by Andy Johnson

Prayer Coordinator and Worker Care Director

For people who follow Jesus and take His words seriously, life is full of paradoxes. Least become greatest. Weakness shows off strength. Lost lives are actually found lives. The poor and those who mourn are blessed. Crosses lead to life. Our sovereign God gives us free choice and tasks to accomplish.

Here at MRN, we spend a lot of time talking about “holding the tension between the poles.” We try to recognize and embrace these seeming contradictions as we work toward our vision of seeing all people groups reached with the good news about Jesus.

A particularly challenging area for us is in the recruiting…or calling…or mobilizing of new workers for the field. As we kick off 2023 with freshly minted goals about helping new workers launch into the MedRim or Bengal Initiatives, we wrestle with our role.

• Does God call new workers?

• Do potential workers have a role to play in this?

• Do churches have a role in calling and empowering workers to go?

• Does MRN (along with other missional orgs) have a role to play?

The answer to all four questions is Yes!

In this wrestling, I came across a quote by Pastor John Onwuchekwa: Prayer is the link in the chain that connects God’s sovereignty to our responsibility. I’m calling you today to live into your responsibility under God’s sovereignty and obey Jesus’ command from Luke 10.2.

The harvest is bigger than you can imagine, but there are few workers. Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers for his harvest.

Please pray with me today and throughout the rest of January that God will:

• Call more workers into the harvest, particularly in the MedRim and Bengal Initiatives;

• Prepare the hearts of Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists to discover Jesus;

• Inspire churches to make the sacrifices necessary to send more workers in 2023;

• And give us what we need at MRN to be faithful to the roles we get to play in the lives of workers who are called to go and churches who are called to send.

Peace, friend.

Andy

Are you interested in sharing Jesus with unreached people of the world? Or do you know someone who you think God is calling?

We can help!

Email start_the_journey@mrnet.org to talk about it.