For Field Personnel

Stages of the Harvest

Adapted by a Bible study by Bill Cashion

When we think of the worldwide “harvest of souls,” most people think of numbers of people choosing to follow Christ. In fact, people being born into the Kingdom of God is called “reaping,” by Jesus in John 4:36-37. Reaping is definitely part of the harvest, but only one part. The other parts are sowing, planting, and watering (see John 4:36 - 37 and I Cor. 3:4-7).

Reaping occurs after the other three stages and it wouldn’t happen at all without the other stages. Sometimes student missionaries incorrectly believe they have not done anything eternal if they did not lead someone to Christ - the reaping part - while they were on mission. Below is an encouraging true story that happened last month that describes how all parts of the harvest are critical to God’s plan.

Let’s look more closely at the stages of the harvest.

Sowing = an indiscriminate broadcast of the message
When I plant grass seed each spring, I sow the seed in my yard by broadcasting it all over the lawn.

Write below some mission project activities that focus on sowing – an indiscriminate broadcast of the gospel? For ideas, go to www.thetask.org/students/projects.

Planting = an intentional and focused distribution of the message
When a farmer plants green beans, a hole is dug in a straight row for each seed, the seed is planted, and then covered with soil. This is intentional planting in a specific place in the ground.

What are some instances in your life when you have been involved in planting seeds of the gospel?

Watering = action aimed at the growth and development of the seed

How can you water seeds of the gospel in a non-believer’s life?

Reaping = the gathering of the fruit when it is ready to be picked

Describe a situation in which you or someone you know has been part of the reaping stage of the harvest.

Some of our missionaries have suggested one more phase to the harvest: plowing. One person in a security-sensitive Asian country said, “You don’t come here to plant seeds, or even to water. You come here to dig rocks out of the soil.”

Each time you encounter a non-believer, you are part of the harvest that God is doing in that person’s life. As Shawn Shannon, one of my campus ministers during college, said to me, “Your influence is always positive or negative, never neutral.” Ask God to help you identify what stage of the harvest your non-believing friends are in so you know how to share the gospel message with them.

List below the names of some non-Christians you know. Ask the Lord to give you insight into the stage of the harvest each person is in and then write the stages beside the appropriate name.

Now pray for each person on your list and ask the Lord two things: (1) to give you wisdom and understanding about how to share the gospel with that person in that stage; and (2) to bring someone else into that person’s life (if it’s not you) to lead the person to the next stage and, eventually, to the reaping stage.

Be encouraged that your part in the harvest is crucial. You may never lead someone to Christ, but if you are faithful to share, that’s all God asks of you.

For example, if you want to grow tomatoes, but never plant the seeds, will you ever reap tomatoes? If you plant the seeds and go on vacation and your roommate forgets to water the plant, will you ever reap tomatoes? If the tomatoes are planted and watered and ready to pick, but you have papers to write and tests to study for, so you never pick them, what happens? They rot and fall into the dirt or die on the vine. Reaping never happens without the other stages coming first. But someone has to reap the fruit for it to stay healthy and good for the future, even if it’s not you, the one who planted the seed.

Next month we will look at what Jesus calls a harvest field in comparison to our typical view of the harvest.