Discipleship & Apple Trees

The Art of Sustainability & Repeatability

“What is the purpose of apple trees?”

That’s a question that someone asked me once, and I admit it, I got the wrong answer.

I said to make apples by the way.

The answer the person was looking for was to make other apple trees. There are other answers to my friend’s question of course, and I was confident that mine was a good one. Who doesn’t after all like apples, either as a crunchy snack or baked in a pie? But when he explained it to me I realised that what I was desiring was a benefit from the tree, but not thinking about how to sustain this, or indeed repeat this. Apple trees are about both. My friend explained that his question wasn’t necessarily horticultural but rather in relation to how we view the culture of a church, and our approach to discipleship. Since then it has been something I have thought about, and wrestled with for nearly ten years in our small rural church context.

In some ways, we are called to be fruitful, aren’t we? Fruitfulness and effectiveness are words that are presented all the way through the Bible. Of course we rely on God for the increase, but we are also called to work and produce. Yet in the area of church planting and smaller church ministry, oftentimes our production can tempt us to pursue some very unhealthy and unsustainable methods. I want to list a few points below to hopefully start a conversation into how we plant churches in our areas, and why we often find it difficult.

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Bearing Fruit Is Hard & Requires Work

Over the past few years we have had the opportunity to talk to people who are interested in planting churches, or indeed ministry in a church setting. When this happens, especially in a European context, we remind them that this is incredibly tough work. Pastoral ministry means that you are there for the best and the worst of people’s lives. It also means relying on God at each and every stage, and at times feeling like each and every inch forward is followed by 6 inches back. Fruitfulness looks different, and is a slow process. Anyone who has ever planted vegetables with kids knows this. We dig holes, plant seeds, water them, and wash up. The next day we are confronted by sad faces with the realisation that our vegetables didn’t grow overnight! And the next day, and the next day. Frustration can lead to disillusionment, discouragement and then flat out indifference. “This is not working, this will never happen!” Even when the first little shoots grow, the initial excitement is tempered by the reality that this will take time. Our society values speed, efficiency and expectation, all of which are often lacking in church ministry. We are working generationally, so things will go through seasons, peaks and troughs. Yet just as the ultimate work is not ours, the fruit is not ours. Both belong to God. We have been called to be faithful, to step forward, to do the work of tending, feeding, watering, and leaving the growth to God. Bearing fruit is hard, and it will require work. Coupled with that, there are some contexts and cultures where our churches will always be small and not experience the explosive growth that many resources seem to suggest. That’s not a marker of failure, just as much as a church with a large gathering doesn’t always equate with success. There’s nothing ‘better’ about smallness or bigness. Neither the mega-church pastor, or the small rural church pastor can look down on one another. In fact, when I’ve talked to those people, both seem to desire what the other have!

These next two points are not necessarily a directed critique, but a warning for us when the pace is slow, to not be tempted to cut corners to speed it up ourselves.

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Importing Fruit Is Easy But Prevents Sustainability

A few years ago our family watched Bear Grylls wander into isolated places and seek to survive by living off what he could find, normally delighting our boys as he bit into a bug of some kind. I had an idea that we would walk into a local forest and I would “discover” a naturally occurring stash of Jaffa Cakes and a few cartons of Ribena for my kids. The problem being, that since they were small, they assumed that any wandering in the forest would uncover these delights! You can imagine the following explanations, and why finding sweets on the ground didn’t mean we had foraged them for eating! This culture has crept into a lot of aspects of our world today, and not entirely in a good way. Of course, this has always been the case for humanity. We want things quickly, without effort. Crypto investments promise millions in minutes. Diets and fitness influencers promise extreme weight loss and muscle gain in days. Pornography promises intimacy without the work of building a relationship. We want the results, not the effort to get there. It’s often the same in ministry, we want growth, results, fruit, but it never seems to arrive when we want or need it to.

