INFORMATION FOR HOSTING
THE
“A HEART FOR THE HARVEST” PROGRAM
Your
role in organizing, promoting, and facilitating the Harvest Program is vital.
Though many will not recognize the key service you provide, it will make
an enormous difference in the benefit of the program.
One minister who hosted the program said, “This is the kind of thing
that really needs to be built up for six weeks or so before it happens.”
I think he was right. What
follows are some suggestions about the ideal way of preparing for the Harvest
Program. I realize you may not be
able to do it all and that there could be circumstances about your congregation
that would nullify some of what follows. I
am flexible about how we proceed, so don’t hesitate to ask about anything you
wonder about. If any of what follows
should seem patronizing or too obvious, please forgive me. Please feel free to
contact me anytime. I will be praying for you in your preparations.
1.
Prayer.
The key to there being more workers for the harvest is for the Lord
of the Harvest Himself to be the one to send them out.
It would be a shame to develop an entire program based on Matt. 9:35-38
and neglect the specific thing Jesus told us to do in order for there to be more
workers, namely to pray for them. I
believe God can and will work through the Harvest Program, but not unless we ask
Him to (see also page 141 of the manual). I am asking you to do whatever you believe best to involve as many
members as possible in meaningful prayer concerning this opportunity.
When I conducted the program in my home congregation, I shared a
brief message with our elders concerning the importance of prayer and then asked
them what they believed we could do to get the congregation meaningfully
involved in praying. They suggested
we get a list of specific items to pray about and then have each one of us
shoulder-tap five people individually and ask them to pray (and perhaps even ask
them to ask five others as well). That
is one idea, but however you want to get people involved in praying God’s
blessings on our work together is fine. I
have enclosed a separate sheet of specific items to pray for that you might want
to use.
2. Purpose of Seminar Lessons and How they Fit Together.
a. “Getting Our Bearings” is the introduction to the program. It is desirable for as many people as possible to hear this, especially those who are seeking motivation for evangelism, because the approach of the Harvest program is considerably different from what people are used to. In this lesson I explain my basic approach, which is to help people hear the gospel again in a clearer, deeper and more personal way, hoping that this will help them be open to getting involved in evangelism. (See Acts 4:20 and II Cor. 5:14-15 for a biblical rationale for this approach.) It will not be until the very last session that I talk directly about evangelism again. In that session, based on their re-hearing the gospel, I will ask them to consider working through the follow-up Reflections as a means of God giving them more internal motivation to be involved in evangelism. This first lesson is a thematic presentation based largely on Acts 4:20.
b. “Rediscovering the Gospel” is the most academic of all the lessons, and it is aimed at the mind. Its purpose is to help people clarify the basic gospel message. There is a lot of material to cover, and some of it may be new to some. If we can allot two forty-five minute sessions to this, there will be time for question and answer. This is a thematic lesson based on the evangelistic sermons in Acts and various references to the gospel throughout the New Testament.
c. “A Disturbing Truth” is designed to help us face the disturbing truth that we are sinners and stand in desperate need of God’s mercy. People will be much more open to hearing the good news in the next session if they have first really heard the bad news about sin. This is an exposition of Rom. 1:18-3:20 in overview fashion.
d. “Profound Disclosure” is a retelling of the central gospel message about the death and resurrection of Jesus. In contrast to “Rediscovering the Gospel,” this message is directed to the heart. Notice that this session and the previous two (b., c., & d.) do not talk directly about evangelism and are appropriate for anyone to hear, even non-Christian guests who may be present. This is a thematic presentation of the core gospel message based on the sermons in Acts and the story of Jesus in the Gospels, with allusions to Isaiah 53.
e. “What the World Really Needs,” according to Jesus, is workers who will help people find God (Matt. 9:35-38). I am hoping that members will have been touched by the gospel at this point, and, consequently, be more open to getting involved in helping others know the gospel. The primary action step I ask them to take is to begin working through the Reflections and thus giving God opportunities to create additional motivation inside them to begin reaching out in some way. Though I believe people will benefit from however much of the seminar they attend, it is vital for those who want to gain a heart for the harvest to be at this “punch-line” session. The lesson is an exposition and application of Matt. 9:35-38.
3. Schedule of Sessions. It is essential to do “A Disturbing Truth” before “Profound Disclosure,” and to do “What the World Really Needs” last of all. That means the ideal schedule for these sessions is to do “A Disturbing Truth” during a combined Sunday morning class, “Profound Disclosure” for the morning sermon, and “What the World Really Needs” for the evening sermon. As for the other two lessons, my preference is to have a Saturday meeting to do the introductory lesson (“Getting Our Bearings”) and the more academic session (“Rediscovering the Gospel”), and spend some time in prayer as well. A potluck could be added to this, too, to help break the ice and give people more incentive for coming.
If possible, I need these amounts of times for the actual speaking part of each session: Getting Our Bearings (45 mins.), Rediscovering the Gospel (two 45 minute sessions, which allows for some Q & A), A Disturbing Truth (45 mins.), Profound Disclosure (30-35 mins), and What the World Really Needs (40-45 mins.)
4. Key points to communicate to the congregation.
a.
The Harvest program is a unique approach.
It is not a “how to” program but a “want to” program.
