Sow, don't sort

Everyone knows the parable of the sower as a lesson about soils. Read it again as a lesson about the sower, and it says something more useful to you on a Tuesday night.

“Listen! A sower went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground where there was not much soil, and it sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, so it yielded no crop. Still other seed fell on good soil. It grew, increased, and produced a crop, yielding thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” — Mark 4:3-8 (OTB)

Notice what the sower never does

He does not survey the field first. He does not test the ground, avoid the path, clear the thorns, or hold seed back from the rocky patch until it looks more promising. He scatters, widely, on ground he has not graded.

The different outcomes in the parable are real — Jesus explains them at length, and shallow soil really does produce a plant that withers. But not one of those outcomes is laid at the sower’s feet. The story is not about a sower who should have aimed better.

Two verses that finish the thought

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me, first calls them, and so I will raise them up at the last day. — John 6:44 (OTB)

Nobody arrives at faith because a facilitator was persuasive. The calling happens before the conversation, and it happens somewhere you cannot see.

I planted, Apollos watered, but it was God who caused the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is of significance, but only God, who brings about the growth. — 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 (OTB)

Paul is describing his own ministry here, and he is blunt about it: the planter is not of significance. Not “less important than he thinks” — not of significance. The work is real, and the worker is not the cause.

What this buys you

If results are not yours to produce, then your responsibility is faithfulness, not performance. You can stop reading the room for evidence that you are doing well. You can stop treating a quiet week as a verdict on your leadership.

You scatter. Every week, on whatever ground shows up, without grading it first.

Recite this

My job is to sow. God makes things grow.

Try it this week

Think of the person in your group you have privately decided is poor soil. This week, ask them a question you would ask your most engaged member — and wait for the answer with the same expectation.

I will ask ________________ the same question I would ask my most engaged member, at our meeting on ________________.