This summer while in South Africa, I met two young entrepreneurs who left their corporate jobs to start an industrial aquaponics farm. Aquaponics is a form of farming where you grow fish and plants together; the water from the fish is used to water and give nutrients to the plants. These two entrepreneurs not only hope to grow a successful business themselves, but want to teach and empower Africans to use this same farming model to grow healthy food and create sustainable businesses. The more I talked to them about it, the more I realized that these guys were not just farmers, but scientists—constantly tweaking the system to become more efficient and effective.
Farming is a helpful metaphor when we think about ministry work. The farmer plants the seeds and tends the crop, but in the end the harvest is never completely under control. How much responsibility does he or she bear for that harvest? In the same way, when we give our time and effort to ministry, how much are we responsible for the results of that effort? If we are faithfully serving and being obedient to what God has called us to do, is that enough? Or do we need to be attentive to the harvest, or fruitfulness, of what we are doing?
In ministry is faithfulness or fruitfulness most important? Or...can both be equally important?
While it might be easier to argue for one or the other having priority in ministry, I would like to suggest that they are equally essential. I base this on what I witnessed while spending time with a few Novo teams on our family adventure this summer, and also on what I see in scripture. I think there are three key components to successfully living out the tension of faithfulness and fruitfulness: 1) start moving, 2) actively listen, and 3) keep experimenting. I’ll demonstrate how I see this playing out with three examples—two from my trip, and one from the book of Acts.
Example #1: Novi Sad, Serbia
Let’s start in the beautiful city of Novi Sad, Serbia. Novo’s team leader Paul Hovda and his family served in Venezuela for eight years and have now lived in Serbia for seven. Paul has been learning about strategic prayer over land and geography, and how this is key to seeing the gospel break in to a context. As he was learning about this, Paul heard God say, “I want you to pray over every street of Novi Sad.” Paul was obedient and began this project, and I was fortunate enough to be able to prayer-walk with him one morning on streets he had yet to pray through.
It’s easy to see faithfulness in this example, but what about fruitfulness? What does fruitfulness look like for Paul as he is faithfully finishing this project of praying through every street in Novi Sad?
First of all, Paul is clear on his vision and objective: he wants to see a gospel movement started in Novi Sad that then multiplies throughout the entire country. That’s a vision of fruitfulness. And let me tell you about two pieces of fruit I witnessed from Paul’s faithfulness and obedience:
In the process of praying the streets, Paul’s passion and love for the city has grown tremendously, and so has his spiritual authority. In my few days with Paul, he probably cried seven times while talking about Novi Sad, his heart for the people, and his desire to see a gospel movement started. We were walking through the town center and he said, “This is my city… I’m the (spiritual) Mayor,” and when we were prayer-walking and praying out the spiritual darkness and trash we came across, I understood why he also calls himself the “custodian.”
When you pray for somebody to be physically healed, you can ask them if there is a difference, and you can usually know right away whether the person was fully healed, marginally healed, or not healed. But when you pray over a place, it’s a little more difficult to know. Paul told me a handful of stories of praying over a certain space and the next day “coincidentally” what he prayed for happened. For example, he kept passing an abandoned retail space that had been taped off and was an eyesore. Paul stopped and prayed over it, blessed the space, and the next day it was getting cleaned up. Is this a coincidence or a result of Paul praying? Once you start to see a lot of these things happening, you remove the word coincidence from your vocabulary.
With Paul, he heard God’s call for this project and started moving. As he’s gone along, he’s listened and asked where God was moving and where the enemy’s strongholds were. He continues to experiment with how to pray over space and what is most effective. I am excited to see what kinds of trees begin producing fruit as Paul spiritually weeds and plants seeds of the Kingdom in the city.
Example #2: Soshanguve, South Africa
Now I want to take you to the Soshanguve, a black township outside Pretoria, South Africa. Luc and Petunia Kabongo felt God calling them to move into the township to live among the people. Once in the township they saw how most parents had to commute a couple of hours each way to Pretoria for work, so kids were left largely unattended. They began a kids’ club, a teenager hangout, tutoring, soccer and basketball teams, and kept trying to meet the needs of the youth in the community.
We had the privilege of staying with the Kabongo’s for seven nights, and while the faithfulness is evident from the years invested in this community, the fruitfulness also abounds. Here are a few examples of fruitfulness:
The three young staff people on their team were all mentored by Luc and Petunia and our InnerChange team since they were young kids. They met Jesus, became good news agents, and are now on staff and helping to see a gospel movement catalyzed and sustained.
As God began to give the Kabongos a vision to reach all of Soshanguve, which has a population of approximately one million, they realized they would need many more leaders to see a gospel movement spread throughout the township. They decided to experiment with an apprenticeship program for young adults in order to raise them up to be good news agents and movement leaders in their own neighborhoods.
Hundreds of kids are now meeting every week with the amazing leaders who have gone through the apprenticeship, receiving tutoring, practicing their favorite sport or other activities, and attending Discovery Bible Studies to be discipled toward Jesus.
Luc and Petunia were obedient and started moving, they are constantly listening to what God is doing and where he is leading them, and they continue to experiment as they desire to see a gospel movement that reaches the entire Soshanguve.
Example #3: Macedonia
One of my new favorite passages in scriptures is Acts 16:6–15. Paul and Timothy were on their way to preach the gospel and as they were moving and listening they were “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia” (v.6b). Then they attempted to go to Bithynia “but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them” (v.7b). After God spoke clearly to Paul and Timothy to not preach the gospel in these two regions, Paul had a vision of man from Macedonia, urging Paul to come and help. They again were obedient and went to Macedonia. They never found a man, but they did find Lydia, and she and her whole household were baptized.
Paul and Timothy were faithful. They were open-handed with their plans and were courageously obedient to listen and change directions. Even though it seemed odd that God would not want them to preach the gospel in certain regions, or that they never found the man in Macedonia, God did have Lydia, her family, and this community in mind. Their faithfulness resulted in fruitfulness.
So what is most important, faithfulness or fruitfulness? I think the answer is both. They are two sides of the same coin, both absolutely essential to fulfilling the mission of God.
Just as a successful farmer must be faithful to his tasks in order to have a fruitful harvest, we at Novo will continue to do our best to be faithful and fruitful. We will keep moving, listening, and experimenting in our pursuit of gospel movements around the globe..
Questions for Reflection
What has God called you to? Are you moving and being obedient to that call?
Are you listening and holding your plans loosely?
Do you continue to experiment and tinker with how much to water, how deep to dig the hole, how much pH in the soil, and how all of that affects the fruit?
Every year we ask Novo staff to prayerfully give an account of their faithfulness and fruitfulness in ministry and then compile their answers into our Annual Ministry Report. Take a look!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Thrash is the Director of Resource Development and Strategic Initiatives for Novo. He has a BA in Business Marketing from Biola University and was an Area Director with Young Life before coming to Novo. Mark loves his job because he gets to mix four things that he is passionate about: people, the kingdom of God, strategy, and starting new Kingdom initiatives. He loves walking alongside our faithful ministry partners and equipping them with tools from the Novo toolbox and inviting new friends into the Novo family. He also loves ensuring that our missionaries are fully resourced so they can fulfill Novo’s calling around the world. Mark is married to Jamie, and they are the proud parents of Hazel, Hank, and Mae. Team Thrash lives in San Juan Capistrano, California.