[Jesus] said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

— Matthew 9:37-38

We were living in Beijing to learn Mandarin, the official language of China. We weren’t planning to do anything else, but the English fellowship in the church we were attending asked us to start a new small group Bible study. It grew rapidly, and soon people were coming to faith in Christ.

They needed to be baptized, so we also led a class for preparation for baptism. Then they needed to be discipled, so we led a discipleship class. The church also asked us to train others to lead small groups. The work was beginning to pile up, becoming more than we could do. It was a happy kind of problem, but still a problem.

The responsiveness to the gospel made it obvious that many people were ready—or nearly ready—to be harvested into God’s family. But there were not enough harvest workers—just as Jesus said 2,000 years ago.

Research has shown that in general, people in unreached people groups (where there is little or no opportunity to receive the gospel) are more responsive than other nonbelieving populations when the gospel is presented. Cross-cultural mission workers need to be trained and mobilized to meet this great need.

Pray faithfully and diligently that God—the Lord of the harvest—will raise up harvest workers.

Lord, as you prepare people to open their hearts to you, show each of us how you want to use us as harvesters. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.