Happy Planting
“Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” —The Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 3:7
You have to begin somewhere. That’s why a New Year is always something to celebrate. It gives us an actual “somewhere” to begin. Somehow, it always seems to make sense to save new initiatives for such a time as January.
Well, January is here. Actually, it’s been here for a couple of weeks. (So, don’t blink, or it will be February.) If you’re looking for the optimal time for healthy realignment, today is looking really good!
The oikos principle provides Jesus followers the handles to finally, practically, and efficiently turn a natural consumeristic mentality into a Great Commission worldview. After all, if we want to truly be considered Jesus-followers, we need to follow Him where He has always seemed to end up. With lost people.
The oikos principle takes away our excuses. The excuse that we don’t have the gift of evangelism. Or the excuse that we don’t have an outgoing personality. Or the excuse that we don’t know enough about the Bible. The oikos principle meets us where we are, confronts us with who we know, and challenges us to do what we all can do.
We never have a good reason to not get started.
Whether you’re a pastor, leading a church that is too inward-focused, or an individual Christian, living a life that is too self-focused, you just have to get started living a life that is worthy of your calling! The Gospel is that important.
Recently, I was coaching a group of Texas pastors via Zoom. One of them asked me a question I hear often.
“How long should it be before we begin to see results?”
Isn’t that what we all want to know, no matter the initiative? I mean, if we’re not going to see results, why make a New Year’s resolution? Why make a commitment? Why do anything?
This is how I responded.
“Let me give you two different answers. The second will better address your reason for asking. But the reason we pastors do what we do is not just to see results. Results are always nice, but the Apostle was clear. Delivering results is only God’s job. All we can do is tee up the mission. So, in my almost 50 years of church leadership, I was resolute. I never allowed our church family to ever forget what the Bible and the data teach us about sharing the Gospel. Because that is the Church’s mission. In fact, it’s the only thing Jesus gave us to do between His Advents.” (Let that one sink in for a few minutes.)
I continued, “Someday every believer will stand before the Bema (reward) Seat of Jesus. When I get there, the last thing I want to see is that look my wife gives me when I forget to pick something up at the store. (“Seriously, you couldn’t remember just one thing?!!”) That is why I wanted to be faithful, both as an individual and as an under-shepherd, to consistently and clearly remind the church family of their personal mission, and how they fit into God’s redemptive plan for history.”
But, since you’re reading this, you may be more interested in what my second answer to his question was. And answering that one was simpler than most people think.
“Generating or even predicting traction is above our pay grade.”
Every local church is as different as every individual Christian’s oikos. Every pastor’s gifting is as unique as every individual Christian’s personality. So, applying the same “planting and watering” strategy as another person is bound to follow a different timeline. But since our part, albeit far less significant than God’s part, is still uber-important, all we can do is give it our very best effort.
But sticking to a plan, with equal parts confidence and discipline, I am going to guess it would take an extended season of planting and watering to turn a mostly inward-focused anything into one who begins to “co” the great mission Jesus gave us. We all lead lives that yearn for relevance. Some of you are leading a church that yearns for relevance. And, after years of missional drought, the soil you’re working in may be quite difficult to till. But we all have to get started somewhere.
So, take the list of people you’ve identified as sitting in the front row of your life and just start praying for them every day. In a way, learning the whole five-step challenge (click here for The Oikos Challenge) can be like finding an Amazon delivery at your front door and, inside the box is a new pair of gardening gloves and a few new planting tools. Maybe even a small bag of fertilizer.
Happy planting!