"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few."-Matt. 9:37
I often wonder what our world is going to look like in another fifty years? When I'm 80 years old? When my kids have kids? When my grandchildren are grown? When I'm gone and they are still here living.
What will the world look like then? What will the United States look like?
Will it be a better, more hospitable place to live? Or will it be worse? More dangerous?
There is an overwhelming amount of danger, war, sin and cowardly barbaric acts being committed today against each other throughout the world.
The world is not becoming a safer place. Nor is it becoming a fairer place.
People are rivaling left and right for the upper hand. The stronger hand. The louder voice. The most power. We are crushing each other beneath our feet as we disparage our neighbors and countrymen.
There is a war waging against good and evil and neither is willing to relent.
I shudder to think what it's going to be like fifty years from now....if this is what's happening today.
It's heartbreaking to me how many places in the world are facing mounting struggles against injustice, disease, crippling poverty and wars. They teeter on the brink of despair, or worse yet, have crossed the threshold of despair and their lives have become hell on earth. There are people all over our world who daily face mistreatment so unjust and barbaric they have nothing left to live for. People who have been forced to flee from their homes, their countries, have watched their children die, their parents die, children who've been orphaned from disease, abandonment or war, people sleeping on heaping trash piles having to fight away rodents at night, families starving and forced to eat dirt or bark, men, women and children maimed and butchered for having differing religious beliefs.
Their hope has been destroyed. Their very self worth has been stripped bare and robbed from them.
So much of our world treats each other in cruel and inhumane ways. We traffic human beings between borders for the sake of sex or labor. We enlist child soldiers to fight our wars. We kill in the name of our religions. We rob from the poor in order to fund the fat bellies of the rich. We neglect, torture and gun down our fellow countrymen. We beat, rape, and burn each other for amusement. We spread hate and prejudice and greed for the sake of feeling empowered.
The claws of evil are trying to sink their way into the very fabric of our beings and left unchecked....the evil and desperate conditions of our world will only worsen. And spread. And keep on spreading unless more people stand up to stop it.
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few."
We live in a nice little bubble, our country, the United States, and many other western countries like it. We think that because we are privileged and progressive that we are exempt from many of the conditions facing the rest of the war. We have become indifferent. We look at our country, our cities and neighborhoods and dismiss the notion that there could ever be violent war on our land, poverty on our streets, and children dying in our gutters.
But we're not immune to anything.
We are not exempt from religious persecution,
government mandated abortions,
forced female genital mutilation,
ethnic cleansing,
genocide,
child soldiers,
famine,
overwhelming poverty,
devastating diseases,
or war.
All of these atrocities facing the rest of the world can come to any border. And before America stands up defensive and argues that we do face similar struggles facing the rest of the world....let me assure you....we don't. Not even close. Yes we have crime and poverty. But it is not nearly on the same scale that other countries are dealing with. Not even close.
In my experience of being American and growing up in the United States, it's true that we live in a prosperous nation. Being a prosperous and progressive nation is not a bad thing. But it can, and has, created a barrier of sympathy towards our fellow human beings who are suffering. We have become increasingly indifferent towards the oppression, persecution, and suffering facing so many people.
Most people in the U.S. simply can't relate to the level of suffering experienced by the rest of the world.
And instead of opening our hearts to the hurt of those around us, we dismiss their pain. Because we can't relate to it. Because most people haven't seen it first hand. They have never seen a naked child begging for pennies on the side of the road. They've never seen deformed and crippled men and women walking on their hands asking for food. They've never witnessed overwhelming poverty or war.
I have seen suffering first hand. I have seen suffering. And I believe that we have an obligation to help and assist those in crisis. A duty to stand up and defend those who are weaker and without help. To walk alongside those who are serving in the trenches to fight back the darkness.
Especially the church.
Especially the church.
We have a responsibility to defend those in peril.
But only a few are answering the call.
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few."
I was thinking about that this week. How few there are. How few are willing to leave it all behind and go. Out into the unknown. The uncomfortable. The dangerous. The far off countries of the world with little to no modern conveniences, no 911 first responders, no familiar languages, or common cultures. They embark into new territories leaving behind every comfort, both tangible and intangible, all for the sake of Jesus. For the sake of seeing His love made evident in all the far reaching places of the world to all the people in it.
They believe that they can help make a difference in this world. To bring Light to dark places. And replace despair with hope and promise. Or at the very least....they are willing to try. They don't want darkness to gain any more ground and they are willing to leave everything behind to do their part in helping to usher in more Light. More healing. More hope.
In the two+ years we have lived in Burkina Faso we have met numerous people who have chosen to leave their countries and serve God in new places. God has blessed us with the opportunity to connect and develop rich relationships with so many missionaries who have chosen to answer the great commission in this radical way.
It has been a very needed learning experience for us, and has opened our eyes to the realities facing Christian missionaries overseas, and all the ways that they are out there trying to impact the world for Christ.
Impacting the world is not easy. It's not for the faint of heart. Or the easily discouraged. Our world isn't getting any easier to live in, let alone minister in.
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few."
They are out there and are up against insurmountable odds at times. Overwhelmed with needs. They are running food programs, sponsorships, schools, orphanages, medical clinics, working with widows and prostitutes, preaching in prisons and villages and hostile environments, translating bibles, teaching life skills, training pastors.
And there is but a few.
Just a handful really.
When you look at the global church, there are only but a few willing to go and work in the trenches of life for Christ. There are but a few willing to hold the hand of a leper. There are but a few willing to feed starving children or comb lice out of a prostitutes hair. There are but a few willing to teach street kids a trade or pray with refugees of war. There are but a few willing to preach in prisons, or learn a tribal dialect so they can share the gospel to people in their native tongue.
