Pray for workers in the harvest

Matthew's Gospel records:

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he 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 9:36-38

Our missions focus this post is on the urgent need for more missionaries to take the Gospel to neglected frontiers. We are all so aware of the need all around us in Australia, that it it is harder to be aware of the large groups of people who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ even once.

Recently the International Director of OMF has put out an appeal for 900 new workers for East Asia by the year 2011. He asks us to consider the 10 million Hui people in China where there is no church at all. And what about the 23 million people in North Korea still closed to the Gospel but open for professional Australian Christians to work there. He points out that in modern Japan there are 628 towns and villagesw without a church, including 64 towns or cities with a population of more than 20,000. There are 15 million working class people in Taiwan who are the backbone of their highly industrialised society but are unreached with the Gospel.

Then there are the one million ethnic Khmers in NE Thailand and the 1.9 million Rakhine people in Myanmar. And I have not completed the list because I fear you will be overwhelmed by the figures. But it seems so wrong that there are so many of us who know and enjoy our relationship with our Saviour Jesus Christ and yet there are so many in other parts of the world who have never been able to make that choice - because they have never heard.

Let us pray, as the Lord indeed instructed us to pray, that more workers would step up to the plate and go and tell the Gospel to the people in the neglected frontiers. OMF is praying for 900, other mission agencies are praying likewise for more workers. Let us join with them in this prayer and Go!

Blodwyn