I grew up in church, so I was no stranger to words such as “sowing” and “harvesting.” However, like many Americans who live in an urban or suburban world, I didn’t really understand what these words meant. My idea of harvesting was to stroll down a grocery aisle and pick the food that looked like it would taste good. That all changed when I became the pastor of a rural church in southwest Louisiana. For seven years, I lived among some of the greatest people I have ever met—farmers. My time with them gave me a new appreciation for great biblical themes such as the importance of the land, the power of planting, and the miracle of the harvest. There were three specific lessons about harvesting that helped me when I was planting churches, and these are the lessons I want to share with you today.
First, I learned that the success of the harvest depends on a sense of urgency. It’s amazing the technology that farmers have at their fingertips to measure a plant’s maturity and moisture. This is because harvesting a crop too late can have a disastrous impact on the yield. During the harvest season, farmers labor both day and night to harvest crops at peek ripeness.
The lesson in this for ministers is that our ministry plans must deliberately include harvesting.
Many church planters are gifted at sowing the seeds of the gospel into their communities by building relationships among lost people and working as servants in their communities. It’s almost as if they believe the harvest will come on its own; but that’s not what Jesus taught. He said, “Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest?’ I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest” (John 4:35, NIV). A farmer, reading that verse, would understand that a good harvest requires a sense of urgency, and it must be approached with intentionality.
Second, I learned that gathering the harvest takes teamwork.
Most people have seen the beautiful pictures of combines moving together row by row, across a large field of grain, to gather wheat. I’ve had the pleasure of watching that firsthand, and I must tell you it’s quite an impressive sight. It’s almost like watching an orchestra in motion as the tractors, combines, and delivery trucks move together to gather the grain and bring it to market.
Working the field of souls is similar. It takes teamwork to present the gospel to a community, purposefully harvest, and then assimilate those individuals into the life of the church. Working as a team, the church can nurture the individual who has found Christ and grow that person as he or she becomes a disciple of Christ. Just as a farmer isn’t done until the grain has been brought to market, so a church planter hasn’t completed the process of evangelism until the individual that they reached is able to share their newfound faith with their own individual household. This requires church planters, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to involve everyone in their church to use their spiritual gifts to help assimilate and disciple new followers of Christ. Planters should also remember that God has blessed them with many partners beyond the church membership. NAMB, your state convention, and local association are all valuable partners that are part of a planter’s team and available to work alongside.
The third lesson I learned was that a successful harvest births a great time of celebration.
Harvesting is hard on farmers. They work long hours and invest a great deal of themselves to gather a good harvest. But once the harvest is in, they know how to celebrate God’s blessings! If you’ve never been to a harvest celebration, you’re missing a great time. For some, it’s a community-wide event filled with great food, great fun, and great friendships.
When we work with people, we must also learn to truly celebrate lives that have been changed by the power of Christ. Jesus declared in Luke 15 that all of heaven rejoices when one person accepts His offer of salvation. If a changed life brings about a celebration in heaven, then wouldn’t it be reasonable to have a celebration on earth? Celebrating changed lives is one of the best ways to inspire members of a congregation to share their own faith and instill a passion for evangelism into the life of a young church.
When I was a planter, we held the celebration service at the time of baptism. For us, the time of baptism wasn’t something that we tacked on before or after the worship service, we purposefully set it apart as a time when the whole church family got together to commemorate God’s amazing power to change an individual’s life. Most of these services took place on Sunday night in someone’s home. We needed to use their pool or hot tub because we didn’t have a baptistery. We would invite someone (usually a friend or family member) to share important information about the person with the entire church. Then, someone else would share a favorite Bible passage and a devotion followed by the baptism. The point here is that the changed life was the focal point of the gathering, and we took time to get to know the individual and celebrate the work of God. This service brought home for us the power of God to transform a person’s life and eternity. We left thankful for what God had done for us and passionate to see the change taking place in people that we loved.
These are simple lessons: move with urgency and purpose, move together as a team, and celebrate the power of God to transform lives. Yet these simple lessons made me a better church planter. I became intentional about sowing eternal seed into the lives of people in my community, and God gave us a great time of harvest.
In what ways have you intentionally involved your church in “harvesting souls” in your community?
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