In church planting or any church ministry, it is tempting to import our fruit from other places to fill out our seats a bit, and to develop ministry. I’ve written previously about ways in which this can be helpful, but if this is our only strategy then we can actually hinder sustainability. I have heard potential planters talk about “getting” mature Christians, or “getting” developed leaders, and asked the question, “Where are you getting them from?” The reality is, we may be searching for outsiders to serve in our ministries and overlooking the people that God has placed around us to disciple and develop. After all isn’t it the role of pastors to equip and disciple people for the work of ministry? Then the next statement comes, “but we don’t have any people.” A large chunk of my MA dissertation was on this very question, and what I discovered was that we may have a vision or ideal of the kind of people we want. What we then decide is that it either takes too long to disciple people to that stage, or we want to develop a specific culture now rather than waiting. The danger here is that we are constantly looking to import rather than develop, and we don’t realise that this imported culture not only dominates, but those we disciple will be developed in that culture, not an indigenous one. Everything we do teaches something, even unintentionally. In the forest I didn’t teach my kids how to search for things they could eat to survive, but rather that it’s quicker to go to the shops, buy food and pretend. I wasn’t “helping” them per se, but giving them a short cut that wouldn’t serve them in the long run. As churches, we need to be careful that we are not short-cutting the work of evangelism and discipleship, and neglecting the work we have been called to in our local areas.

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Stealing Fruit Is Frustrating But Covers Unhealthiness

The final point is in relation to a conversation I was a part of many years ago. A pastor I knew was lamenting the fact that their church was seeing young people come to faith, develop as leaders, only to be “poached” (his words) by bigger, and more established churches. His pain was real, and he was incredibly discouraged by this. However, his view was reorientated in two ways by another older pastor we both knew. His advice was great, and I will share it here.

Firstly, these aren’t “our” people, they are part of God’s Kingdom for the advancement of His work. The second point of the older leader made me pause. He said that he would rather be in the healthy position of seeing organic growth, with people nurtured, developed and trusted to thrive in his church, than to simply “poach” ready made fruit from another. In rural or smaller contexts, it can be frustrating when people leave because of work or other opportunities, and yet, our hearts must still be focused on developing people for the Kingdom of God, and rejoicing when they are a blessing to other churches. I often think this about how we are a training ground for our children who will likely leave for study or work in cities, and might not return. We are, in one sense, a feeder station for city and suburban churches. Their future leaders are likely the children in our smaller rural gatherings. Yet, larger churches, who often have more people, and bigger budgets need to be careful that they are not reliant on taking developed people from smaller contexts just because they can, or have opportunity to. Often times, churches do not fill a vacancy by someone from within, or indeed have a plurality to make this transition seamless. It’s just easier to look outside. In Ireland, particularly the North, there always seemed to be joke about pastoral musical chairs. “He moved there, and they called that pastor from X church, so X church called from Y church.” Round and round it went, and yet, someone always was left with an empty pulpit. I’ve written before about the sentiment this breeds in us of comparison and competitiveness, and can lead us spending more time encouraging people to attend our church instead of another rather than seeking to evangelise and disciple those in our villages, towns and cities. We can often do the same without realising it with our leaders. As one quote goes, “We don’t steal sheep, we just try to grow better grass.” This kind of sentiment really frustrates me, as it harms people on both sides.

Like the point above, this may appear ‘healthy’, but can be unsustainable in the long term, and create an helpful “ladder” for pastors and planters to rise up as their ministry develops. The goal can become to get to the top, rather than to serve God where He has placed them. To steal fruit, to fill seats, to justify our position, creating “strong” pastors but underdeveloped churches.

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Conclusion

I’m not sure at which stage or context you find yourself, but I do know that these are conversations that I regularly have with other pastors and planters, particularly in smaller churches. It is important for us to partner in the work of God, knowing that all fruit is His, and entirely of His grace. Maybe this is a good way to start conversations on how we can bless and encourage one another, bridging contexts, creating partnerships, and learning from one another and the particular challenges we face in seeking to see people come to know Jesus, grow in His grace, and to develop as disciples for His glory.