On a recent fishing trip to Lough Derg I would have loved to have experienced our boats almost sinking with fish. Over three days of appalling wind and rain our four little boats didn’t land very many fish. My 5lb pike was the only fish I caught and some 17lbs behind the winner, but together we celebrated the winning catch. The trip was deemed a success because as a team we caught ‘a beauty’.
Verses 6 and 7 emphasise the enormous benefit of partnership in evangelism. Becoming a fisher of men was never intended to be a solo activity for a number of reasons:
Encouragement: Not every fishing trip has a happy ending. The same can be said of evangelism; the team can help each other, spur one another on and encourage us to keep going (Hebrews 10:24). I became a Christian after attending a week long outreach in Albertbridge Congregational Church. Roger Carswell was the preacher that Wednesday evening. Ten years later, when I contacted Roger to tell him the news (I know it was a bit late), he told me that they were unaware that anyone had come to faith the whole week. He was so encouraged at the report and thanked me for ‘making his day’.
A companion in evangelism is necessary because of our tendency towards self deception, sometimes only another can see that we are heading south when we sincerely believe that the road we are on leads north!
A Kingdom approach to outreach. There is something very encouraging when Churches work together on the lake. While we may well have enjoyed singing ‘You in Your Small Corner and I in Mine’ as a child there is no Christian mandate for this practice. We need a model which provides shared resources, shared energy and more boats on the lake; not competing but supporting. It is thoroughly right and Biblical to work together in outreach.
Imagine: Churches working together with nets breaking and boats almost sinking due to the number of fish. That’s a dream I have for Ireland… maybe you can help me make that a reality?
