The Green Growing Edge

In a phone conversation with Mary Sharon Moore, an interviewer with Called and Gifted, the concept of living on the green growing edge came up. This was a gifts interview, an attempt to further discern particular charisms, certain supernatural graces, that an individual might have. At this point in the conversation we were discussing the charism of faith. Mary Sharon stated that those with this charism loved walking on unstable ground, that they lived on the green growing edge of what the spirit is doing in a particular area.

 
The problem with being on this green growing edge is that the more established parts of the branch don’t understand where the green growing edge is going, what it is doing, or why it is doing what it is doing. We at Ablaze Ministries can attest to this. We see sunlight and feel the Spirit calling us to reach that potential abundant fruit… and so we stretch and grow, while others see energy being spent and don’t understand the need.

 

We are called not just to bear fruit, but to bear much fruit.

The branches don’t get to decide where to grow. A branch must remain on the vine and grow where the vine-grower needs it to grow lest it be pruned away. The Church needs both established branches and those on the green growing edge. We need the more established branches to bear their own fruit, but we also need them to provide nourishment and support to those on the growing edge. We need those on the green growing edge to feel and respond to the Spirit’s promptings to reach and bear new fruit. Both are necessary for growth. Both are needed to bear much fruit. [tweetthis]We are called not just to bear fruit, but to bear much fruit.[/tweetthis]
Some choose to stay where things are a bit calmer, where the violent bursting of new buds has calmed down and the tendrils have attached to the trellis. I understand this, especially as I get older. But as the Church that Christ founded, we are called to more. We are called not just to bear fruit, but to bear much fruit. Those on the green growing edge need the established branch to provide them with the nutrients and room to grow that they need to flourish. They need the stability provided by those that came before to be able to reach to the heights that the Spirit is calling them toward.

 
There is no doubt that the world is moving at an ever-increasing pace. It would seem that the Spirit is good at keeping pace. The question is: are we? (That question is posed for both parts of the branch.) Those that are on the green growing edge need to make sure that they are actually remaining on the branch and not attempting to re-invent the truth. On the other hand, the more established branches need to ensure that they are allowing for new growth, allowing the Spirit to reach new heights that the existing canopy cannot easily reach, to bear more fruit in the world today. [tweetthis]To bear fruit, ministers should allow for growth and for the Spirit to move.[/tweetthis]