THe use of words is based on agreements and inherited reference of meanings. In mainstream English, raising a crop is not accompanioed by the "up" preposition, although I can imagine that being a local variant. To raise up is sometimes applied to children, barns and other buildings, to the elevation of spirits from the dead, and to elevation in hierarchies.

Perhaps if raising crops was the image you wanted to evoke, the expression "cultivating", "nourishing", "encouraging", or even "fertilizing" lay ministries might have won more understanding.

A