Components that Make Up the Soil and Artifact
Have you ever considered all the different components that make up the soil in your yard? When you put the soil under a microscope, you quickly see that the soil is a composite created by combining a host of different components. The picture above shows a example of what your soil might look like under a microscope. While the soil at your house and the soil two states away might not be identical, a few basic components that tend to show up in most soils.
As you start to dig into the soil of your congregation, you will discover that identifying the components of your soil will help you gain a better understanding of why certain seed grow easily and others are quickly scorched.
In their book, “The Church as Movement” JR Woodward and Dan White, Jr. identify several components that make up the soil (the missional culture) of the congregation including:
- Artifacts
- Mission
- Language
- Assumptions
- Mark
- Practices
In the next few emails, we’ll explore these components and how to dig deeper into what they look like in your congregation.
To get you started thinking about the components of your congregation’s soil, let’s consider ‘Artifacts’. Accord to Woodward and White, artifacts are “the cultural goods we have created or make use of” that shape our congregation (pg. 163). These artifacts are visible in the midst of our congregation and are often on display to those outside our congregation whether we realize it or not.
Reflection by Pastor John Wertz, Jr.
Image Credit: http://blog.microscopeworld.com/2016/01/sudent-project-soil-under-microscope.html – accessed 8/20/20
Questions for Reflection:
- What visual icons (logos or other images prominently displayed) represent us?
- What pieces of literature do we use to help people understand us?
- What does our website reveal about us?