Workers for the Harvest

In Matthew 9, Jesus is looking out through eyes of compassion at a crowd of people “harassed and helpless” like “sheep without a shepherd”. And – as if with tangible grief in his voice – describes a painful reality: “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few”. It’s both an indictment and an invitation. 

Here at St Basil’s we are determined to take up Jesus’ invitation: to be a church of many workers. We don’t want an over-active core group of people working at an unsustainable pace to outwork the vision of the church, and yet have a huge fringe of consumers or a mass of people who’ve discounted themselves. We’re determined to change the tide, break the mould and draw as many as possible into the life and mission of the church as possible.

One Body Many Parts

In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul describes the church as the body of Christ: one body but with many, different parts. We want everyone – in all our differences and distinctiveness – to know we are significant to the story of St Basil’s unfolding in Devon: that our “ear-ness”, “nose-ness” or “eye-ness” is much-needed if we are to seek the renewal of the region.

So the message is simple: don’t stand on the sidelines, don’t discount yourself but instead jump in and play your part as we follow the way of Jesus, together, for the renewal of the region.