Not Enough Workers…

I often hear how we live in a post-Christian world, where Church attendance is in general decline (with some exceptions) and God and Jesus are not really on anybody’s radar. It’s certainly true that the game has changed and Christians need to respond. But Jesus said ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few…’ The issue according to Jesus isn’t the harvest, its the workers (or lack of them). I wonder if his statement asks us to rethink our view of the task of evangelism and making disciples. Maybe consciously or unconsciously we’ve allowed ourselves to believe that the job is too hard, we’ve been sold the dummy that there aren’t that many people interested in following Jesus and therefore we shouldn’t be surprised when there is little or no response to our message. I wonder whether Jesus asks us to see this from a different point of view. Instead of adopting a defeatist attitude, to believe that there is a harvest out there, to believe that the Holy Spirit is still at work and he wants us to step out in faith and work with Him. I wonder whether this statement asks us to change our viewpoint.

Yes we certainly need to change how we present the message; yes we do need to be smart about this. Yes it will take work, sacrifice and (sometimes) we will have to face harassment, derision and persecution. One thing you can say about Jesus was that he was totally honest about what it would take and what it would mean.

Maybe that’s the real issue, we are unprepared (or is it unwilling?) to do the hard yards anymore, to see our life as totally wrapped up in/for Jesus. To live every day as if it was our last. To see our workplaces, our neighbourhoods, our communities as wheat fields waiting for someone to harvest them. Maybe Jesus was right, ‘…the workers are few’.