Spiritual Agriculture

Encourage the Good

Some ideas on leadership and ministry from “Clarkson’s Farm” on Amazon Prime and “The Biggest Little Farm” on NetFlix.
“They start by clearing the ground. The farmers believe a natural ecosystem will produce the highest possible level of biodiversity. One of their initial objectives is to get rid of things that never should have been planted in the first place. In New Zealand, I observed a similar focus on regenerating the native flora and fauna to correct problems resulting from imported wildlife and plants.

The same observation can be made missiologically: importing ideas and resources from offshore doesn’t always help develop ministry that connects with the particular culture of a place. It may in fact do more harm than good in the long term.

Secularism, relativism and consumerism have leached the soil of Western society resulting in less receptive ground for the gospel. As churches and mission agencies, we need to recognise how some of our own strategies and ideas may have inadvertently contributed to this demise.

We want to value, build and develop a diverse culture of ministry that is rooted in the ground that we “farm”. This means there are things we need to move away from as we seek to move forward. I believe that Covid has actually accelerated change and underlined our need for innovation, imagination and courage.”