Serving God in Seemingly Fruitless Seasons
S: “Hey David, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me.”
D: “Ya,” David beams, “I’m happy to be here! Thank you for inviting me.”
S: “So, I wanted to speak to you about seemingly fruitless seasons. I think when we start transitioning to being a more ministry minded people, we start off passionate and excited about the work God has put before us. Often, I think that we expect to see success and results either right off the bat, or on a continual basis. So, when we come to a time of unmeasurable success or even times with no results, it can be discouraging. Given your decades of ministry experience as a pastor of two churches, a missionary, evangelist and church planter, I could not think of a more qualified person to speak on this topic. So, to start off, can you share a season of ministry where you felt (at the time) that your work output did not match the fruit being produced?”
D: “Ok, uh… which season do you want?”, David chuckles. “I guess you could say right now where I am at. It’s just not producing, as far as church planting, as much as we would have liked.”
S: “What about the “PUSH” evangelism aspect of our ministry? Would you say that is producing fruit?”
D: “Ya,” David sighs, “I mean there have been parts that are fruitful, but in the end, it has not been fruitful in starting churches.”
S: “Well I guess that is a great segway into my next question… What lessons have you learned or are currently leaning in this, or other, seemingly fruitless seasons?”
D: “Umm…. I think part of the lesson of this season is just learning not to complain, learning to be satisfied with what you have, and learning that God is wanting to teach you something. So, it’s important to find solutions rather than “sit, soak and sour,” in the words of Adrian Rodgers. I’ve learned through the years that rather than sitting and souring in your disillusionment and frustration, you have to figure it out.”
S: “What do you mean by figure it out? Can you expound on that?”
D: “We can’t just be satisfied with things not going the way we expect it, or with what’s not happening. We need to do something about it. That is the time to reevaluate what you are doing. Do you need to hash out each step? Do you need to change your strategy or how you are doing things? If things don’t go well, try something new and work to figure out the problem in front of you. Then, at the same time, trust in God awhile always staying in the word… And that is really the key, what will help you through seasons of fruitlessness- your walk with the Lord. Do you have a good walk with the Lord? Because the fruitless seasons will come, and it won’t be just one.
Also, keep in mind that sometimes what looks like a fruitless season, may actually be a different kind of fruit than what you are expecting. An example that comes to mind is the church that I pastor. I was not looking to live stream our services or Bible studies. I was not looking to grow our virtual presence, but in this unprecedented year, this is what we are doing. And new ministries have come out of these changes. Like I said earlier, you don’t sit still or sit there and just accept things. I don’t think God wants us to just sit in one spot and just accept things. “Sitting, soaking and souring” really is an indicator of a loss of passion. And if you’ve lost your passion for the work, it’s time to take a step back, and get back to the basics. Part of going back to the basics is spending time with God, because in the end, its all about your relationship with God.”
S: “Do you mean that your relationship with God affects how you make it through the season, or how much fruit you produce or all of the above?”
D: “How you live through the season, because ultimately (this is what I’ve learned), it’s not about the fruit, it’s about the abiding. You know, think about John 15:5- ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.’ Yes, apart from Jesus we cannot bear fruit, but what we see in this passage is that It’s not about the fruit, it’s about the abiding. This is something I’m learning more and more. I’ve known this, but the older I get, the more I spend time with the Lord, the more I realize it’s about the abiding with God. Its not about how much fruit you give or don’t. This is important to understand because there will be seasons without fruit.”
S: “What lessons stand out when you compare that difficult season to those that were very fruitful?
D: “Again, its about abiding in Christ, it’s not about the fruit. I think we tend to focus on our fruit, on success, recognition and other things, but that is not how it’s meant to be. God just calls you to be obedient. Obedience means a lot of things. For Hosea, obedience was marrying a prostitute. Obedience can mean a lot of different things and sometimes there is not fruit, it’s just obedience. And so, what I think will help you get through these seasons is start focusing more on HIM, and less on what you are doing.
One of the first scriptures I memorized was Psalm 23. I memorized it when I was a little kid, but I was reminded a few days ago of the beginning of the passage, which says, “the Lord is my shepherd.” It’s important to remember that. He will guide you through still waters. He will guide you through different places, even though the valley of the shadow of death. He is your shepherd and will guide you. It Is important to understand who God is. That understanding only comes through abiding in Christ.”
S: “What encouragement do you have for the Christian worker who feels discouraged or burnt out?”
D: “Again, get back to abiding in Christ and let all those worries go. Like Jesus says, “come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.” If you feel burnt out, take the time to abide in Him.
It seems like so many more people get burnt out these days and so many people struggle with anxiety. It is often surprising to me how many people in their twenties have anxiety attacks. I think part of that is because we live in a godless world. Often, even the way we Christians think is without Christ, which shows that a deep relationship is missing.
This is why it is so important to learn to abide in Christ. When something goes well, praise the Lord. When there is fear, praise the Lord. It’s got to go from a head knowledge to a really deep heart knowledge. This is something that happens the more you grow, the more you spend time with the Lord. In some ways, intellectually, its hard to believe that it’s just so simple, that it really is just about knowing and abiding in Christ. We all struggle with the question of is there really nothing more I need to do?”
S: “Definitely. This is something I have actually been mulling over for a while, and I think our doubt comes down to our sinful desire to look outside of God for fulfillment and satisfaction as well as our sinful desire to be like God. I mean this in the sense of my desire to control a certain outcome. And it seems like God has created the environment in which we work for the Kingdom to be something that is 100% dependent on Him. I am learning that Kingdom work actually requires very little of my own talent and ability, or effort. Not that we don’t work hard, or we don’t use our talents, or not that God hasn’t given us certain abilities, but that the kingdom is not dependent on those. And I think there is a part of us that really does want to kingdom of God to be a little bit dependent on us.”
D: “Yes. And it’s about finding your contentment in Jesus. The more you walk with God the more time you spend with him, the more you understand him. This is why King David says, “I want to live in your house.” That is all he wanted to do, dwell in God’s house. I mean he was king, but he would have rather spent all his time in the house of the Lord. So, it is like you’re saying. It really is simple and it really comes down to this question: Are you abiding with Christ?”
David Ortega is a pastor of Sendero Community Church in McAllen, TX and church planter with the SBTC. He partners with churches all over the US, Cuba, Nepal and Senegal to train their members for evangelism and church planting. He and his wife Mari, served as career missionaries to Southeast Asia with the International Mission Board for 18 years before moving back to the U.S. Click the HERE for more information on Sendero Community Church and ways to get involved with evangelism training with PUSH.