Drop in Crop!

Reading: Acts 15:7-20

"Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,

and whoever sows generously will reap generously" (2 Cor 9:6).

These are days of missionary revival. There's a definite awakening in all Churches concerning evangelism. Eventhough Church growth is claimed to be faster than ever, the harvest is not satisfactory. One reason is that we have not sown enough. There are atleast three reasons for this failure—

Passivism

The vast majority of Christians is still not involved in evangelism. The whole Church must take the whole Gospel to the whole World. Active soulwinners testify that the Word of God in their hearts is like a burning fire shut up in their bones. Even difficult and threatening situations cannot quieten them (Jer 20:9). "We have a story to tell, a song to sing, a message to give, and a Saviour to show," sang H. Ernest Nichol, 1862-1928.

Pessimism

Negativism paralyses the "beautiful feet" from running everywhere with the Glad Tidings. The supernatural element of the harvest of souls is splendidly illustrated by the wise Preacher: "Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be on the earth… As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb, so you do not know the works of God who makes all things. In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good" (Eccl 11: 2,5,6).

Prejudice

Jonah refused to go to Nineveh because of his national prejudice. Peter hesitated to go to the house of Cornelius because of his racial pride. When we become choosy in our evangelistic outreach fields, sowing of the Gospel seed is limited and thus many a potential harvest is lost. Apostle Paul was a missionary par excellence. When he addressed Jewish congregations he frequently referred to their Old Testament Scriptures. On the other hand, for example, when he spoke to the Athenian crowd of idol-worshippers, he picked up an inscription from their temple for his sermon text (Acts 17:22,23). A mission agency lost a people group because its missionaries insisted the women on breaking of bangles before they could be baptized. These orthodox Pentescostal workers were not sensitive to the custom prevailing in that area that women would remove bangles only when their husbands died. We must learn to differentiate between customs which are cultural and those which are religious. "We should not trouble the Gentiles (non-Christians) who are turning to God" (Acts 15:19).

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