2013 declared Year of great harvest at HCI

Reverend Fitzgerald Odonkor, Head Pastor of Harvest Chapel International (HCI) on Tuesday tagged “2013 Year of our Great Harvest.”

In a New Year message during a watch night special, Rev Odonkor said souls are perishing and the Christian Church cannot sit aloft but have to move to the field to win souls for Christ.

“Say not ye there are yet four months and then cometh the harvest? Behold I say to you Lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest

“And he that reapeth, receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal that both he that reapeth and he that soweth may rejoice together (John 4 35-36),” he quoted to support the declaration.

Preaching to an enthusiastic congregation who prayed, sang and danced to the glory of God, Rev Odonkor thanked God for bringing the church to another year.

“2012 was eventful in several ways as we sought God’s approval in our lives as a church as individuals and as families. It was very eventful for us as a nation as we transitioned to a new government and we have every reason to be grateful to God for sustaining us through all the events and challenges of this past year Our Service Is A Gift To God’’.

He said as a church, “Our belief is that God wants us to emphasize the building of his Kingdom in the year 2013 and this will be done by firstly reaching out as never before with the gospel of the Kingdom to new locations and new lands and new tribes/peoples.

“It is also a year in which we must build and equip labourers for the master’s work”.

He said this year the church’s emphasis must “shift from what the church can do for us to what it will cost us to serve the Lord. We can only take advantage of the numerous ministry opportunities God presents to us if we are prepared for them.

“We are trusting God to undertake massive training of laymen and women in the church for the work of evangelism across different classes and age groups and languages.

“We must remember that we have been called to bear abiding fruit (John 15 v16), the church has been called to be the light and the salt of the earth and this means our presence must be a catalyst of change”.

He said: “We also believe that this year we must mobilize resources both financial and material for the specific purpose of preaching the gospel of the Kingdom.

“It is only when our focus begins to shift and our resources are also aligned in the direction of this shift in focus from ourselves to the preaching of God’s Word that the wheels of the gospel will begin to roll again.

“This will be because they will see a return to eternal values in our attitude and our actions. Let us remember that the children of this world seek to be clothed and to be blessed materially too but what will cut us out this year and in the years to come is our desire and commitment to seek the Kingdom of God first and all that this entails”.

Rev Odonkor said “It is for these reasons that, Harvest Chapel’s battle cry and clarion call for 2013 is “Our year of great harvest”.

“We certainly are not satisfied with the flashes here and there and the intermittent showers. We want the grass to be watered, we want the ground to be soaked, we want to take the nations for our God.

“To do this we must lift up our eyes and develop a personal vision for the harvest; we must look to the fields where the needs are and then we must take out the sickle and go into the harvest without delay.

“May the Lord stir up your hearts with this vision and place on you a burden for souls which will be a consuming passion for you and me.”