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“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.” — Mathew 9:37-38
We exist to worship God. That is our "chief end," the goal of our lives and the purpose of our church. To accomplish this, God has given His Church a mission, which He summarizes in Matthew chapter 28:
"And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'"
One way Delta Oaks engages in this mission is through prayer for and support of overseas missions through the Foreign Missions Committee (FMC) of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. This standing committee is entrusted with overseeing foreign mission works on a denominational level.
At this year's OPC General Assembly, the FMC presented their report on the current state of foreign missions in our church. You can more read about their report here.
In short, we are in a difficult season for foreign missions.
There are many reasons to celebrate and thank God for the work that is happening in our mission fields, but those fields are significantly understaffed. Specifically, there is a deep need for qualified ministers to serve as evangelists who can lead worship, plant churches, and train up indigenous ministers and church leaders. This need is especially acute now, as many of our long-time evangelists are retiring or moving on to other calls, yet no new evangelists have been identified to replace them.
In light of this report, the General Assembly passed the following motion:
“The 90th General Assembly determines to call for a day of prayer and fasting on Saturday, August 17, 2024, that the whole church may pray as one people, and call upon the Lord with one voice, that we might lament our distress and unworthiness before the Lord, confess our sin, and commit ourselves anew to the work of the Great Commission in the faithful service of the Lord our God; that we would humble ourselves, seeking the Lord’s guidance and provision for the spreading of His kingdom to the ends of the earth; that we humbly implore God to raise up missionary evangelists for our foreign fields.”
This may seem a little strange. Fasting is not nearly as common in our day as it has been among God's people throughout history. And if we do fast, aren't we supposed to be, well, kinda secretive about it, so that we won't be hypocrites who only want attention (see Matthew 6:16–18)? Why, then, is the church publicly calling for a fast? And why should I participate in it?
Essentially, fasting is the forgoing of food for a period of time in order to focus on prayer. Sometimes we call other similar acts of abstinence a "fast" (see possibly 1 Corinthians 7:5), but in the Bible fasts are typically dietary and for an entire day, if not longer. Here are just a few of examples:
From these examples, we can see that fasting is something we ought to do at times that call for deep repentance and great dependence upon the Lord. It is a temporary affliction, and in it we are asking God to focus our minds and sharpen our prayers. This is something an individual can do, but it is also right for a church, as God's people, to corporately enter into a time of fasting and prayer.
The work of foreign missions is not simply a "bonus" work of the church; it is a fundamental part of our mission. It is difficult to say exactly why there are not enough evangelists in the field at this time. What is not difficult is to recognize that we are, in ourselves, inadequate and helpless in this task. And that's why Jesus tells us,
"...pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest."
Through prayer and fasting, we are asking God to act. We don't know what the future of OPC foreign missions will look like. And yet, we are confident that God answers earnest prayer in the best way — in His way.
In light of these things, we invite you to join us and others across our denomination as we call upon the Lord on Saturday, August 17, asking Him to humble us, to forgive our sins, to strengthen us in our weaknesses, and to raise up men to disciple the nations in the fields in which the Lord has placed us.
Ben Ciavolella, Pastor
"General Assembly Calls for a Day of Fasting and Prayer" by Everett Henes
"What Is Fasting?" by Zachary Simmons
"What We Mean When We Talk About Fasting" by Leslie Wicke
"Fasting and the Pursuit of God" by Harrison Perkins
"Give Yourself to Fasting and Prayer" by Abraham Kuyper
