As mentioned in my pithy bio, I’m not only a graphic designer, but also a Church Planter. My wife and I pastor a small church plant in Springfield, OR and we are currently working of a document to help secure funding from our denomination. In that document we talk about our methodology. Along with our commitment to the Christian Community Development ideals of Relocation, Redistribution, and Reconciliation we also are committed to the concept of organic church growth.

Now this word organic, does tend to be a trendy word these days - especially in the emerging church world. But I feel after nearly nine months of church planting this is exactly a part of us. Over the summer, Karlene and I have attempted - albeit it a feeble attempt - to grow a garden. We planted tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, yellow squash, corn, peas, and beans. After planting them, we watered them, and waited for them to come up. Some of them did, and some didn’t. Some bore fruit right away and others still haven’t. Some of it grew and then died.

As we’ve been “planting” the church, I feel kind of like the same thing is happening. Some of the things that we were expecting to pop it’s head up out of the ground, never really materialized. Other times, some of the people who were walking alongside us didn’t find the soil nourishing for them, so they had to leave before bearing any fruit.

But the best part of the whole thing is being surprised at the most inopportune times at the sweet fruit which is growing among us. The other day, when I had just about given up on the summer squash I went out out found the start of five or six fruit. Similarly, this week one of our “congregants” had been talking about the tenuous (at best) relationship between the street kids and downtown Eugene business owners. We talked about it for awhile but didn’t really come up with a plan to help the situation. However, she planted a seed by writing a letter to the Eugene Weekly inviting street kids to prove business owners wrong through kind acts. That letter appeared Thursday on a huge piece of paper hanging from the Eugene public library with a colorful mosaic border. Seed of change produced a message of hope and fruit in our community.

As we continue to venture in this world of church planting, I’m continually amazed at the organic nature of this endeavor. As gardeners, we can prune and create conditions of growth, but only to be continually amazed at the beauty of the fruit - unexpected at times - that comes at the most opportune moments.