The Harvest is Plentiful, But…
Written by Mr Vernon Quek
I’m sure most of us know the rest of the verse above. After all, we’ve just heard a sermon on Matthew 9:37-38 by our brother Zhiwen last month at the end of the Missions Month series. By God’s grace, that very same week, our latest run of Christianity Explored began and had 43 participants registered – the largest of any CE course we’ve run so far! It was as if the Lord was driving the point home: The harvest is indeed plentiful, and we as a Zion Bishan church family are being called to step up, to pray and to labour.
We rejoice in those who took CE as an opportunity to do exactly that: to step up as Table Hosts, or to step up and invite friends and even come along with them to CE. Obviously, we run CE at Zion Bishan for those who wish to explore who Jesus is, but this is another big reason we run it: as part of the wider Zion Bishan vision of seeing every member of our church family equipped to labour side-by-side for the Harvest. In other words, CE aims to train those who sign up as Table Hosts to be more and more comfortable with presenting Jesus to those who do not yet believe – to be effective labourers for the Harvest!
There is no doubt that the Lord is working in our midst! One glimpse at our church’s weekly activities and anyone can see an abundance of Harvest opportunities. COVID might have changed or even shut down some of our previous activities, but I think we’d all agree that it’s opened up even more opportunities for the name of Jesus to go forth.
Yes, we rejoice in the large numbers signing up for CE. But do we have the eyes to see that this is but a drop in the much greater ocean of the plentiful Harvest? And if so, many more labourers are required! Imagine what it would look like if all, not just a few, of our church family joined in to labour together. Imagine if each and every one of us were well-trained labourers, and if by God’s grace, each of us had the privilege of just seeing one non-believing friend or family member come to know Jesus through us.
I believe that it is no coincidence that we’ve been led to the book of Joshua in this second half of 2020. As we heard last Sunday from Pastor Dev: The Lord is with us, but for what? What does being God’s People, taking the Promised Land, heading towards the New Creation, mean for us? Surely it must mean labouring in His Harvest! Are we still wandering, or is it time for us to charge?
What does this all mean for you personally? Is it time to take the next step in being trained as a Harvest labourer? Why not talk to any of the Pastors, Elders, ministry staff or your AG Leader about what taking the next step might look like for you?
Let’s pray to the Lord of the Harvest, but I hope you remember that the Disciples that Jesus was speaking these words to then went on to be the first great Harvest labourers.
