Thursday, January 21, 2010

The harvest is plenty but the laborers are few

There is one thing that has been occupying my mind for a while. I wonder how the work in Europe can ever be finished. In Belgium, there are less then 1700 Adventists, with a population of about 10 million. This means that there is less then 1 Adventist on 6000 inhabitants!

Every morning, I take the metro to go to work. It takes me about 20 minutes from my home to my office, and I usually listen to spiritual music until I enter the premises of my workplace; in order to uplift my mind heavenward, and also to override the rock- und popmusic they usually play in the metro stations. One of my favorite songs is "People need the Lord":

Everyday they pass me by,
I can see it in their eyes.
Empty people filled with care,
Headed who knows where?

On they go through private pain,
Living fear to fear.
Laughter hides their silent cries,
Only Jesus hears.

People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door.
People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
When will we realize, people need the Lord?

We are called to take His light
To a world where wrong seems right.
What could be too great a cost
For sharing Life with one who's lost?

Through His love our hearts can feel
All the grief they bear.
They must hear the Words of Life
Only we can share.

People need the Lord, people need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door.
People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
When will we realize that we must give our lives,
For people need the Lord.


There are so many different people I observe in the metro everyday. People who for some reason or another came to this cosmopolitan city. They are white, black, yellow; they are Europeans, Africans, Americans, Sintis, Romas; quite a few are wealthy, many are part of the (upper) middle-class, and a considerable number of them is rather poor, or at least struggling with finances. Some look happy, some look neutral, some look sad. Interestingly, I just learned about a new study which has found that removing just the tears out of pictures of people crying reduces the sadness that viewers perceive in the photos, even though the rest of the expression remains intact. So how much pain is behind those "neutral faces"? Most of these people definitely don't know Jesus as their personal Saviour. They don't know that the Lord has something better in store for mankind than this world has to offer.

But who is going to tell them?

At the moment, I feel somehow paralyzed to share the Good News even in my own personal sphere of influence. How can I reach my colleagues? How can I establish trusting relationships with them? And if, by God's grace, I can win one of these precious souls, it would be just a drop in the bucket. Would it? Of course, even one single soul is very valuable in God's eyes. But there is still so much work to be done. However, the Lord is still in charge!

At the GYC convention, I was able to talk to one of the speakers of Amazing Facts who lives with his family at Uchee Pines. They have been doing evangelistic campaigns in Hungary, and they would be very open to come to Belgium as well. Of course in Europe it's crucial to combine such efforts with medical missionary work. So we would have to start off by giving a health seminar which would lead straight into a evangelistic series. Thus, we could even cover two language groups, as this would have to be interpreted from English into French. Some of my friends from Uchee would be eager to come and help with this. So, Lord willing, this could be one more step towards conquering Europe...



This is a group picture with my unit

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thank you for making such an inspiring blog. I always appreciate reading all your ministerial reports from
Brussels.Additionally your blog provides me many "prayer requests" for my personal prayer. I am grateful to God for the burden that He has placed in your heart for the perishing souls; He will multiply your strength and ardor more and more as days progress, as you continue to work for Him.