CULTIVATE
CULTIVATE is an acrostic framework for describing the both the Spiritual Journey and the growing process in a garden or small-scale farm.
The Three Phases
The Nine Stages
The nine stages correspond to the letters of CULTIVATION. Each stage represents recognizable attributes of both a stage in the food cultivation process and a stage in the spiritual journey — and skills, concepts, and behaviors useful for that stage.
C
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Create Space
Things grow where they have space to grow: ideas, plants, animals, people, communities. Clearing space creates a context for all kinds of growth.
CULTIVATING
FOOD
Grow Space
- Grow Space Identification
- Simplification and Solitude
- 3D Listening: God, Self, Community
CULTIVATING PEOPLE/COMs
Someone creates a space to serve as the context for the journey by incarnating the movement.
U
Understand the Story
The center of a seed is a story. The soil of a field tells a story. Every person has their own story. By telling and listening to these stories, our understanding of our context grows.
Growth Story
- Sky/Soil Scouting
- Soil/Compost Testing
- Ecology / Soil Food-Web Survey
- Farm History (Land History?)
- Local Community/Market Survey
- Water Source Identification
People begin to belong when they share the creative tension between their aspiration and situation. The mentor draws out and validates the mentees story and tension.
L
Life Seeding & Feeding
Seeds, revelation, and nutrients are sown to connect things above and below to synthesize new potential.
Sowing Life
- Planting Plan
- Cultivation Plan
- Soil/Bed Plan
- Equipment Tool Plan
- Irrigation Plan
- Seed Selection
- Seed Starting
- Bed Building
- Soil Amendment
- Compost Making
- Mulching
People grow in their belonging towards commitment to community and mission when they make regular, intentional, shared, discoveries that synthesize meaning. Mentors support mentees buy introducing sources of revelation and growing skills for listening to meaning.
T
Take a Stand
Commitment takes all things from potential to reality: it is the transition from preparation to growth.
Commit for Growth
- Direct Seeding(?)
- Transplanting and Thinning
- Scouting for Threat/Opportunity
- Committing New Tasks to Daily/Weekly Work Cycle (Integration of New Tasks?)
- Commit to Weed Management Method
Commitment
Mentees commit to discipleship, with support of the mentor, by identifying with the Oneness and All-ness of God and entering into Jesus’ life, Kingdom, and mission.
I
Interconnection
Nurturing all types of growth requires faithful attention to the cycles that keep all things connected together and thriving.
Cycles of Nurture
- Plant Care
- Water Management
- Pest Management
- Task Optimization
In/Out Growth
The mentee and mentor train for inward and outward growth using Jesus’ organic strategies for health, sustainability, and fruitfulness in all relationships and systems.
V
Vital Flows
Facilitate flow: an ecological niche where everything performs optimally — receiving the best inputs and producing the best outputs — for the good of all.
Optimize Flow
- System Optimization
- Workflow Optimization
- SEI: Specialization/ Evolution/ Innovation
Flow: Style, Gifting, Calling
The mentee develops with mentor their gifting, calling, and style and works to establish and refine Kingdom flows and practices that grow the manifestation of Jesus in community and advance the mission.
A
Accelerate and Abate
Life invests itself so more life can thrive — this accelerates benefits and abates deficits. This is the transition from growing to investing the harvest.
Harvest and Farm Health
- Harvest/ Cull
- Crop Cycling
- Composting
- Abatement: Pests, Disease, Weeds, Soil/Moisture Loss
The Transformation
Jesus extends his Kingdom deeper and wider in the disciple’s life by the power of death and resurrection requiring a transition from self-growth to other-growth. The mentor transitions to “walking alongside” instead of ahead.
T
Take It To Market
The good things we grow in our soil and in our lives are meant to be invested for the thriving of all. This builds networks of relationships and a context for new possibilities.
Market Making
- Marketing Your Harvest / Food System Relationship Building
- Marketing Your Methods (In Community)
- Expansion of Soil
Manifest Mission
The mentee and mentor discern, map out, and execute the disciple’s position in mission, the systems where they will manifest Jesus’ Kingdom, and the discipleship pathways they will establish.
E
Express Seeds
Fruitful soil and a fruitful life both generously yield seeds packed with identity and story that, when planted, create new life and new story.
Export Identity
- Cultivar Sharing
- Seed Save & Share
- Data Sharing
- Secondary Products (Beyond Community)
- Exporting Systemic Change
Exponential Message
The mentee and mentor create Kingdom experiences that will invite others to begin or deepen their own discipleship journey with Jesus and broadcast these experiences for the common good.