Have we stopped being Matt 9:38 people?

Mark Fairfull

“Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

The number of people needing the lifegiving message of the gospel in Australia and the world is massive. Are we praying? Are we sending ourselves and others to be workers? Are we training them?

The gospel is so important and the need for it so urgent and the challenge of sharing it so great, that we need to train and equip workers to go out into the harvest field. One of the important missions left for us to meet the great commission is to raise up the next generation of gospel workers.

This edition of Moore Matters is dedicated to hearing different voices from a variety of contexts communicating this need, which is seemingly more urgent than ever. We must respond urgently—in prayer and finances and in other types of support.

Here at Moore we are preparing men and women to work in God’s harvest. As you will see from numerous testimonials, the full time face-to-face learning provided in our bachelor courses is crucial for preparing mature gospel workers. Moore Missions provide vital practical training and meet gospel needs in churches on our doorstep. Further afield, we hear from our Alumni who are church leaders around Australia and internationally and are crying out for more well-trained gospel workers to help teach and train others.

With millions in this country and billions globally who do not know Jesus as Lord and Saviour, and more still who need discipling, there is an urgent gospel ministry and mission need in Sydney and beyond. The scope of the need is clear, but how will we respond?

To use an inelegant phrase, it is a global business, and this means the needs are great and the number of workers needed to do the work is also large. But to be faithful and effective, they must be seriously prepared, in depth, for the task ahead. That is why our core business will always be to provide rigorous theological education and training that prepares men and women to meet the challenges of life-time gospel ministry.

Each year we hear about hundreds of ministry jobs and opportunities, both within Australia and globally. I recently received a letter from a reader of Moore Matters making me aware of the context and need in Italy. As we noted last year in Moore Matters, when celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, there is a real need for re-evangelisation across the whole continent of Europe.

Our graduates serve in gospel ministry all over the globe, but we need more people to be graduates to help meet the need. We cannot do this without your help.

Will you work with us to help meet these needs? Will you pray for our College and our graduates in ministry all over the world? Will you partner with us financially to provide quality theological education and training? Will you share the urgency of the need with others? Will you invite people to consider training at Moore—to be part of God’s answer to our greatest need? Will you commit to praying for and financially supporting them when they come to Moore to train for gospel ministry?

I will leave the last exhortation to a gospel worker of four decades:

The gospel of our salvation commits us to the salvation of others by the gospel. We cannot be like Jesus, and remain disinterested and inactive about the salvation of sinners. So, we are to lose our lives not only for Jesus but also for the gospel. This is the motivational shift in our lives that leads to a life-time of evangelism. (Phillip Jensen)