“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:12-13
Developing and deepening adults in our communities is slow and deep work that takes time. It is an illusion to think people can change and mature quickly. When we slow down, we begin to notice God’s nurturing, shaping work unfolding in the lives of those around us. This is where the real action is.
When we gathered as a VP3 community earlier in the Fall in Kelowna, B.C., one of Wendell Berry’s sabbath poems helped us explore further the nature of this slow and deep work. We read through the poem a few times, imagining Berry walking around his farm, envisioning what is possible with his land, and by so doing, perhaps unearthed a bit of the holiness of the work we are called to. Berry writes,
Whatever is foreseen in joy
Must be lived out from day to day.
Vision held open in the dark
By our ten thousand days of work.
Harvest will fill the barn; for that
The hand must ache, the face must sweat.
And yet no leaf or grain is filled
By work of ours; the field is tilled
And left to grace. That we may reap,
Great work is done while we’re asleep.
When we work well, a Sabbath mood
Rests on our day, and finds it good.
Wendell Berry, A Timbered Choir
Does the farmer grow the field? Does the farmer produce the harvest?
Can you feel the tension in the question? There is both a yes and a no.
The farmer does not control the process; rather, the farmer participates in it. Farming efforts have no guaranteed result. A myriad of factors may frustrate the work and deny the vision of the harvest. At best, the farmer offers conditions in which growth may occur. He or she creatively cooperates with the givens of soil and seed and seasons and weather—and so many other things. And then the farmer waits, joining with the “great work” of Another. The farmer who works well recognizes both the necessity and the modesty of his or her part in the effort. The posture is not one of control but of cooperating with the Creator and Sustainer of all things. It is a posture of trust and effort, foresight and reverence, resolve and patience.
Herein lies a fruitful image for us, for the slow and deep work of developing others in Jesus’ name. Just like the farmer, our work is skewed when we inflate our sense of responsibility, resist the tension inherent in our work, and try to control what is not ours to control.
Helping others grow up into Christ rests on an understanding and conviction that the primary shaping work in a person’s life, or in a community’s life, belongs to God. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10, NIV). Our burden is to first be alert and receptive to God’s relentlessly creative handiwork in the world. All our best thinking and acting, listening and loving, is secondary to and cooperative with the Spirit’s work.
This is such good news for us. The Triune God is the Great Worker always at work, even “while we are asleep.” Creating. Saving. Cultivating Community. Loving. The Spirit goes before, alongside, and follows after all of our efforts. With wonder and fidelity and patience, we pay attention, trust, and work with the Great Worker already laboring in our own lives, in our communities, and in the world at large.
Jesus is always up to far more than we can possibly imagine. My hope and prayer for us is that we might come to embrace and relax into this reality—Jesus’ kind companionship and leadership is the Big Story in our lives and ministries.
Spirit, be generous among us.
A VP3 Gathering, October 5-7, 2026 (Kelowna, British Columbia)
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Robert Loane serves as President of VantagePoint3 Ministries, seeking to both learn and encourage a more relational way of life and ministry. He is co-author of Deep Mentoring: Guiding Others on Their Leadership Journey (IVP, 2012) and A Mentoring Guide: Christ. Conversation. Companionship (VP3, 2019). He has been the lead writer of The Journey process and other VP3 processes for the last 20 years. At the core of his life and work, Rob loves helping people find ways to have better conversations about the things that matter most in their lives.