FAQs with Pastor Jeff
“What do we mean when we talk about ‘Harvest Fields?’”
I talk about harvest fields frequently. The term often makes it into messages, we pray about harvest fields in Passionate Core Prayer on Sundays at 9AM, and I talk about it with leaders and people seeking to fulfil the call of God on their life.
But what is a harvest field?
A harvest field is a person or group of people linked by culture, language, characteristics, geography, or some other unique demographic (single moms, immigrants, foster families, married people, single people, international students, youth, etc.) God has called His people (in our case, CPC) to bring to salvation and into the Kingdom of God.
The Biblical Foundation
The idea comes from John chapter four when Jesus is talking to His disciples about food following His interaction with the Samaritan woman. The passage from John 4:35-36 goes like this:
35 You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.
36 The harvesters are paid good wages,
and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life.
What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!
Jesus compares the fruit of people coming to Christ to a ripe field ready to be harvested. He also indicates in our geographic areas, there are many fields ripe for harvest—ready to be brought into the Kingdom of God.
When Godly people engage the field and bring in the harvest of people to God’s family, there is great joy for them and those being saved. So ultimately, a harvest field is an agricultural metaphor for those awaiting a Kingdom worker to bring them into the family of God.
What Farming Can Teach Us About Harvest Fields
I don’t know a lot about farming but I know a few principles which can apply to this Scriptural idea to help us understand Harvest Fields.
1. Not All Fields Are the Same
Not all fields are planted with the same kind of crop.
In Indiana, we have some fields planted with beans, some with corn, some with wheat, some with flowers, some with fruit trees, and possibly other kinds of crops. Every field is different, requires different fertilizer to help it grow, and different tools to cultivate, plant, and harvest the crops.
The same is true for spiritual harvest fields.
An international student at Purdue could be brought into the Kingdom of God—but perhaps in very different ways than an immigrant from Latin America. They have different felt needs, respond to different methods, and require different laborers to work in each of those fields.
Harvesting in our food pantry is a different method than harvesting in our schools or workplaces. So, each harvest field is a little different and requires different harvesters and tools to bring people into the Kingdom of God.
2. Fields Ripen at Different Times
Farmers do not necessarily harvest their bean crop at the same time as their corn crop—or peaches and apples at the same time. They have to wait until the opportune moment to bring in the fruit from each specific field, or the entire harvest could be lost.
When we pray for and work in various kinds of harvest fields for the Kingdom of God, we have to be sensitive to the ripeness of the fruit.
Jesus is clear in John four: many fields are ripe for harvest at any given moment. Those fields should be worked and brought into the Kingdom with haste. Otherwise, the moment may be lost and the fruit rots in the field, so to speak.
When Christians refuse to work in the harvest fields, this is often what happens to people who are “ripe” or whose hearts are ready to come to Jesus. Without laborers, some fields rot away.
Conversely, if Christians are not sensitive to the ripeness of the field and attempt to harvest an immature crop, the fruit is also lost and the Word of God is not able to grow to full life within the people.
Spiritual discernment is imperative for a believer in harvesting different kinds of fields at different points of ripeness.
3. A Good Crop Brings Great Joy
When a farmer has a good result from their hard labor, there is joy for the good fruit brought into the barn. The same is true for a believer who labors in the fields of the Kingdom and brings a ripe soul into God’s family.
I’ve never met anyone who led someone to Christ who was disappointed in their effort or the result. Truly, both they and the one they led to Christ experienced great joy—just as Jesus said would happen.
What Is Our Role?
So, what is our responsibility as believers? What is our calling to Harvest Fields in our community?
The answer is simple:
Be available, be willing, and be filled with the Spirit.
Be Available
Be available for God to prompt you towards an individual or even a group of people He knows are ready to be harvested and just waiting for a laborer to show them the way.
Availability is about heart, love, and slowing down enough to see the harvest all around you.
Be Willing
Be willing to go as the Lord leads you.
Chances are, most of us have opportunity every single day to engage a harvest field through individual ministry. Are we willing to risk the moment, have a conversation, or share with someone else the work of God in our own life?
If this is a struggle, we also have opportunity to serve within a harvest-based ministry like CPC’s food pantry, Romney Meadows Family Dinner, or other places in our community.
We always have opportunity to give financially to missionaries and ministries whose sole purpose is to engage various harvest fields around the world. Are we willing to give to send others and/or go ourselves?
Be Filled with the Spirit
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, be filled with the Spirit.
The Spirit enables and empowers us to engage different fields in different ways. He provides wisdom, discernment, and the tools we need to invest and work a field for His purposes.
Christians who are filled with the Spirit will find engaging a field much easier and with greater effect, because the Spirit in us desires to bring people to Christ much more than even we do.
His primary purpose is to enable us for the work of the Kingdom. So be filled with the Spirit every single day and you’ll be surprised how your eyes will open to the ripe harvest fields all around you.
Final Challenge
Jesus is clear to the disciples and to us:
“Wake up and look around,”
or in another place,
“Lift up your eyes and see the fields.”
Too often the reason no harvest happens in a church is because we are not looking to the fields.
CPC, let’s lift up our eyes and see the fields!
Let’s see the people of our food pantry, Romney Meadows, the people in your schools and workplaces, Purdue students, immigrants, internationals, and regular ‘ol Americans.
Let’s see them as people ripe for the Kingdom of God.
Let’s engage the fields and find joy in the great harvest God has for Greater Lafayette!
