Matthew 13:3-8
[Jesus] told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on the rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and chocked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.”
The key to short term missions is to sow as many seeds as possible. As missionaries, the sowers of these seeds, we desperately want to see them flourish. We come into a new place and we do our best to prepare the soil, clear the thorns, and make room for roots. However, our time in this new place is short, so all we really can do is scatter as many seeds as we can, wherever we can, and hope for the best. Sometimes, you can determine in which place your seed fell, but more often, you will never know if your seed grew or died. For this reason, short term missions are so what tricky because you do not get to see the fruit of your work. Rather, you must trust that God will continue to water and nourish the seeds that you did plant, or that He will send more sowers to plant seeds in the soil that you prepared, or that He will send even more sowers to pick out the thorns that you could not reach and plant new seeds there.
I spent three months in Costa Rica sowing all of the seeds that I could and I encountered each of the situations Jesus explains in His parable of the sower. I learned firsthand how each of these seeds relates to different people.
Matthew 13:18-19
Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
The experience of attempting to sow a seed along the barren path can be devastating. Thankfully, for me, I was only confronted with this situation once. In Costa Rica, each Monday my team participated in something we called “Discipleship Day.” This meant that each morning we would have a guest speaker come in and depart their wisdom of any given topic to us. Then, each afternoon, we would go out into different communities and ask God who He wanted us to speak to. One Monday, I had spent time in prayer, and felt God pulling me towards a woman and her young daughter sitting on a park bench. As this was in Costa Rica, there was a bit of a language barrier, however, I knew enough Spanish to hold minimal conversation. I followed God’s pull and timidly approached this woman, I introduced myself to her and asked if I could pray for her and her daughter. The woman cut me off almost immediately. She told me that she would never allow me to bring these lies into her daughter’s life along with some other things I was thankful I couldn’t understand based off the tone she used. I prayed a silent blessing over the woman, apologized to her, and quickly walked away, slightly discouraged. I knew this woman did not understand the God that I serve and I was disappointed to see the seed I was trying to sow snatched away before it could even reach her heart. Instead of allowing this trial to defeat me, I chose to trust that God will continue to work in this woman until a seed can truly be sown in her heart.
Matthew 13:20:21
The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes before the word, they quickly fall away.
This situation is hard to judge during short term missions, but it is typically the most common. For instance, as part of the “Discipleship Days” I previously discussed, each Monday one team would go into an area of town where many homeless people found shelter and show them love, kindness, and compassion. Our teams made relationships with a few of these homeless men and were able to share the gospel with them. This was absolutely amazing. These men were eager for us to pray over them and some even joined in praying with us too! They vowed to stop drinking and, I believe, sincerely begged God to break the chains that drugs and alcohol had on them. These men were the rocky ground and they immediately found joy in the redemptive, love filled words we shared with them. However, our time with these men was short and I fear that roots were not established. We prayed big prayers with them and gave them hope, but I worry that their troubles and persecutions quickly tore them away from the good news we had given them. All I can do is hope and pray that they will not forget what we shared with them and the love we showed them. I continue praying that one day a seed will be planted in each of their hearts that takes root because I know that we did impact them and they will be more eager to accept new seeds sown in them in the future.
Matthew 13:22
The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
In my opinion, this is the most frustrating type of seed to sow. The person in Costa Rica that represented this seed to me was our next door neighbor, Carlos. Carlos is a kind and caring man who spent a lot of time hanging out with us missionaries. He enjoyed our company and we enjoyed his. Carlos does believe in God, but he does not walk in an intimate relationship with God. Carlos heard and experienced the good news and love that we brought through Christ, but he did not allow it to flourish inside of him. Carlos is a goal oriented, driven man and though he is a great person, he does not rely on Christ to carry him to success. The Word and example we were offering to Carlos was choked out by his hardworking, self-dependent mindset. He was unable to see past the worries of his life to find complete rest and peace in God. I truly cared for Carlos and spent a lot of time discussing life with him and comparing of each of our points of view. I know that I was able to remove some of the thorns, but not enough for the seed to bear fruit. Now, I trust that God will continue to work in Carlos’ life, remove all the thorns, and bring him into relationship with Him.
Matthew 13:23
But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.
This is any missionaries goal; to plant a seed that bears fruit and brings forth even more crops. I was able to plant a few of these seeds in Costa Rica, but the one who stands out most to me is a teacher named Marta. For two months, my team volunteered at an elementary school assisting teachers each day. Profe (Spanish for teacher) Marta was the 5th Grade teacher there. Immediately upon meeting her, I knew that her heart was after God and she deeply desired that each and every one of her students would encounter the love of the Father. Profe Marta eagerly accepted our help and we quickly began to develop a relationship with this compassionate woman. She even spoke English which really helped us to connect with her. When we first arrived at this ministry, Profe Marta seemed tired and worn out as she has been working with these children so hard for so long. By the end of our time serving with Profe Marta, I believe she was filled with a newfound hope and joy in the Lord’s work. We were able to remind her what people walking out God’s plan and spreading His love looked like, and therefore, we gave her confidence that she could help her class of children to become people like us. Not only was my team able to pour into Profe Marta and pray for her, but she did the same for us. I believe Profe Marta inspired my team and I just as much as we did for her. Profe Marta understands God’s word and she fervently shares it with every person she meets. Profe Marta has and will continue to yield hundreds more crops than what was sown. I know that God’s hand is at work in this woman and that she impacts each person she meets.
There is no way I can know for sure how each of these people are doing today, or even if I interpreted how they received the Lord correctly. However, what I have stated is how I feel their experience went. I have left all of these seeds, sown or not, in the hands of God. I trust Him to continue farming the field that I was privileged enough to work in for such a short time.
That is how short term missions work; we start, or continue, something and trust that God will finish it. It is hard to leave a place after sowing seeds without seeing their results, but it’s a part of short term missions. I will never see what occurs with the seeds I planted in Costa Rica, because today, I live 7,545 miles away in South Africa sowing even more seeds. However, I trust and pray that God will bring seeds to fruitful crops in each and every person’s life. Therefore, I now continue to sow as many seeds as I possibly can, anywhere and everywhere, and I call it my short term mission.
