Looking at Christ

  “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” What do you think of when you hear the words ‘harvest’ and ‘harvesting’? What would Jesus’ first hearers have thought of when they heard him talk about labourers being sent out into the harvest? How would they have reacted to the news that the harvest is ‘plentiful’? What if those of us who are twenty-first century Westerners are missing a lot of the intended force of Jesus’ language because we are deaf to the connotations that harvest would have had in a non-mechanised agricultural community? I asked a number of Kenyan friends to share their experiences of harvest to help me to hear Matthew 9:37-38 more clearly and richly. Here are seven things they taught me: 1. Harvesting is joyful “Growing up as a young boy, I really liked the harvest period. Harvest meant an exciting experience… happiness in the family… fresh food… It was a joyf...

The idea of an older person helping in the development of a younger person is an ancient pattern seen across many cultures. In warrior societies and castes such as among the Japanese samurai and the European feudal knights there would be an 'apprenticeship' stage. Among the Maasai there are the morans - living apart from their families in the bush, learning the wisdom of the elders and strengthening themselves physically and spiritually. The ancient pattern is that a son learns the trade of his father by being next to him, day after day, seeing everything he does, working alongside him. That was true in the harvest field (2 Kings 4:18), in trades like carpentry (Matt. 13:55), it was how the Law of Yahweh was to be passed on (Deut. 6:7), it is even seen in the relationship between the eternal Father and Son (John 5:19-20). Harrison Mungai, founder of iServe Africa , has often pointed to the success of Asian businesses where there is often  high intergenerational family...

In an increasingly mobile, ethnically diverse, socially divided UK (and world) we need gospel workers who are sensitive (people-orientated, humble and compassionate), skilled (equipped and practiced in culturally-aware gospel ministry) and serious (both in zeal and knowledge). The question is, where do you find people like that? Are they born (born again) like that? Is there a training course or seminary programme that can produce that kind of person? Of course first and foremost we must pray for these workers (Matt. 9:38). Only God can give the life and heart and boldness and joy and gentleness necessary. But how, humanly speaking, do these workers arrive? Is there anything we can do to be part of that raising up? I'd suggest that a big part of the answer is: cross-cultural gospel ministry apprenticeships . Just to define that: Gospel = the news of the Son of God dying instead of wrath-deserving sinners and rising that we can be united to him by his Spirit as forgiven a...