By, Oscar Pimentel, General Overseer of The Church of God.
Regarding the secular world, I’ve heard much talk recently that the big concern for businesses around the globe has been a shortage of workers. Reports say that these shortages are due to certain less desirable shifts and that many people are voluntarily quitting roles just as demand for workers rises. Expert economists explain that changing demographics like aging and retiring workers are one factor behind the shortages, as well as demands for better pay and more flexible working arrangements. They say that the shortage of workers around the world has brought and will continue to bring supply chain disruptions on local and global levels, which hampers economic growth and causes product and service shortages for consumers. I just heard that, in the United States alone, there is a shortage of 80,000 truck drivers which will only serve to worsen product shortages for consumers.
But don’t fret, dear saint, here is the Bible’s report and instruction for times like these: “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psa. 37:25). “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Phil. 4:6).
The world seems to be in quite a dilemma now and there seems to be no end in sight. And while the aforementioned regarding the secular world is no laughing matter (but a matter best left to prayer), there is a shortage of workers of a different kind in an entirely different field that God focuses on, and is of greater concern to His Church. Jesus first spoke of it in Matthew 9:36-38: “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”
As you can see, the shortage of “labourers” in this field is not a recent development; over two thousand years later and the predicament persists. As we ponder this dilemma for a moment, we may be quick to judge that it arises from a potential workforce that is too small. However, we really have no shortage of able bodies among us. What we are suffering from is two-fold. On the one hand, an aging number of ministers whose minds say, “Keep on!” but whose bodies say, “Stay still!” with some that are “retiring” as the Lord allows them. On the other hand, we are suffering from a drought of broken hearts, self-denial, cross-carriers, and followers of Christ’s lead.
Does this discourage us? No. You see, Christ has given us the solution to the worker shortage in the Church. What is it? PRAYER! While the leadership of the Church has been calling for workers year after year, and our members kindly remind us of our deficiencies in this area, perhaps this need has not been supplied because we have not completely gone about it the Bible way. Christ said, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” There is a time to talk, a time to share our concerns, and a time to be silent. There is even a time for meetings—a time for sharing ideas to enhance our methods. There is a time for everything. The time for earnest prayer by every one of us for laborers must now be given serious consideration.
I remember my father once, while he was preaching, telling about an incident that happened at his place of employment many years ago. He had shared the gospel of Christ with a fellow employee but the man did not repent and believe in the gospel at the time. Afterward, on a different occasion, this man spoke to my father about his circumstances. He told him about how awful and sad his life was, what a despairing situation he was in, and that he had tried everything. “You haven’t tried everything,” my father responded. “Try Jesus! Try Jesus!”
This incident is shared today to make a point. We often have also felt that we’ve tried everything when it comes to gaining laborers or workers, only to have to be reminded by the Word to “Try Jesus!” We’ve come close to despair setting in when it comes to our ability to find willing workers for different necessities in the Church.
The feeling of hopelessness regarding this matter seems to bite at our heels sometimes. Let us now try Jesus! It is not for a lack of attempting to find workers that we have not found them, and now that it seems we have tried just about everything possible to no avail, greater attention must be given to the process Jesus set before us—the path of earnest prayer!
Let’s really try PRAYER. Let’s put prayer to the test. Prevailing prayers! Seasons of prayer! Praying the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth laborers! Prayer can melt away the heart of an individual who’s now living among the potential workforce in our midst and replace it with a Christlike one full of compassion for souls that leads him into the harvest. Laborers are few because not enough are willing to sacrifice their lives for the mission of Jesus, but we firmly believe that this too can change through prayer. Prayer can cause men in the Church to raise their eyes off the cares of this world and up to spiritual vistas to wit, like the devout apostle Paul, they will not count life dear unto themselves but will desire to finish their course with joy and the ministry that they received from the Lord Jesus Christ—to testify of the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24).
