How Ministry Leadership Is More LIke Farming than Fishing

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Transcript

Questioning Our Ministry Metaphors

Speaker 1 0:08

What have we been using the wrong metaphor for ministry leadership all along ? Too often we picture we have this picture of pastors casting a net and reeling in results , but that , many times , is not actually how real growth happens in a church . And today on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast , we're going to explore how maybe farming offers a better , powerful , a more powerful and biblical picture , one of patience and preparation and long-term impact , and we're going to talk about why healthy ministry isn't just about catching crowds . It's about cultivating the soil of people's hearts and embracing every season and trusting God with the harvest . If you've ever felt pressure to produce kind of instant results , today's episode is for

Fisher vs Farmer Leadership Mindset

Speaker 1 0:54

you . Hi there , welcome to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast .

Speaker 1 0:56

My name's Todd Rhodes , I'm one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom , and today , what if I told you that one of your biggest leadership breakthroughs won't come from a bigger crowd but from better soil ? We've spent decades fishing for numbers and casting out programs and hoping for that big catch . But Jesus wasn't just a fisher of men , he was also a master of metaphors , and today I think he'd want you to think more , maybe like a farmer instead of a fisherman , or at least look at it through a different lens today . Okay , so stay with me . I'm not trying to be anti-scripture here . Obviously we're fishers of men , okay , so don't hear that . But stay with me , because this mindset shift today that we're going to talk about might change everything about how you

Honoring Ministry Seasons

Speaker 1 1:45

lead . Okay , fishing catches right , that's what you do . When you go out and you go cast that line into the water , you're trying to catch a fish , and if you're a successful fisherman , fishing does catch . But farming is more of a cultivation . Farming cultivates . Fishing's kind of flashy . You get all of your fancy stuff . I'm not a fisherman , obviously , so that's what I say . You get all your fancy stuff . You throw out a lure , you draw a crowd , you pull something in big , but here's the problem it's short term and you catch what's already nearby . You don't catch the environment . Farming , though , it , starts with the ground . You test the soil , you remove the rocks , you plant with intentions and guess what ? Unlike fishing , where you just pull , you get instantaneous results or hopefully you do , or at least quicker results . You don't get results overnight with farming , but when the harvest comes , it's yours because you build it with care , with the help of God , of course .

Speaker 1 2:48

Pastors , your job isn't just to catch it's to cultivate . Okay , seasons matter a lot more than results . When you're looking at the long-term , no farmer expects a harvest in the spring . All right , they know that Winter has a purpose and fall has a rhythm and summer has its challenges . But as church leaders , oftentimes we forget this and we panic . We panic in those dry seasons when it appears that nothing's even growing . We celebrate

Seeds and Strategies from Jesus

Speaker 1 3:19

growth like we caused it . But real ministry health comes from recognizing and honoring the seasons of your church and your congregation and even your own heart as a leader . So what season are you in ? Are you in a planting season ? Are you in a pruning season ? Are you in a waiting season ?

Speaker 1 3:38

It's really important because this farming stuff if we're going to continue with this farming metaphor in ministry for a second farming , is hard work . And that's the point . Let's be honest , it's not glamorous . Farming is not glamorous . It is slow , it's messy , it's filled with setbacks . I live in rural Ohio , so we have cornfields all around us and we always say that we just experienced 4th of July here not too long ago . Knee high by the 4th of July . And you know what ? This July , just driving around the back roads near my home , there are fields where the corn was far better than knee high by the 4th of July . It was like shoulder high , it was like over my head high by the 4th of July . But sometimes right across the street was another field , across the road was another field that was barely six inches tall , not even close to being knee high by the 4th of July . So that's the point with farming it's not glamour . Sometimes it's slow , sometimes it's messy , sometimes it's filled with setbacks . Sometimes your crops grow really fast and they're really healthy . Other times , man , it's a season and sometimes the crops don't even turn out , but it's a holy season .

Speaker 1 4:57

Okay , jesus talked a lot about farming as well . He didn't just talk about fishing , he talked about farming . Remember , jesus talked about seeds and strategies . He praised faithfulness over flash and and farming leaders show up daily and they till and they water and they wait and they trust for those seeds to actually grow .

Speaker 1 5:19

Ministry is not a sprint we say this all the time here on the podcast . It's not a sprint from stage to stage , it's really boots in the dirt day after day . So fishing feeds today . Farming feeds generation . Fishing is fast food . You feed the people who show up today

Cultivation Over Catching: Final Thoughts

Speaker 1 5:36

, but it's not . Sustainable Farming , on the other hand , creates a culture , a staff culture , a church culture that nourishes the next generation . It doesn't just meet needs . That nourishes the next generation . It doesn't just meet needs , it multiplies fruit . You can get so much more from a field of really well-developed and nurtured seeds than you can with a fishing pool . It leaves legacy . So you're not called just to catch crowds , you're called to cultivate faithfulness .

Speaker 1 6:05

So here's the bottom line for today , keeping with the analogy , the metaphor we've been using here okay , maybe you don't need a bigger boat , maybe you just need deeper roots . If you've been feeling burnt out or pressure , maybe it's time to stop focusing on fishing and start focusing on farming . I hope that's just been maybe a different way for you to look at ministry , particularly if it feels like you're in a season and the fishing you're not catching any fish . Maybe you're in a . To switch over to this farming metaphor maybe you're in a pruning season . Maybe you're in a season where there's just not a lot of rain and you're praying for rain man , pray for rain . Maybe you're in a season where the harvest is just it's more than you can handle and it's I can't take it . So God's doing some , wherever you are .

Speaker 1 6:56

I hope this is helpful for you today . If there's any way I can help you , reach out to me . Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom , any way that I can help you or your church in the area of staffing or church staff health , I would love to have a conversation with you , podcast at chemistrystaffingcom , or just send me an email . Let me know what you thought of today's podcast . I always enjoy hearing from people like you that are listening . All right , that's it for today's podcast . I'll be right back here again tomorrow on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast . Okay , have a great day .