Today, Christianity has spread throughout the globe and churches are popping up everywhere with billions of believers worldwide. The Internet allows us to share Christ with almost anyone, anywhere at any time with no middlemen involved slowing the process down. The costs associated with transmitting this message are cheaper than ever. With the right tools an individual can create a video broadcast that can reach millions. This would have been impossible 15 years ago. Yet in many churches including the one I attend I find that the most important ministry work is being done by very few people wearing them out in the process.
I know this feeling myself. While many people have praised my efforts in building my church’s media ministry I personally feel that we have barely scratched the surface and would be much further off if we had more willing people to help. Furthermore, our most successful work has always been done with the help of a dedicated team and not left on the back of one person. Hence the question must be raised. If there are so many of us claiming to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, why do so few of us take his work seriously enough to truly labor? Why is it when planning major events or projects, the same few people tend to be doing the lion’s share of the work if there are so many of us who attend church services? It all comes down to what we do with the word of God that we all receive.
Everyone can read/hear the word of God but it is another thing to actually receive it and let it grow like a seed in the ground. This is why Jesus likened hearing/reading the word of God to seeds being planted in the ground (Matt. 13:1–9). The explanation of this metaphor reveals why it seems like 80% of the church does 20% of the work.
Lack of understanding (Matt. 13:19)
When you wake up in the morning, instantly there is a competition for your attention. Your phone/tablet full of notifications and a never-ending stream of information from friends and advertisers vying for your eyeballs (and your wallet). When we pay too much attention to these things, it leaves very little room for the word of God grow roots in our lives. Even for those who want to learn more about the word of God, a simple Google search can become a frustrating experience as there are endless interpretations breeding confusion about what scripture really means. All this leading to people simply giving up because they have forgotten the simple concept that one must seek if they want to find (Matt. 7:7). Without a clear understanding of what God’s word says, it is impossible for that person to get involved in kingdom business and actually have a heart to work.
Lack of endurance (Matt. 13:20–21)
While the Christian life provides many blessings, it also enlists us in a war that requires us to utilize the weapons that come from the spirit to fight (2 Cor. 10:4). For many of us it is just too easy to cling to familiar methods of solving problems and when those methods do not work, our lack of faith in God prevents us from continuing to carry out his work. Anyone who has worked in ministry knows struggles, temptations and obstacles will arise. In order to get the video part of my church’s media ministry off the ground I essentially had to leave my full-time job and go to school full-time with no real way in sight of paying for it. People have said to me I do this media work because I enjoy it. On the contrary! While I do enjoy video production, working a secular media job and handling the church’s media production at the same time has very often left me physically and mentally drained. I would love nothing more than to sleep when I get home from work, but its the combination understanding what God requires us to do with his word and drawing endurance from his spirit when I’m physically tired that keeps me going. I fear many of us do not have, nor seek this endurance from the right source which leads many people who get involved in ministry work with a lot of enthusiasm in the beginning to quit after a few weeks because they did not expect to sacrifice and endure. Or even worse, we pick and choose areas of ministry that only tickle our flesh and avoid areas when God has gifted us that require more sacrifice. We have no problems singing on the choir on Sunday morning but refuse to commit to practicing with the choir once a week. Or we enjoy preaching before crowds and getting instant praise from what we preach but refuse to see the value in taking the time to write Internet blog posts that have the potential to be read by millions over time.
The Love Of Money (Matt. 13:22)
“The centre cannot hold……” Thus is what happens when a person tries to serve God and money. You will inevitably serve one’s purposes or the other. With all the distractions we encounter that were mentioned earlier, it is all too easy to serve money and push God’s purposes to the curb. The inevitable prophetic words that characterize the last days must also be considered here. More people will simply love themselves and the money that serves their needs (2 Tim. 3:2). Labouring for God’s purposes calls people to have the opposite mindset and seemingly sacrifice without receiving. This often results in either people not volunteering at all or volunteering but not taking God’s business seriously. Those who act in this manner have missed the point of ministry. Inevitably it is about giving ministry to those who need it and not about receiving wages for your work. On the other hand, there are also those who have real financial obligations to take care of. People working multiple jobs to care for their kids, or are running their own businesses. The solution to this issue is simple. If we all choose to work a little harder concerning the work of the Lord together, it will easy the burden on everyone. We are members of one body and when each part does their job, it benefits the entire body making it easier for each part to fulfil its intended purpose.
Lack of Gratitude
Much of the problem with the lack of labourers in churches comes from those who feel they cannot make the sacrifice. When I think back to the days of the early Apostles, what we consider sacrifice was much different to them. They had their cities burned down, losing all their possessions in the process. Constantly living on the run, not sure of who they could trust. Thrown in jail, flogged, dragged in the streets until they died. Crucified, limbs chopped off. With all that said, I think we can safely say that staying an extra hour to practice a choir song, using a camera during a service or praying with someone for a couple hours isn’t really much of a sacrifice when compared to what our ancestors had to deal with. Instead of complaining, we simply ought to be thankful and get to work.
Control Issues
Nonetheless Jesus does call us to pray for labourers simply because the work that needs to be done requires it. I think this is another thing we fail to understand. Many of us will spend great amounts of time praying for God to do a miracle to make the work we do for his kingdom succeed when we ought to simply be praying for people to work with and more importantly have a willingness to work with others. That in of itself is another major struggle. Many of us won’t even pray for labourers because we want to do all the work ourselves and as a result have control issues. Even when God sends willing workers some of us turn them off because we want to control how everything is done and are unwillingly to even hear a different point of view and do not consider the needs of those we work with. God never intended the “hand” to do what the “leg” should be doing. The “leg” needs to be in working order for it to fulfill its intended purpose. Over the last two years, leading media staffI’ve found myself ministering to my staff as much as those who consume the content we create. After all they are human beings who go through their own separate issues and I have learned the value of “suffering with them” (Rom. 12:15) in the order to help them heal. Having a heart to help my staff in this manner and be patient has strengthened the bonds between us much more than just ordering people around and using fear tactics to keep people in line. The result is that we have been much more successful in impacting the lives of those who consume our content now then in times past. Through this experience I have developed a personal rule that nothing about our media workflow should hinder any of my staff from not only getting their work done but from letting the seed that is the word of God in their lives be choked by my influence. If any hinderance arises, let it be something from the outside and not a problem that we created ourselves. To put this simply, you must actually care and be willing to help those you work with before any trouble comes their way.
In order to truly have a heart to pray for labourers as Christ intends, we must first have a heart to work with others.
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