There are but a few...
....and we need to do a better job of supporting those willing to minister in the areas of the world where evil and desperate conditions are running rampant.
Because if not them, than who?
Who will go? Who will serve amidst the suffering? Who will volunteer to sacrifice their lives for the sake of bringing Jesus to our ailing world? To our broken and bondaged world.
One of the many things I have learned since living in Burkina Faso, is that sadly, the church isn't doing enough to support the few. Not even close to enough. While the rest of the congregation and church leadership gets to carry on with their lives at home far separated from the cares and concerns the rest of the world are facing...there are missionaries out there, sent by churches or Christian organizations, trying to gain a foothold to love and serve in a foreign land every. single. day. And they're doing it without a lot of support, or enough support.
It's relatively easy for a church to send two teams a year for ten days each to go and support a missionary and their ministry overseas. But what about the other 345 days out of the year?
The body of Christ needs to be more intentional and consistent about the ways it is supporting it's body of believers overseas. We need to be supporting them year round, not just twenty days out of the year. The church needs to encourage its body to participate in being more actively involved in their lives and ministry.
The body of Christ serving overseas is pouring themselves out to the world around them, in addition to their own families, but have very little being poured back into them to make sure their cups are staying filled up as well.
They are out there, day in and day out, doing things like helping to repair bodies caught in the crossfires of war. Consoling the mother who's daughter was abducted and forced into slavery by radicals. Rebuilding homes lost to flooding. Feeding hungry mouths from food shortages. Arranging humanitarian aid to be brought to pastors and citizens who were victims of religious persecution. Pulling babies out of pit latrines who were discarded due to deformities. Trying to teach their own kids school in a 105 degree house because there's no a.c. or fans thanks to a ten hour power cut and then go outside into the village and teach a skill to vulnerable women.
And yet they go. They go. They serve at great cost to themselves and their families. And it's not easy. It's hard word. Exhausting. In every way imaginable. They are seeing suffering and pain on a scale many back at home can never and will never imagine or see with their own eyes. And they do it because that is what Christ called the church to do. They go in an attempt to stop the spread of hate, prejudice and greed. And instead work to spread Christ's love, forgiveness and redemption. They are out there working to combat the effects of poverty and persecution with actions that reinforce dignity, pride, peace, and deliverance. They believe in the very core of their being that Jesus not only saves lives, but He transforms lives. Neighborhoods. Cities. And countries.
And that's the only thing that has a chance of keeping evil from gaining more ground. People willing to go, to actually get up and go, to leave their couches and homes and comfort zones and go out there into the world and share Christ's love. That is the only thing that will change this world.
Christ's love has the ability to change lives here and for eternity. But if the world never hears about it, if the world never sees is, never feels it....if we turn out backs and shut our eyes to the needs of the world and keep His message all bottle up and to ourselves........how will there ever be a change? How will we ever see the chains of poverty and wickedness broken?
There are a few out there, purposefully exposing themselves to the suffering of the world in the hopes of shedding His light on it. They are not shying away from it. They are running to it. Because they see that the "harvest is plentiful" and they want to do everything in Christ's power to live their lives in service of those in need. So that in fifty years the tides may have changed on this earth. And we may possibly see more goodness and healing and less despair and pain.
But they need support. A lot of support.
Let us not be so caught up in inconsequential things or so sheltered within our own lives that we neglect the world around us and forsake the few that are out there fighting to make a difference. We need to support them in their needs as they tirelessly work to care for the desperate needs of our world. The world needs more people willing to run to the sufferers. Not turn a blind eye to them. The missionaries need more believers willing to walk alongside them in Christ's calling to the church.
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few."
The workers are few. So for those unwilling to go, or for those who can't....we need to make sure we're all doing our very best to support those who are. To partner with them. To show them our support.
The world isn't getting any easier to live in, so we all need to do our part to keep darkness and desperation from gaining any further footholds.
"But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."-1Jn. 3:17-18
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Here's some practical ways that the church can support the body of believers working overseas.....
-Missionaries, like all people, really appreciate letters from friends and family. Instead of posting an impersonal "Happy birthday!" message on their facebook wall once a year, send a letter or email out once a month. Ask about their family. Tell them updates on your life. Ask how the Lord has been moving in their ministry that month. How they're doing spiritually? Ask how they are struggling with cultural differences. Specific ways you can be praying for them. Ask questions about the government and culture that show you are attempting to connect with them in ways that make them often feel unrelate-able to their family and peers back at home. Write a response to their newsletter or life/ministry updates on FB or email.
-The church can send out a care package monthly, with items specifically needed (or wanted) for their work, or just comforts from home that are not available overseas.
-Set up a volunteer program within the church to send college students, qualified professionals, people with special skills, or anyone willing to to serve, to go and work alongside them overseas for a few months that year and assist them in their work.
-Many believers overseas do not have access to counselors or pastors to encourage them in the struggles that they are facing in their personal lives. The church leadership can set aside time each week to skype with missionaries, or send out a practical video series on marriage, parenting, depression for them to watch if internet is poor quality.
-Offer to pay for them to go on a retreat once a year to help them decompress and recharge.
-Start a prayer group at church designed to meet weekly to pray over their missionaries and the countries they serve in.
-Offer to let them use a second car, or stay in your spare room while visiting stateside.
-Make them a meal a couple times a week.
- Offer to watch their kids for a night.
-Attend a function they are hosting so you can be informed about the work God is doing through their ministry and find more ways you can partner with them.
"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality."-Rom. 12:9-13
3 comments:
really good ideas, there. even if we chose one and ran with it, imagine what that could accomplish.
Wow :)
Yes. Thank you.
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