“But Jesus replied, ‘We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.”’ –Mark 1:38
“The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. These were his instructions to them: ‘The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.’" –Luke 10:1–2
“This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” –1 Timothy 2:3–4
Over the past several years, I have been convicted often by our "Church of Hopeful Waiting" stance—how we sit in our churches just hoping people will come to us on their own. We do need to pray and hope that the Lord will draw those to us who are truly seeking him; however, the likelihood is very small that this will result in them entering our local church services.
This is certainly the situation in most European countries, where less than 5% of the population is in churches on Sunday and less than 1% are confessing Christ as Lord and Savior. From our 20+ years of experience in Central and Eastern Europe, we know this fact: it is extremely rare that any 21st century European will seek out a local church for support in their community.
So where does this leave us? Is there hope? What does Jesus want to tell us about it?
Jesus clearly states that he had to go to the people. He sent out his disciples—and we can assume regularly—into the harvest ahead of him.
The Lord wants us to participate in the joys and in the trials of building relationships among our lost neighbors and communities. In our current Hungarian context, we are convinced that we need to go as Jesus did, to seek and save the lost. It is not easy and we are not seeing great fruit yet. But we are faithfully prayerwalking, engaging, and wanting to see more workers enjoying the harvest.
With the Hungarian subtitles now available, we were inspired by seeing the same joys and trials in The Chosen season 3, episode 2, when they show the disciples experiencing the 2x2 ministry. It's exciting and challenging to watch!
It is a privilege to go as sent ones and discover who might be thirsty for Jesus’s Living Water. We are learning together what it means to go, and to go expectantly. It is ultimately the Holy Spirit who will do the transformation, but we can go to the people and find where God is already at work.
I am so thankful to find some new generation—and some older—mission leaders who are seeking to live this out. They are not just sitting and waiting for people to appear in their churches. We want to be about going into the harvest, both humbly and boldly in the Spirit. Lord lead us on! Thank you, God our Savior, that you want all people to believe and find faith in you.
FOR REFLECTION
1. What do you believe about the harvest?
2. How are you going in the Spirit with hope into the harvest?
3. Who will you empower and take with you into the harvest?
Bonus: Watch The Chosen here: https://www.angel.com/watch/the-chosen
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rob George serves with his wife Donna in Szeged, Hungary under the CoNext Hungary team, Barnabás Csoport. Hungary is the romantic country where Rob and Donna fell in love 30 years ago, first teaching English there. Rob enjoys Kingdom networking and coming alongside mission leaders who want to explore the harvest with him. Donna uses her spiritual direction skills in women's groups, as well as in mission leader gatherings in their home. Their TCK daughters are in Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sarah is an ELL teacher and happily married to Evan, a solar panel installer, and Hannah is a social worker in a retirement facility.