“What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands.” (Luke 10:2 The Message Bible)
It seems that every block that you pass while driving and every business that is beside the road, enterprises wanting to thrive, grow , and survive and remain successful, they all have “Help Wanted” or “Hiring Now” signs. The “Help Wanted” and the “Hiring Now” sign businesses must surely be booming.
Pandemic fears and the preferences of people to stay at home have certainly affected this proliferation of posted signs and promoted hiring activities in the business community. And in spite of an abundance of people who are fit and able to work, the applicants are few and far between. Saying it another way, the laborers are few. There is plenty to do, but there are not enough wiling people to do it. The bottom line, help is wanted.
As you can tell from Jesus’ words above, this is not a new problem faced in the universal and local church; not a new phenomenon in the work of kingdom building. Too often, far too often, the burden of the work falls on the famous “faithful few.” Far too often, it is the same people in our churches that realize they were saved to serve, as opposed to being saving to sit. Observe! The choir members are the ones that attend Bible Study. The members who attend Bible Study are the ones who attend prayer meeting, a prerequisite for churches that want to constantly be revived. We always need revival in our churches. Keep following the chain. The ones who attend prayer meeting are the ones who participate in the work of the church ministries. You get the picture, don’t you?
Leaders in our churches develop innovative, creative plans to be more productive as a church body. Have you ever noticed that it is the same people who end up making the plans go from vision to implementation? The worst case is where burnout occurs with the faithful few, and the vision gets chalked up as another verbal discussion. No one makes the discussion move from mere talk at a meeting. to making things happen and fulfilling great ideas. For you who are part of the faithful few, don’t be discouraged! Don’t even ponder about quitting. Never give up! You know that there really is no retirement in kingdom building. As the old preacher used to say, “Keep on keeping on.”
I’m almost reluctant to ask this one thing of you, but I am being moved to do so. Share this with members of your church via email. Forward to them! Mark it urgent! On the subject line write “Help Wanted.” Pray that someone will move from inactivity to activity. Pray that the “we” that do the work of the church will be increased and that “WE” will accomplish a splendid work, similar to when Nehemiah led the rebuilding of the wall. See the verse below and when you have time, read it in the context of The Book of Nehemiah. Have a great Wednesday! Do your email(s) too! No criticizing, just encouraging and inviting! Be blessed!
“We kept at it, repairing, and rebuilding the wall. The whole wall was soon joined together and halfway to its intended height because the people had a heart for the work.” (Nehemiah 4:6 The Message Bible)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King