“Mom, I want to share a Bible story with you,” said my daughter. How could I say no to that? We were outside. She used rocks as people and animals, water as rain and a restaurant leftovers container as a boat. She told the story of Noah and the flood. “And God shut the door… We are separated from God, but Jesus made a way…”
She did perfect. After sharing the Bible story with me, she then shared with much more of my extended family. Who was going to say no to a little girl with a Bible story? God used her to reach people in a way I couldn’t. Yet I didn’t have to move away.
It reminded me of a verse that I frequently think of in the fall, when the corn in Indiana is harvested.
“Then [Jesus] said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest’” (Matthew 9:37-38).
Jesus wasn’t talking about corn though. He was speaking about the souls of people! Many people in the world are ready to accept Christ, if only someone will share Christ with them. Americans, let me speak to you directly, because, I get it. You’re probably thinking, “I ain’t moving across the globe to live in some run down shack in the jungle only to watch my Harvard brained Olympian-in-training-child die of malaria. Y’all less loving parents go ahead! I’s a stayin’ put!”
That’s not what the verse is saying. Read it again.
“Then [Jesus] said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest’” (Matthew 9:37-38).
He didn’t tell them to go themselves to harvest. He told them to pray for God to send more harvesters. The harvest is plentiful. The world today has about 600 unreached people groups. Those are people who have never had the Gospel shared in their own language. Reaching them doesn’t mean you have to leave your comfortable home. But for those who long for adventure, go for it! Many of those places are difficult to reach, like only by foot can you get there! But if you like camping, well God can use you big time! That’s just one of the major areas that still needs reached. Other areas with just as great of a need, have electricity, and most modern conveniences.
But for those of us not called to the mission field…what do we do? Aside from prayer, we can train up our children to have a heart for unreached people groups. One of my friend’s six year old daughter has a heart for people with special needs. This past Sunday, the little girl helped sign for one of their church worship songs. That put them in touch with a missionary who works with deaf schools in Kenya. Believe it or not, but the deaf community worldwide is one of the largest of three groups of unreached people groups. That mom is raising her daughter to know Jesus and have a heart for the unreached. She’s teaching her daughter how to use her gifts for the glory of God in order to help fulfill the great commission.
A third thing we can do is to use our own God given skills to reach others. Any time we share the Gospel with someone, we’re increasing the amount of potential harvesters available to go to the mission field.
Yet your skills might be exactly what’s needed for some mission organizations. Many mission organizations need writers, admin people, technology people, etc. Imagine using AI to reach others for Christ. Imagine Roz, from the Wild Robot book and movie sharing Christ in the jungle of Papa New Guinea, as funny as that sounds. But hey, if a robot can take my order at Taco Bell, why not? Whatever our skill set, why can it not be used to glorify God in reaching others? And you don’t have to move to use your skills to help reach the world for Christ.
Perhaps the workers of the harvest are few because the workers don’t realize how they can get involved. Pray, not only for God to send workers into the harvest, but how you personally can be involved. Maybe it’s simply teaching your children the Bible. Maybe it’s using your skill set for missions. Maybe it’s transferring some of your giving to reaching unreached people groups. Pray and see where God leads, trusting that it’s likely not overseas. And if we’re truly trusting God, we will have no fear where He leads, because He has promised to be with us (Matthew 28:18-20).
