Workers for the harvest field | Vaughan Roberts (ISBN: 1905564309)

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples: ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’ (Matthew 9.35-38)

People today are no different from those Jesus met in the first century; they are ‘harassed and helpless’. Can we see them as they really are, in all their desperate need? We are surrounded by those who are lost, separated from God and facing eternity without him, ‘like sheep without a shepherd’. Do we have compassion on them?

Jesus did. And his compassion led to action. He saw a vast harvest waiting to be gathered in, but hardly any workers to do the job. So he issued an instruction to his followers: ‘Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field’ (Matthew 9.38).

Still applicable

That command still applies today. Although 2,000 years of Christian witness have passed, there are still millions in our world who have never even heard the name of Christ. Vast areas of Asia, North Africa and the Middle East have been largely untouched by the gospel. Even in countries where many profess to be Christians there is great ignorance. There is still a desperate need for workers to be sent into the harvest field to reach the world and build the church. Ultimately, it is God who must send them (as Jesus does at the beginning of Matthew 10, sending out the 12) but we are called to play our part as well. Jesus tells us to pray.

That, in essence, is our challenge. If we begin to see the world as Jesus sees it, we cannot do nothing. We must share our Lord’s compassion and seek to do all we can for those who do not know him. Will we commit ourselves to urgent prayer that he would be raising up, training and sending out suitably godly and gifted workers to serve him in his world? And will we pray about our own role in this vital task?

The book

We have written Workers for the Harvest Field for disciples of Jesus Christ who are willing to do just that. If you have put your trust in him, you have received his gift of salvation. You know that all Christians are ministers of Christ, called to serve him in the world and the church, and you have already begun to do that in various ways. But now you are wondering how you can best serve him with the rest of your life.

In this book we attempt to describe the nature of gospel ministry, and to answer the questions that those who are considering it may have. The aim is not to persuade everyone that they should give up their present jobs and offer themselves as workers to churches and missionary organisations. We all have different gifts. Some are suited to this kind of work; others are best used in other ways. We must resist the idea that some jobs are better or more ‘spiritual’ than others. But we should all be asking ourselves this question: ‘What is it that I could do, as the person I am and with the gifts that God has given me, that would most bring glory to God through the spread of the gospel?’ For some that will mean staying where they are; for others it will mean a significant change of direction. And pray the prayer of Matthew 9.38: that God would send out workers into his harvest field.

Also included in this book are the personal stories and experiences of many who heard the call and answered. What will your testimony be?

Annie’s song

Anne trained as a nurse, and worked in the NHS for many years. ‘I’d gone as far as I wanted to in nursing, and when I had the chance to take a year out, I joined the first year of Cornhill and subsequently joined UCCF as a staff worker.

‘After six years with UCCF, I went back to nursing for a while before I was offered a job at City Evangelical Church in Birmingham as the women’s pastoral worker.

‘When I first arrived, there were only 40 or so people in the church, mainly students, but there were also a few elderly folk to look after as well. I love seeing people grow up in Jesus, and now that the church has grown the church is quite varied and challenging. I don’t have the structure of lots of groups and meetings that many women’s workers have — I do loads of one-to-ones. This pattern of work can be quite exhausting, and the downside is that it can also be quite lonely, although the staff teams’ subsequent move into offices has helped with this.

‘It’s a privilege to be able to do this work as a single woman — it’s a lifestyle that would be difficult for a married woman to maintain. It feels a bit like being a mum to the younger students, or a sister to my contemporaries, and being a daughter to the older ones. I’m always looking for natural opportunities to encourage them in Christ.’

‘I have been looking for someone to tell me about Jesus’ — Al’s story

Al was converted in his second year at university, but it was some years later that he first thought of doing some kind of full-time Christian work.

‘I realised that I could use my gifts Ð and I had a desire to teach and reach out, so I did a year-long Bible-training course to test that leading. I did some teaching and preaching at the church placement I had, and, as a result of the encouragement of people there, I decided to pursue ministry long term.

‘I realised that there were very few people doing mission work among the 100,000 Bangladeshis in the part of East London where I was based. There were lots of churches with social-action ministries, but very few concerned with preaching the gospel. Because of that need, my wife and I decided we should look at whether this was what we should make the focus of our ministry. So I spent a year shadowing an evangelist working on the Isle of Dogs.

‘Now working part-time based at my church, I have adopted a two-pronged approach to outreach among the local Bangladeshis. The long-term approach is all about making friends, and building relationships with people and families and sharing the gospel with them over time.

‘The second is plain, old-fashioned proclamation. We go out a few times a year and preach the gospel in the streets. Surprisingly, this has been very well received, as it is a culturally appropriate thing to do, and I often have great conversations with people afterwards.

‘We also do some tract distribution and letter-drops in houses local to the church, and distribute gospel portions in the local dialect for the area. My wife has opportunities to reach out to Bengali girls through a club on the local estate. This has given us some contacts with families there.

‘The East End is a very stressful place to live — the physical environment is very oppressive. There is a lot of violence on the streets, and I’ve been mugged myself. But there is loads of encouraging stuff going on. It’s easy to meet people. It’s easy to talk about Christ. But it’s very hard to go that step further, to make close friends with people, or to read the Bible one to one, or to get people on an evangelistic course.’

‘I discovered what I’m best at’ Ð James’s story

James was ‘doing well’ as a charity fundraiser, but every wedding he went to made him angry. ‘I kept hearing terrible talks and wasted gospel opportunities from ministers, and I thought ‘I could do better than this.’ But when my minister first suggested that I do an apprenticeship, I ran a mile. I was scared about the drop in salary, my own poor understanding and what my family would think.’

‘But I was wrestling with the idea and felt convinced that I should do it, to see if it was right for me or not. When I signed up as an apprentice, I was right about my family’s reaction — my mum thought I had joined a cult and cried for days; and my dad gave me a serious grilling and thought the whole thing ‘unwise’.

‘The apprenticeship involved lots of administration running a lunchtime ministry. I also helped lead evangelistic courses, and gave some talks. I enjoyed many aspects of the work, but found the whole process of preparing and writing talks painful and difficult. I would often be awake at midnight, desperate and irritable, trying to give some shape to what I had to say.

‘Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, including ministers, but it slowly became clear to me that the one weakness that a minister can’t have is in teaching and preaching. When I thought about other areas of work, I would spark with ideas and enthusiasm, but preaching left me twitching and nervous! My time as an apprentice was terrific. I ended the year knowing that full-time Word ministry, certainly for the time being, was not for me. But I had also become convinced that I wanted to stay in Christian work of some kind.’

Workers for the harvest field has just been published by The Good Book Company at £8.00 (ISBN 1 90556 430 9). For more details, please visit http://www.thegoodbook.co.uk or telephone 0845 225 0880.

9:38 helps Christians ask: ‘Should I be in full-time gospel ministry?’ Visit our website at http://www.ninethirtyeight.org and read the book!