Galatians 5:22-23 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

So how does Fruit Producing Ministry produce this kind of fruit. This fruit is personal fruit. It is the fruit that results from helping people grow closer to God.
This is what I called Fruit is Spiritual Growth, in an earlier post What-is-Fruit.

How does our ministry produce the fruit called spiritual growth. The fruit of the Spirit. Galations 5 – talks about being free, and living in harmony with the spirit. It contrasts the actions of the flesh, and of those ruled by the flesh.

How do we structure our ministry to produce the Fruit of the Spirit? Well, the Spirit is the fruit producing agent, so what can we do to cultivate, measure and celebrate this fruit?

Cultivate:

• Teach the word. Living out the Word of God is part of the pattern that we are cultivating, but how can we live it if we don’t know it, and how can we know it if we are not taught. Not only is teaching a Sunday activity, but it should become a daily activity – that we become mature enough to learn from the word without human teachers.
• Lead by example. If Living out the Word is what we want, we need live examples to follow, emulate, pattern ourselves after. We (as disciples) need to have live examples of spiritual maturity to “rub up against” to see that faith is real. This requires time – spending time getting close to people. Our elders and leaders need to be involved in discipling activities, where they are up close and personal with less mature believers, so that all can see, taste, smell, and feel what spiritual maturity is.
• Develop accountability. You cannot grow closer to Christ, if you are focused on the things of the flesh. Yet the flesh is always there, and subtly invades our thought process. To “Take every thought captive” requires that we make ourselves accountable. Accountability works best between those who have a relationship at stake. If I am accountable to someone who I care about, who I love, and who loves me, then breaking the accountability destroys the relationship, and I have something important to lose – again, that means believers developing close relationships between more and less mature believers. This does not always happen without coercion. The cliquishness of some churches prevents new believers from forming deep discipling relationships with more mature believers. A systemic approach to building and maintaining these connections is often necessary to ensure accountability.

Measure:

• Individual Measurement: This measurement is personal, and helps each believer set goals and know when they are equipped for service. It helps them understand their gifts, strengths, and talents. It helps them understand their inadequacies, weaknesses, and struggles. It is not publicized, or shared, but is part of the accountability process.
• Corporate Measurement: This measurement is public, what ratio of our body is involved in this process, and even involved in leadership roles in this process. It is about understanding the success or progress of our ministry as a whole, rather than the progress of individuals.

Celebrate:

• What we are celebrating: We are celebrating the growth and the developing maturity of the believer – but really, We are celebrating how many of our members or attenders are participating in the cultivating process.
• Why we are celebrating: We are celebrating because it encourages those who are participating to stay the course, and it encourages those who have not yet tried the cultivation process to get involved. Celebration is an adertisement that makes people already in process feel good because they are commended for their participation, even if their progress is slow. Celebration is an advertisement that makes people not yet in process attracted to the cause, because they have a defined path to growth.