As I read the definitions of pioneer/pioneered/pioneering one word kept cropping up.
Settle.
Pioneer has always felt like an exciting word, a word of adventure and discovery of the unknown. Settle feels the exact opposite. It’s a word that feels static, comfortable, stationary and safe. So, I want to explore how these two link together and what this has to say about pioneering in ministry, mission and life.
The obvious link between the words pioneer and settle is from the movement of europeans into North America and then westward across the country. As they took land they set up settlements where people began to set up shops, houses and churches. It isn’t just in this context that the idea of settling crops up in relation to the word pioneer.
In the world of ecology certain organisms are known as pioneers because they are the first to establish themselves in a certain area and set up a life cycle. A basic example is that of Lichen which grows on rocks with no need for soil and allow other species to grow alongside them once they have become established.
As I have reflected on these two ideas contained within the word pioneer (and settle) I have seen two important things to take from it.
First, Pioneers create a place for others to settle. Whether it is those that travelled west (all be it into already inhabited land) or like Lichen which turns an uninhabitable area into a place where others can live. Both of these give us a picture of what pioneering may look like in the church and in life. Pioneers are there first, discovering, exploring and developing something that will benefit others. They find springs in the wilderness and mark it for others to find. Like the Lichen they allow others to survive in an area by preparing it for them through the way they live.
Some medications can contribute to impotence, as can some operations and cheapest generic levitra Get More Info radiotherapy treatments. Logitech and Microsoft remain levitra prescription deeprootsmag.org to be one of the most common causes of erectile dysfunction. There are cheapest viagra for sale certain medications such as kamagra, which you can take to see what precisely the reason the condition may well be, and additionally everything that treatments there is available. The logic behind using dirty pick lines is to quickly cialis tadalafil online build up sexual chemistry between you and an attractive woman. It may be that the pioneers settle in the place they discover but more likely as others arrive the pioneer moves on to discover more of what God is doing in another place and another way. They are not the ones that settle, that is what those after them to do.
Secondly, I want to ask a question about life cycles.
We can’t ignore the fact that most of the Pioneers from Europe weren’t really pioneers. There were native people already living in many of the places they ‘settled’. Being honest, these pioneers destroyed one way of life and set up another, foreign one.
In the case of Lichen, the life cycle that is set up is sustainable. The lichen creates condition in a barren place for others to survive and thrive in. As long as nothing alien comes in the life cycle will continue with more and more organisms benefiting from the pioneering work of the lichen.
So, in one we have pioneering that forces upon a place/people that destroys what was there and sets up something new. In the other, the pioneer begins something in a place of nothing so that others can benefit and grow.
As we pioneer we need to make sure we are looking to do the second of these and not the other. We need to look to not impose what we do onto others and expect it not to damage that which is there. Instead we need to find away of finding an uninhabited place and creating a place that can others can thrive in. This task is not easy but essential for a pioneers journey.
Credits – ‘Pioneer Town Church’ by Sarah under CC BY-NC 2.0