It takes great courage and devotion to spend your days living like Christ, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). Yes, discipleship means being counter-cultural, mocked, taunted, persecuted, and in some cases, killed. It’s not an attractive job description, which is why not everyone willingly steps forward to the task. Oh, but when earnest prevailing prayers get through and enter God’s presence, it hardly seems possible that any man born of God could resist His call to a labor of love when that call comes as a result of answered prayer.
Christ was not complaining about the shortage, but was teaching us the Bible way. We are not complaining, but simply taking another look at these verses of Scripture today, and we find renewed hope and reassurance that the answer to our shortage of workers is prayer along this line. I’m encouraged and I want you to be encouraged, but I also want you to join me in prayer for workers. To pray for laborers is not solely the charge of leaders in the Church. Notice, if you will, that when Christ calls for prayer of this sort, He is speaking “unto his disciples,” that is, as many as consider themselves followers of Jesus Christ (laity as well as leadership). Without a doubt, it behooves us all in the Church to pray, having this need in mind, since the shortage of workers affects us all in some way or another no matter where we are in the world.
My dear brother or sister, as you pray for the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers, bear in mind that in Mark 13:34, Christ said that when the Son of man went on a far journey He gave to “every man his work.” It’s no wonder that, with this understanding, Bishop A. J. Tomlinson enthusiastically reminded everyone, “Every member a worker, and a special work for everyone!” Every once in a while we ought to repeat this phrase to one another to stir up our enthusiasm and zeal in the work.
An old hymn I grew up hearing was titled, “I Want to Be a Worker.” The keyword here is want. To want is to have a desire to possess or do something. What a difference in the work when man’s heart is apprehended by God instead of his arm twisted by duty or some other reason. Then, and only then, will he want to pursue God’s will with his whole heart. What will it be like when hundreds, even thousands of workers are living and moving in the spirit that the old-time hymn was written in?
I want to be a worker for the Lord,
I want to love and trust His holy word;
I want to sing and pray, and be busy ev’ry day
In the vineyard of the Lord.
Chorus
I will work, I will pray
In the vineyard, in the vineyard of the Lord;
I will work, I will pray,
I will labor ev’ry day in the vineyard of the Lord.
I want to be a worker ev’ry day,
I want to lead the erring in the way
That leads to heav’n above,
Where all is peace and love
In the vineyard of the Lord.
I want to be a worker strong and brave,
I want to trust in Jesus’ pow’r to save;
All who will truly come,
Shall find a happy home
In the kingdom of the Lord.
I want to be a worker; help me, Lord,
To lead the lost and erring to Thy word
That points to joys on high,
Where pleasures never die
In the kingdom of the Lord.
I’m tempted to say that God needs workers, however, the real need resides at the doorsteps of the individuals who haven’t yet answered the call of God. Prayer, yes, prayer to the Lord of the harvest, is the answer. So let us pray not simply for workers, but workers who want to do the work; such as will “do it with joy, and not with grief” (Heb. 13:17).
Dear reader, perhaps prior to reading this article, the Lord had already been moving on your heart about working for Him in His Church; and you might feel that you are unable, incapable, or have nothing to offer. To you I say, please take notice that Jesus doesn’t call for pastors, missionaries, evangelists, leaders, or experts; no! Christ calls for “workers.” A willing heart humbly placed at the feet of Christ can be used to produce a bountiful harvest.
Jesus said, “The harvest truly is plenteous,” and today I would encourage us to look at it as a promise and not necessarily a condition. He is promising us a plentiful harvest and, if we begin to pray now, we can have great expectations that, in the very near future, we will have the laborers needed. When we get serious about this prayer, we will have workers in our local churches, shepherds to pastor the flocks, laborers at every level of the Church, and while the world continues to experience a shortage of workers, we will be replenished with laborers after God’s own heart.
A much smaller group than us turned the world upside-down at the time of the early Church. Today, we also have a potential workforce big enough to turn the world upside-down for the Master. But it will require commitment and perseverance in prayer to see this potential unleashed. Are you willing to do your part?