![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.jrbriggs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/JF4PS-updated.jpg\" "\\"JF4PS")
<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nThe Impatience of Ministry: Waiting for the Vegetables to Grow<\/strong><\/p>\n by J.R. Briggs<\/p>\n A few years ago my wife did something for the first time that she had wanted to do for quite some time: plant a garden in our backyard. We live in Pennsylvania, one of the most fertile states in the Union. The saying around here is if you can\u2019t get your garden to grow in PA you\u2019ll never get it to grow anywhere.<\/p>\n She bought a few small plants and spent an afternoon delicately placing them into the soil and watering them. Basil, tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers and mint, among other things. It was a relatively small garden, but enough to find great enjoyment out of growing items we could enjoy. There is nothing better than eating dinner in the summer with items you grew a few hundred feet away.<\/p>\n Our oldest son (who was three at the time) was excited to hear that mommy was planting a garden that afternoon and he wanted to help. He got his boots on and with trowel in hand, helped mommy dig around in the soil and water the plants once they were in the ground.<\/p>\n As they finished the planting process that afternoon, it was time for his afternoon nap. He was disappointed when I called him in and cleaned him up before heading up to his room. When he woke up a few hours later, his first question to my wife was\u00a0\u201cAre the vegetables ready yet?\u201d\u00a0<\/em>With a smile,\u00a0she explained that they won\u2019t be ready for at least several weeks. Plants just don\u2019t grow that fast.<\/p>\n He was sorely disappointed and confused. I will never forget the look on his face: completely downtrodden. All my wife and I could do was try to keep from him noticing our smiles.<\/p>\n As cute as this story is, I find it a fitting reminder for pastoral work. Its easy to place impossible expectations on people in our churches to grow and produce fruit \u2013 and do it immediately.<\/p>\n We become impatient and wonder what\u2019s wrong, why nothing is working, why it seems nobody around us is growing in the same way we read about in the last issue of a ministry magazine or heard about from the stage at the last pastors\u2019 conference we attended. Why are the vegetables not ready yet? Its been a few hours already!<\/em><\/p>\n My son provided a good reminder \u2013 and a poignant challenge \u2013 for me and my approach to ministry. In fact, I\u2019ve told this story dozens of times to other young pastors who are anxious that while they are faithful to do what they are called to do, they wonder why they aren\u2019t seeing tons of fruit yet. And, yes, I\u2019ve had to tell it to myself multiple times, too. True fruit production in the lives of people trying to be like Jesus is a long process, full of dirty and mess, which requires a great amount of patience. As Eugene Peterson wrote, spiritual maturity is a long obedience in the same direction.<\/p>\n The vegetables will come – but not this afternoon. We must do our part: wait, water, pull weeds, tend to the soil. And wait some more. It is dirty work. Fruitful work, but dirty nonetheless. The vegetables will come, but they will not come by this afternoon.<\/p>\n This is God\u2019s work to be done, not ours. We cannot attempt to do the work that does not belong to us.<\/p>\n The vegetables will come, but not this afternoon.<\/p>\n There is no need to be disappointed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n J.R.’s Bio:<\/strong><\/p>\n J.R. Briggs serves as\u00a0Cultural Cultivator of\u00a0The Renew Community<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0a Jesus community for skeptics and dreamers in Lansdale, PA \u2013 a suburb of Philadelphia, which he helped start. He is\u00a0the founder of\u00a0Kairos Partnerships<\/a><\/strong>, an initiative that partners with leaders, pastors and church planters during significant\u00a0kairos<\/em>\u00a0moments in ministry. As part of his time with Kairos Partnerships,\u00a0he serves on staff with\u00a0The Ecclesia Network<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Fresh Expressions U.S<\/a><\/strong>. and\u00a0coaches leaders, pastors and church planters<\/strong>\u00a0across the country.<\/p>\n He also\u00a0oversees the\u00a0Renew Apprenticeship Program<\/a><\/strong>, a year-long experiential program that equips, trains and teaches young leaders and pastors to become effective and faithful church planters for contextual ministry in the 21st<\/sup>\u00a0century. He is the\u00a0creator and curator of\u00a0the Epic Fail Pastors Conference<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0which helps pastors embrace failure and grow to see failure as an invitation to growth and an opportunity for grace and healing, instead of shame.<\/p>\n He has never helped write a Wikipedia entry and will never outgrow the joy that comes from popping bubble wrap. He\u2019s prone to put too much wasabi on his lunch, but he is a proud card-carrying member of the Clean Plate Club.<\/p>\n J.R. and his wife Megan have two sons, Carter and Bennett, and live in the heart of gritty Lansdale, PA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “My son provided a good reminder \u2013 and a poignant challenge \u2013 for me and my approach to ministry. “<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,5626],"tags":[6535,12,13,14,15,17,5046,37,5706,42,51,6554,3195,74,89],"class_list":["post-9097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-authors","category-spark-my-muse","tag-authors","tag-christ","tag-christianity","tag-christians","tag-church","tag-community","tag-featured-guest-blogger-2","tag-hope","tag-jr-briggs","tag-leadership","tag-ministry","tag-spark-my-muse","tag-spiritual-formation","tag-spiritual-growth","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9097"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10289,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9097\/revisions\/10289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}