by The Rev'd Canon Bill Krizner, Canon for Missions & Evangelism
As many times as I have read Matthew 9, I am still left wondering “why?”
Why are the laborers so few? Knowing Christ’s compassion for the crowds, why has the Church so often failed to respond to this call by praying and acting? Why has the harvest grown so greatly in our very own city and the number of laborers decreased?
In short, self-absorption…we can become so preoccupied with our own interests, situation, and desires that we lose sight of our primary call as Christians – namely, loving God and then our neighbors with all our hearts, minds, and souls.
We find ourselves in a new season of ministry at St. Peter’s Cathedral. It is a time when the Holy Spirit is breaking hearts and opening eyes for those who have yet to call Jesus Christ both Lord and Savior. We have been working diligently to build a far greater capacity for ALL our parishioners to give of their time, talents, and treasures to work in many critical areas of ministry – upholding the sanctity of life, ending human-trafficking, international partnerships, school campus outreach, under-resourced outreach, and prison outreach. We have changed our approach from simply “doing good things” to expressly sharing the saving name of Jesus Christ as we go about Kingdom work. We are identifying and building up the laity and trusting them– trusting YOU to use your God-given talents to envision and lead this Gospel-centered work. In short, we are growing hungrier to be a Gospel proclaiming church that genuinely reflects the call of the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations.
You see, a spirit of missions and evangelism is the very heart of Christianity, and it can only be effective as a result of each and every one of us partnering to help the advancement of the Gospel. Giving faithfully for such purposes is, quite simply stated, Biblical stewardship. As the “Pac Man” graph in this year’s stewardship booklet so vulnerably reveals, we have a long way to go in directing more of our resources to the advancement of the Gospel. However, we believe that, through both faithful prayer and faithful giving, St. Peter’s will continue becoming a church that is truly centered in the proclamation that Jesus Christ came to save all people from the bondage of sin, as it shares this Good News with the world outside the walls of the Cathedral.
The harvest is truly plentiful, friends…Won’t you join Christ, and St. Peter’s, in the fields?