The Agriculture of the Gospel

"Do not bring me the gospel as a potted plant, bring me the gospel as a seed and plant it in my soil." - Some guy in India talking about missions.

This quote was one of the big ones we were supposed to remember when I was going through school, studying missions. I like the seniment of it. I agree completely that too often, whatever country we may be from, export our gospel to foreign peoples. It worked for us after all . . . Our gospel has arisen in our context. It addresses our history, our needs, our hopes. It is shaped by our language, our attitudes, our typology. Ultimately, the gospel I love, I love because it has set its roots in my heart. It fits, and in the places where it doesn't, it is growing to fit. The gospel I love has taken centuries to grow into a shape that I would love. It has taken this long to be lovely to the eye of a guy in Texas, who speaks English, has a vague understanding of history and science, and understands the world as one who thinks in a modern/postmodern paradigm. Is it any wonder that the things I love about the gospel make little to no sense to a guy in India who speaks Urdu, has never heard of Texas, doesn't know the difference between modern and postmodern, and has no use for the concept of paradigms?

Is it any wonder that when I bring him the gospel he sees it as a potted plant, already accustomed to a context different from his? My gospel will die in his soil, not from the attacks of evil, or due to the harshness of his environment. My gospel will wither and live permanently stunted because of irrelevance. Relevance is the taproot of the gospel. It is the root that penetrates strait down into the heart of culture. My gospel may live as a bonsai tree: cute and pleasing to keep contained in a garden or atrium, but as message that stands little chance of spreading or becoming the grand thing that God desires it to be. People may take it and shove it off in a corner, but it won't ever be what it was intended to be: a healthy, strong declaration that continues to grow and reach infinitely towards God, and to bear fruit that is pleasing. That is what the gospel is intended to be. So, yes I agree, we can't just take our gospel to others. Potted plants that grow in Texas, don't fair to well in India (except maybe our weeds, but that's a different story).

There's one massive problem in all of this though. The gospel is incarnational.

What that means is that as far as our part of the deal is concerned, there is no such thing as the "gospel as a seed". We can strip it down to "You're bad, so Jesus died, and now God likes you again, and has somehow made you good, so be good", and call that the gospel, but it's not. That may be the bones of the gospel, but it has flesh too. It has a mind. A Spirit. The seed of the gospel is Christ himself. If the faith that arises in a culture starts from anything else, we have given them a potted plant; A cutting of our own gospel that is devoid of the only thing that really matters, Christ. We give them bonsai faith. It may amount to a cute ornament for rainy days, but it will never amount to anything that matters.

The gospel that saved me came to me in flesh. In the midst of an empty, suburban, American pipe dream that was life for me, I met Christ. He spoke English. He grew up in the context I lived in, and meant something. This is the only Christ I have known. I've attempted to see him through the eyes of historical context, where he speaks Aramaic, and his followers talk about him in Greek. It was a potted plant for me. Cute and "meaningful", but totally and completely irrelevant to my life and the lives of those I interacted with daily. The Jesus of scholarship is one who lives in the corners of libraries and is confined to seminary classrooms. When healthy it may even find public display on pulpits, but it is far from being a Jesus I can advocate for people in my apartment complex. The historical Jesus is the Jesus of Bonsai faith, not a seed. And, this is why it is so complicated: I don't know Christ as a seed. Neither did Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. He was incarnate for them. He is incarnate for me. I can't take the gospel as a seed to India and plant it in Urdu speaking soil. The only gospel I have is an English, Texan, modern/postmodern gospel. So, doesn't that take the wind out of my missionary sails. That would imply the only way I can take the gospel anywhere is as a potted plant.

All this leads me to something I am growing to believe more and more: Jesus has already planted himself in the hearts of people. The seeds are already there. Where this is not the case, I imagine he plants the seed through us, but let's not arrogantly pretend as though we have discovered the "pure, unadulterated gospel". If the seed of the gospel is planted, I firmly believe we will have little clue when or how this was done, because Christ will be planting it. He is the sower in the parable of the soil. He scatters himself freely and haphazardly. He does not analyze the soil first, he throws himself to the wind, trusting the harvest will be plentiful. He is also the Lord of the Harvest. We are employed to participate in this, but only as we ask him to send us into the field. Let us never forget who is in charge. Paul planted the seed because Christ commanded him to. Paul did nothing autonomous of Christ's direct command. Apollos watered the seed. No doubt Christ was the authority behind this action as well. But, Christ determined the growth.

Trees can grow out of boulders. In the desolate cracks of unforgiving mountain peaks we find grass growing. Faith may be challenged by paths, rocks, or shallowness, but Christ makes it grow. It grows wherever it will.

So, as a missionary we do simply what Christ calls us to do. If it is proclaim the gospel, we proclaim it. We do so in a way that would make as much sense as is possible to those receiving it. In their language. As much as possible, in their though forms, with concepts. In their paradigm. Yet, let's make no mistake about it, we are proclaiming our gospel. We don't know any other. We have no choice but to proclaim it as it came to us, with the hope that they will see how the gospel made us grow and they will allow it to shape them as well.

I think missionaries are called to obey Christ's voice first and foremost, and secondly to be themselves. If I go to a foreign culture, I go as one who does not have the answers to their problems. I go as one who has found, and is finding, the answers to my own, and I allow Christ through me to teach them to do the same.

I go as a potted plant, that started from the seed. I grow as Christ commands me to grow. I grow reaching for God. If I sow the seed of the gospel in others, I won't even know it, because Christ will do it through me. If they grow, it will be Christ growing in them. If I have anything to do with it, it will be because Christ commanded me, not because I did it out of my own goodness. As a potted plant, I plant myself in their soil. Christ in me will strengthen me to thrive no matter what the environment or conditions. The seeds planted centuries before I arrived, and the ones I involuntarily sow will grow totally apart from my guidance or help. I serve only as a foreign plant who is indwelled by a Spirit that defies soil, climate, environment, and the evil that would all be my death if his life were not inside me. Yet, I live, and live abundantly. That's good news.