By REV. DR. JOHN HATCHER
Religion Columnist

The church has met her fiercest enemy and he is we. Because we are huddled in the barn. Safe and cozy. If a new face strays into our barn, that's okay. But to ask us in the barn to go into the field for the harvest, no way.

Jesus once made a striking observation: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38). Notice Jesus said “the harvest is plentiful.” If Jesus were Bill Gates, we would immediately know he was talking about the demand for personal computers. But Jesus Christ is no Bill Gates.

Jesus was talking about his business: the eternal souls of humankind. Millions of people are prime for a download of Jesus Christ into their lives But, there's a problem: workers to communicate “the way, the truth, and the life” are few in number. If you please, Jesus Christ programmers are very few. Great demand, but few to provide. Jesus gives us his solution. We who are comfy in the barn must pray that God himself would thrust us out of the barn into the ripe and ready harvest.

Back up: most Christians read this text as if Jesus were saying that the church needs to pray for additional workers. Not so! Jesus knows the workers are in the barn; we barnacles must pray that God would blow us out of the barn into the field.

The average American Christian church harbors 75 potential workers inside the barn. What do they do Sunday after Sunday after Sunday? Sit and eat and wait for some super pastor to come along and do their heavenly work for them. Some barns will wait decades for such. Sit and eat and wait. If he never shows up, the barn closes down. You see, since the mortality rate is 100 percent when last checked, the lazy-boyed Christians will eventually die.

Many folks believe the Christian church was born in the upper room (Acts 1:12). Not so! The Christian church was born when the huddled 120 people came out of the upper room barn into the streets of Jerusalem. A church that does not come out of the barn can't call itself a Christian church. Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not overpower it” (Matthew 16:18). A real church is the church militant, a church on the move unwilling to permit the gates of hell to stand in place. Therefore, our prayer should be that God would kick us out of the barn into the streets to pick the harvest.

It's a sad scene to see Georgia peach trees go wanting for someone to harvest the fruit. But that's the scene in America. Millions of ripe souls ready for the winning, but the church is all too comfortable in the barn. If you want to do something about it, start praying the prayer of Matthew 9:37-38. Amen!

The Rev. Dr. John Hatcher is pastor of River's Edge Community Church in Fayetteville.

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