The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
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The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
How Ministry Leadership Is More LIke Farming than Fishing
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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 you. Hi there, welcome to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast.
Speaker 1: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 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: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 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: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: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: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, 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: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: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.
