“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:37,38).

Looking for a New Year’s resolution? I’ve got one for you: Tell people about Jesus. Yes, you! Not your church, not your pastor. You.

“Why me? Isn’t that why we have called workers and evangelism committees? Isn’t that their job?” Sure, it’s their job. But it’s also your job. Because “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”

Jesus spoke those famous words because so many people needed to hear about him, but so few were telling them. It was Jesus and 12 disciples, just 13 in all, trying to share the gospel with about 500,000 people in Israel. Each of those 13 men had to tell about 38,460 people about the Savior. The harvest was plentiful, but the workers were few.

Today, the harvest is even more plentiful. Right now, the world’s population is more than eight billion people. That’s a huge number! Imagine trying to count all eight billion people. If you could count one person per second for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no breaks for eating or sleeping, it would take you more than 31 years to count to . . . one billion. To count more than eight billion people would take you more than 250 years of nonstop counting.

That’s a huge harvest of souls! So let’s factor out the 2.6 billion who claim to be Christian. That leaves only 5.4 billion people who don’t confess Jesus as their Savior. If every called worker in the synod evenly shares the work, each of those called workers has to tell about one million people about Jesus. Do you see the challenge here? “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”

Thankfully, Jesus helps us overcome this challenge: “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Put the problem in God’s hands. Ask God for more workers. Pray continually for more workers.

But then look around. The answer to your prayers is closer than you think. Jesus told his disciples to pray for more workers. Then, in the very next verses, “Jesus called his twelve disciples to him . . . these twelve Jesus sent out” (Matthew 10:1-5). Jesus made his disciples the workers they just asked for. He made them the answer to their prayers.

Do you see? The answer to your prayers for more workers is closer than you think. The answer is you. You can tell people about Jesus. You can be a worker in God’s harvest field. You can be the answer to your prayers.

You don’t have to be a called worker or part of an evangelism committee. Just be an everyday missionary. Shine the love of Christ into the lives of others. Inject the message of Jesus into everyday conversation. Make it your mission to bring Jesus to everyone in your life.

Here’s your New Year’s resolution: Join the team of workers in God’s harvest field. Be the answer to our prayers. Tell people about Jesus.

Welcome to the team.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, send out more workers into your harvest field. But don’t just send others. Send me. Amen.

Author: Evan Chartrand
Volume 113, Number 1
Issue: January 2026