“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” (Matthew 9; 37, 38).
Where are God’s people, I wonder?
For some time now a plague has been running rampant in the church. A plague in which it seems nobody is talking about, and is even aware that it exists. This plague I’m talking about is called stagnant Christianity.
Our churches to a degree are filled with people who profess their love for God, and while I’m not here to question anyone’s sincerity, I do question the fact that if we say we love God then why are we doing nothing about it
I was speaking with a fellow Bible worker recently and a church member asked him a question. The question (asked in an angry tone) was “Why do we need you? We could spend the money on better things then you.”
My friends polite answer was, “You need me because you as a church member are not doing anything in the church but warming a pew.” The answer shocked the man as he walked away to talk to other people to plead his case.
Most Bible workers understand that their job is to put themselves out of work. When they’re out of work, it means God’s job for us will be done. It’s sad that Bible workers are not hired as much as they used to eb because many at the Conference level deem them to be a waste of money and ‘uneducated’—as a Conference president once told me.
Not Me
As I get older, I find that there are many faithful people who are on all different levels of their walk with God. What I also find is that there are a great many more whose only duty to God is to show up to church on Sabbath. Or they show up for free food functions or anything that involves entertainment, but when the rubber meets the road and it involves any type of evangelism nobody shows up. This responsibility is always passed off to the pastors or leaders or someone else. The common remark is “Not me, get someone else who knows more.”
I understand that some churches have many members who are working various jobs, and go to school and are simply are short on time to do much else. While some evangelism can be done while at these jobs, I tend to wonder about those in churches who have no work, who are retired, or simply have nothing to do. What about those who have the time, but yet choose to do nothing?
I often talk with people about evangelism and have made many appeals to others to accept the call and learn to share their faith, but I usually receive the same answer, CRICKETS. People will always have an excuse not to share their faith.
Excuses Excuses
They constantly say “I don’t know enough.”
I say “Well, let’s study and I’ll show you.”
Their response is “Well I’m not a good talker” (but they will spend hours on the phone talking gossip or sports or politics or other things with someone else).
I say “Ok, let me show you how to do video evangelism,”
Their response is “Well I don’t have time.”
My response is “What’s keeping you from making this decision?”
Their response “Well, you need to ask someone who’s qualified.”
And when the time comes to hire a Bible worker, these same people will say “It’s a waste of money, we can do it ourselves.”
When they get their way, and are asked to participate, they give all the same excuses over again.
Many people show a great representation at church on Sabbath, but the rest of the week they’re too busy watching TV. Or some are too busy taking long vacations, but they don’t have the time to spend 1 hour a week with someone. Many churches are dying and many don’t know why.
My opinion is that it’s because as Adventist Christians we don’t care about sharing the Message like we used to. Our solution to our church problem is hire someone else to fix it.
And when they hire someone to fix the problem, sometimes they tear it down after the person they hired to fix the problem is gone (this happens all the time after prophecy seminars). I once overheard some pastors say “Let’s use this popular evangelist from the west coast (he’s Amazing) to bring in the people, and after they’re baptized we’ll teach them our way of doing things.” I believe one problem that we face is we want to do things our way and not God’s way, and our way has been proven to not work . It’s time to stop repeating this cycle.
When will we as God’s people take up our responsibility to God and to humanity and do our part? The Great Commission was given to us to spread God's message to the world.
Failure to work for the Lord will default into us working for the Enemy.
Who is it that you represent? And what are you doing to further God’s kingdom? Let’s work together, according to the Bible.
“As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:15).
Rey Chavez is a graduate of AFCOE and simple man who wants everyone to know about Jesus. He’s a father of four and a speaker in his hometown. He has spoken across the US and is currently using his Facebook group Biblical Thinking as way to spread the message.
Rey Chavez
Albuquerque, NM
Volunteer Representative for Amazing Facts/It is Written Ministries
Bible speaker/Bible Teacher