the ancient art of shalom

My host town in Ecuador.

A while ago, as a high school student, I set off on this adventure to live for a summer in the mountains of Ecuador through a program called Amigos de las Americas.   Our goal in this small, 800 person town was to work with the local leaders in developing sustainable environmental practices.  In that particular place, the indigenous people had been forced up into the mountains (literally 10,000 feet above sea level) and were farming on insane mountain slopes.  A by-product of the situation was that the soil was eroding down the mountainside.  Continuing farming in that manner would eventually be unsustainable, as all the nutrients were literally rolling down the hill.  So working with local government agencies, we did workshops on terracing, composting, and other sustainable modes of farming.  That summer was one of the best experiences of my life.

Planting raspberries on a hill.

Along the way in my training before heading out to Ecuador, we had a workshop, and through that I got introduced to this book, How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons.  As Marcia and I start to explore how to live more sustainably in every aspect of our lives (a very kingdom-centered and gospel-oriented theme), we’re considering building a family garden.  So I pulled out this book.  And started reading about all sorts of stuff about biointensive farming.  One thing in particular stuck out to me in the introduction – we live in a world right now that is farming at an unsustainable rate.  According to their calculations, we’ll run out of usable soil at our current depletion rate in less than 100 years, as the way we farm just takes from the soil without giving anything back.  At one point, Jeavons exclaims, “We need to stop growing crops and start growing soils!“  As we farm in such a way to put nutrients back into the soil instead of solely trying to get crops grown, we actually experience a two-fold benefit.  First, the crop yield actually goes up.  Second, it provides nutrients for long-term sustainable growth.  How about that?

One of the noted shifts in the last decade or so is a re-embracing of organic analogies for the church and the kingdom of God.  In particular, many are experiencing a sense that there is tremendous benefit to thinking about what God’s doing in the world in terms of living organisms, alive, thriving, reproducing, and blessing the land instead of a more sterile methodological approach.  It’s challenged me a lot.  As I got to thinking about church planting and seeking the blessing of the cities we live in, and this idea: Grow soil, not crops – I think there’s much that can be cleaned from that farming principle.

If the church focuses solely on growing crops, and not on growing soil, then I think the result can be momentary surges of effort without long-term impact.  It’s so alluring to go for the instant results, the things that work right now, instead of really pursuing that which will build long-term effectiveness.  I think we’ve also gotten into a consumeristic mindset, capitalism bleeding into church mindset that has sapped energy from the advance of the kingdom.  We can’t keep pulling from the resources around us without putting anything back.  Consumerism asks for instant results, without looking at the big picture.  Consumerism is building bad soil for real growth and real kingdom explosion.  Growing soil means we need to be about the kingdom and what God wants for us, not about what works for me in the moment.  And I think that a big part of that means intentionally adding value to all the places we inhabit – local businesses, neighborhoods, roads, parks, apartment complexes, you name it – truly seeking the shalom of the city like it says in Jeremiah 29:7.

This applies for within the church and outside the church as we seek the blessing of the city.  Growing soil means fostering an environment that builds healthy disciples.  In this way, the focus is not so much on “how many people to I have as a part of my group,” but rather, “how I am contributing to a sustainable growth environment in my local church (or neighborhood or family or workplace)?”  It means not just adding more tasks or stuff to do, but thinking deeply about what will bring about real life transformation.  This growing soil mentality would bleed into every aspect of our lives.  Instead of just thinking about my own needs, my heart would be naturally inclined to building into others.  Instead of looking at how I can get the best deal in any given situation, I would instead be constantly looking for win-win situations.

I haven’t fully thought this out.  But I think there is tremendous value in thinking sustainably in everything that we do, especially as we consider Jesus and what it means to obey Him.  So I want to put this out there – how would your life change if you focused on growing soil, and not crops?