It grows out of my belief that a lack of motivation explains more of our
dearth of evangelism than a lack of know-how.
The program is not going to push you into evangelism; it is going to
provide a structure and opportunity for you to increase your desire to be
involved in reaching out.
b.
There are four parts to the program: prayer, the seminar, working
individually on the follow-up reflections, and participating in some form of
discussion of the Reflections. One
may benefit from participating in any amount of the program, but the maximum benefit will be derived from getting a manual and
participating in all four parts.
c. Information about how they can participate in each of the four parts of the program (prayer, the seminar, the Reflections, and the discussion groups) and about the purpose and use of the manuals (see below).
5. Discussion Groups. These are a helpful part of the Harvest Program because they give people an opportunity to share and process what they are experiencing in the Reflections (see p. 140 of the manual). Members sharing their thoughts may lead to some synergism as well. Unless you already have small groups in place that could be used as follow-up discussion groups on the Reflections, you will need to plan a way to offer groups for those who are interested. When we did the seminar at my home congregation, we tried to estimate the number who would participate and prepared the number of groups and leaders that would meet the need. You may want to have some sort of sign up sheet available at the seminar for those who would like to be in a group.
If you have experienced discussion group leaders available or if you can train some people yourself, that is great. If not, I can help provide some training. I can send you some information sheets that you could use to help prepare group leaders or we could arrange for me to arrive early enough to do a short training session on Friday night or Saturday. This would consist of asking the group leaders to work through the first few follow-up Reflections in the manual before I arrive, having me lead a “practice” group discussion with them, and then processing it afterward.
6.
Manuals. Ideally, we want to get a manual in the hands of each member
(not couple) who will be at the seminar, with hopes that the seminar will
motivate them to work through the follow-up Reflections.
After all, the purpose of the program is to be a tool that God can use to
raise up workers for His harvest and the Reflections in the manual are the key
way this program gives God an opportunity to work on our hearts.
I will need to get a $10 donation for each manual, all of which will go
back into the Harvest program (producing more manuals, administrative costs,
etc.). I realize the $10 could be a
deterrent to some, but it may also help some people value the manual more highly
and make them more likely to use it. Most
congregations ask each member to donate the $10 for their manual but also tell
members to take one even if they cannot afford it.
They then have the church cover the difference that was not donated. If
you have not already done so, try to make a slightly optimistic estimate of how
many manuals might be needed so I can ship those to you in advance.
(After the seminar, I will gladly take back any that are not used.)
Doing this enables people to see them and get a better feel for what they
are investing their money in. It
also cuts down on the confusion the day of the seminar.
Members who get their manuals in advance could be encouraged to read the
preface and the articles on prayer and groups.
Another
detail to work out about the manuals is whether you want to make some copies of
the seminar outlines for people who will be there on Sunday but don’t want to
get a manual (see pages 17-35). I
will refer to the manuals quite a bit during all sessions except the Sunday
morning sermon. People may feel left
out in some of these situations if they don’t get a manual, and I’d like to
avoid them feeling that way if possible. If
you decide you want to make some copies of some of the outlines for people who
don’t get manuals, I can send you some white originals to use, which will copy
better than the colored pages in the manual.
7. Worship. I am sending some suggestions for co-ordinating songs, Scripture readings and other parts of worship with what I will be doing in the messages. Doing so adds considerably to the impact of the messages. I can even talk to whoever will be in charge of worship if you wish. If you want to do something in advance of the seminar, you might consider selecting a song or two to sing fairly regularly in your assemblies to help plant in people’s hearts some ideas related to the seminar. One great choice is “People Need the Lord” (660 if you have a copy of Songs of Faith and Praise). “Freely, Freely” is pretty good too. There are some other good songs about evangelism as well. If you sing these a bunch of times before the seminar, they will have added impact at the seminar.
8. Information about the congregation. I would like to get a feel for what the church there is like (size and attendance, spirituality, openness/dullness, goals or priorities, history, age of people, kinds of jobs, where they are with evangelism, etc.) before I come. It will help me communicate better. I would be happy to tie into or reinforce any specific goals that you or the congregation has, if possible, within the scope of the seminar. Let me know. Also, if there are any unusual “no-nos” or “sacred cows” or whatever, please make me aware.
9. Setup. I prefer a clip-on, cordless mike for all sessions, if one is available. During the two Sunday sermons, I prefer to be able to stand out in front of the pulpit closer to the people, if possible. For the Saturday sessions a “seminar” feel and setup is great. I need a lectern I can set my manual and Bible on, and tables for the people are helpful (there’s more writing in the Saturday sessions). I need an index card for each person who will attend the Rediscovering the Gospel session. I can work with other setups, of course, but I wanted you to know what I feel most comfortable with, if it is possible.
10. Follow-up. The enthusiasm of the seminar will quickly pass, but the Reflections are a way of continuing the influence of the weekend for some months. People will likely need to be reminded and exhorted to persevere in working through the Reflections. You may want to check in with the group leaders periodically as well, to see how things are going and if any special attention is needed. There may be some merit in offering some adult class curriculum and/or an outreach event a few months after the Harvest Program. I would be happy to discuss this sort of thing further while I am there. I would appreciate hearing from you a few months after the seminar to get your long-term assessment of the program.