sowing of Jesus’ life. The sowing is his incarnation, obedience, teaching, death, resurrection and ascension. In all these, we see close at hand that God reigns.   Dave Faulkner

The Parable of  The Mustard Seed.

At my previous church, we faithfully ran a soccer camp every year and it was always great seeing many unchurched families getting their first experience of church in a positive light through it.  In fact the present director of children’s ministry at Southside was reached through the camp. We would subsidize the camp experience for those who couldn’t afford it as well.  One year, we had a lady, Catherine who sent her daughter, Justine.  My wife Sharon connected briefly with her and God put her on her heart so much so that Sharon prayed, God, if you bring her out to church again, I will speak to her. Well God did and she was in the second row the next week. They would meet once again in the hall and from there in my office, she would open up to Sharon about the anorexia she had been struggling with since her teen years.  She felt God telling her just to let Catherine know how much God loved her and affirmed her worth.

It would be later in the fall that Catherine passed away and died of her disease.  I can remember Sharon telling me how she was angry with Him for not putting Catherine on her mind again.  I went to the funeral and it would be there that I learned about another pastor’s wife, Janet, who shared how God gave her the opportunity to connect with her and that she prayed and put her faith in Him. She would then share how Catherine experienced so much peace in God’s presence over her last few weeks.

1 Corinthians 3:6-9

The reality is that we don't know what part we will play in someone else's journey. The key is our faithfulness and the mustard seed is just that incredible visible reminder that we need to just be obedient even with that amount of faith that God can take what we plant and make it huge in the life of another person.  There are times when we feel like giving up and that a friend or family member will never respond, but the key is remembering what God can do in the process and letting the seed simply do its work!