Planting and Watering

By Rev. Joel Fritsche

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

Por la Iglesia, los pastores, los vicarios, los misioneros y las diaconisas.” If only you could hear this the way I do every Sunday when Julio, one of the men from my congregation in Santo Domingo, raises his hand to share his prayer requests before the Prayer of the Church! I will forever hear it in my mind in Dominican Spanish. It’s nearly the same every Sunday. Julio asks to pray for the Church and her pastors, vicars, missionaries and deaconesses.

Time after time at our Thursday night Bible study and on other occasions, Julio and others recount the story of our congregation from the first missionary pastor sent from Brazil more than ten years ago, to the vicars who have served the past few years, the ordination of our Dominican national pastor, and most recently, the arrival of more missionaries to support our Dominican pastor. In the mere two years that I have served this mission congregation, I have seen Julio and others mature in Christ, grow in faith, and confess with boldness our Lord Jesus and His salvation, which is ours by grace through faith. Thanks be to God!

I am called to serve on behalf of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod as a church planter in the Dominican Republic. I serve an established congregation alongside a Dominican Lutheran pastor and a couple of other missionaries, building on work that other missionaries did before us—“watering,” as the apostle Paul puts it. In addition, we are also “planting” a church on the eastern side of the capital city of Santo Domingo. So, there is planting and watering, but like the Apostle says, God gives the growth.

I love this terminology that St. Paul uses in 1 Corinthians! He, alongside other missionaries, journeyed from place to place “planting.” He did some baptizing at Corinth, even though he couldn’t recall all of those whom he had baptized (1 Corinthians 1:16). He preached “Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23). The work of the Gospel, the mission, is never about the person or the missionary. It’s all Jesus! It’s Christ, the power of God and wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). This wasn’t unique to Corinth, of course. The apostle Paul and others planted. Still others watered. All the while, God gave the growth.

Just before our Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, He gave His disciples the mandate to make disciples of all nations through baptizing and teaching (St. Matthew 28:18-20). That’s the essence of planting and watering. While Paul may not have done much baptizing at Corinth, there were certainly baptisms. We read elsewhere in Acts about new believers hearing the Word preached and taught. Then they, and often their whole households, were baptized. On his second missionary journey, Paul took with him Silas, then Timothy. The Holy Spirit led them not to where they planned to go, but to Macedonia. At Philippi, they met Lydia, the seller of purple goods. She heard the preaching of Christ and she and her household were baptized (Acts 16:14-15). The Philippian jailer witnessed a miracle for sure when the jail cells opened during the earthquake, but all the prisoners stayed rather than escape. But that wasn’t the big deal. He heard the Lord’s Word and was baptized—he and all his family (Acts 16:32-33).

As I go about planting and watering as a missionary pastor in the Dominican Republic, in some respects, it’s not so very different from my service at congregations in the United States. Pastors and other missionaries plant and water. God gives the growth. I baptize. I preach Christ and Him crucified. I teach the Lord’s Word. I distribute Christ’s Body and Blood. I bring Jesus into people’s homes when I’m out doing visits. I bring Him into the park across from one of our missions when I have a conversation with someone while my children are playing. It may all look incredibly different at times though, given the different language and culture.

The goal, of course, is to move beyond one simple conversation about Christ. Although sometimes (more often than not) one conversation may be all there is. The goal is to water the seeds that are planted. The goal is that a person receives Christ by faith through the preaching of the Lord’s Word and through Baptism. The goal is that they desire Christ and His gifts more and more, that they long to be at His table, receiving His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins in the Sacrament, in the context of the regular Divine Service. That’s why we plant churches, that the watering may continue, and that God may grow His church through His means of grace.

This year we’re opening the doors of a seminary in the Dominican Republic. Why? More planting and watering! Word and Sacrament! Jesus and His forgiveness being delivered! We pray that the watering and planting continues beyond our time here, by people born and raised here, who know their context and their own people better than missionaries from other countries, but above all, who know their Lord and Savior through the blood-bought forgiveness He obtained through His death and resurrection.

I’m encouraged by Julio’s prayer and certainly by his solid confession of Christ. Don’t think for a minute that the watering and planting takes place without such dear saints living out their daily vocations, being the baptized children of God that He has called them to be, where He has called them to be. On that note, the missionaries with whom I serve, many of whom are not pastors, are essential to the mission. Ultimately, it’s not about them. It’s not about Julio. It’s not about me. It’s all about Jesus. It’s all Jesus. That’s evangelism. That’s mission. And so with Julio we pray for the Church, for pastors, vicars, deaconesses and missionaries, rejoicing that God continues to give the growth.

Rev. Joel Fritsche and his family are LCMS missionaries to the people of the Dominican Republic. He is also the secretary for Higher Things.