God raises up workers for the harvest. This is Jesus’ promise from Matthew 9:37–38: Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Knowing the Lord of the harvest is sending out laborers into his harvest means that local churches need to be prayerfully identifying and training those workers he’s raising up. At Oak Park one of the ways we do this is with our Pastors in Training program. These invitation-only cohort groups meet over a year for various forms of intentional discipleship training all in an effort to see God raise up more lay and vocational elders for the church—whether Oak Park or other churches around the world.
For those who may be interested in this simple yet profound program, here’s the syllabus. We’re excited to see what the Lord of the harvest does over the next year to raise up workers!