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The more I think about the MediaSalt article No Room for Sacred Cows in a Crop Rotation, the more I love the analogy.

Using some farm land near his house as inspiration, Cleve Persinger, made the case for why church leaders should act more like farmers and treat their ministry programs more like crops.  Crop rotation can be beneficial for farmers.  Although they may be forced to change, the result is healthier harvests.  Similarly, many churches have “sacred cow” programs or traditions that can’t be touched keeping them from producing the most effective ministry possible.

Cleve wrote:

"Here are the benefits of crop rotation. Think through these with a filter of reasons why your church should slaughter some sacred cows.

• Prevents the build up of pathogens and pests that occur when one species is continuously cropped. Stir things up and get rid of those ‘pathogens’ of laziness and complacency that come with old traditions.
• Avoids excessive depletion of soil nutrients one plant needs over the other. Some sacred cows really suck the life out of your staff, volunteers, and your church.
• Allows certain weeds to be eliminated. Some of those sacred cows bring in folks who are very self-serving, and driven by personal agendas, and your church would be better without them."

That got me thinking about when is the best time for churches to do crop rotation. 

• Within a year.  Certain crops will only grow during a particular time of year.  Likewise, there are times during the year where it makes more sense to give particular ministries more communications time.  During back to school or in the middle of summer, it may be more important to focus on children’s ministry.  Or maybe you have a sermon series about building a strong family.  Then you might want to focus in on women’s or men’s ministry.  It’s good to have your primary ministries and it’s good to rotate how much promotional time they get based on the season your church is in.  What ties in best to what’s going on at a particular time in your church?

• Every couple of years.  Farmers often times choose what to grow based on the markets and demand.  So it may be corn for a few years and then soy beans another.  It’s good to look at your ministry programs and see what’s working.  What was successful a few years ago may not work anymore.  I know my church has talked about implementing a chartering system.  A ministry would be approved for a given amount of time and then evaluated at the end to see if it’s still working and is still a priority for the church.  If not, it’s rotated out to make room for something else.

How about you?  Does your church rotate its crops?  How often?  If not, what’s stopping you?