HARVEST 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
Establishing self-sustaining Samaritan Strategy teams in new areas
Elly Oliveira
Harvest Global Field Coordinator
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28.19-20
Thank you for making 2019 a great year!
2019 was a fruitful year for Harvest. This would not have been possible without you – thank you for your participation. Our 86 workers in 26 countries helped to empower 1,825 local churches to take their role in God’s plan, strengthened as God’s principal choice for the advancement of His Kingdom.
Harvest trainings were invited by pastors who –like King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 6 and 7—acknowledged that the consequences of sin brought a broad range of social and economic tragedy to their communities. Their churches saw that disobedience kept people in dead spirituality, without flourishing and without reflecting God’s glory. The pastors wanted to do something about that situation. As God’s people repented and turned from disobedience to obedience to the Lord, He promised to heal their land, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7.14). As people obeyed, they grew in understanding of what meant to become like Christ, being transformed to the extent that their lives were brought under His lordship.
A call for action that yields results
With the calling to teach people to “obey everything” God commanded (Matthey 28.19), Harvest workers help to envision and equip the Church to reflect Jesus, the Chief Servant. Our strategy is to sow the seed of vision, to provide initial tools, to encourage and coach church leaders, and to multiply sowers and coaches. While discipling God’s people to disciple their nations, we use the term “wholistic ministry” to describe this love-in-action lifestyle of serving others. Altogether, Harvest trainings make the “Samaritan Strategy Program” (SamS). Each SamS project is divided in four phases: (1) network, (2) training, (3) coaching, and (4) commissioning, using step-by-step applications of biblical teachings called “disciplines of love” and “seed projects” to disciple people to grow like Jesus. In all phases, prayer, follow-up, regional, and strategic meetings are essential components. They enable both, trainers and participants, to listen to the Lord and submit to His direction in a long-term commitment of obedience to Him. A chart with the detailed statistics of SamS projects is at the end of this report.
Here are some examples of churches led by the principles of practiced obedience:
- In three cities of the Democratic Republic of Congo, they provided education for parents to prevent malaria and typhoid fever, sanitation projects in rural communities, evangelism-discipleship for new church planting projects, and income generating projects of animal rearing.
- In São Paulo, Brazil, in partnership with Intervarsity Fellowship, they launched a youth movement to use vocations in God’s Kingdom, integrating young professionals in the areas of information technology, advocacy to combat forced labor of immigrants from Bolivia and Venezuela, and an income generating project of cooking classes using refugee’s cuisine.
- In Malaysia, a medical doctor was impacted by the teachings, started to offer free consultations, and ended up becoming a Harvest associate, willing to help spread the same message that changed his life and his work.
- In South Rwanda, the participants organized small groups that did partnerships with the Anglican and Catholic Churches, the government, and local NGO’s. They provided health plans for forty-two families, scholarships for poor children, and housing for single mothers, elderly people, the mentally ill, drug addicts in rehabilitation, and a blind woman who lived in a graveyard. They identified a gang and bought clothes to the gang members, as a result, crimes stopped. They did an income generating project of farming, and trained cell group leaders in a church revival.
- In the south of Brazil, in partnership with YWAM, they planted twenty-eight fruit trees in an Indian reservation, each tree with a Bible verse attached to the trunk, which led to conversations of evangelism-discipleship with the Indians. As a result, there were eight conversions of Indians who have been discipled by a local church.
- In Dandora, Kenya, thirty-two leaders were commissioned in a training marked by unity among churches. They broke with ancient animistic beliefs of celebrating weddings by offering alcohol and blood sacrifices to demons and started to celebrate God-honoring weddings.
- In Trivandrum, India, the participants served in an emergency relief project in partnership with the Nazarene Church. After a flood, they collected donations and helped the victims with food and shelter.
With 372 trainers in our network, the ministry expanded, and the chart below shows the breakdown of our global activities.
On October 11, God’s provision was celebrated in a “Friend Raising” event at Camelback Bible Church. With over ninety participants, we thanked the Lord for generous pledges for Harvest’s Samaritan Strategy Program. As of this date, the pledges made were $100,920 for the next year of the program. Of this amount, we have received $93,170.
We’re excited about what the new year will bring
In the Great Commission, Jesus told His disciples to disciple nations, baptize them, and teach them to follow all His commands. The church was being sent out to train and transform entire cultures. When churches grow according to Kingdom principles, their members are committed to live under the reign of their Savior, to represent His reign in every domain of their personal, family, and community lives. When churches grow like this, the society will be transformed. It is not a matter of numbers, but of obedience. When God’s will is done, He uses the church that abandons dead spirituality, makes it flourish and display His glory.
In most places where we teach, the Spirit has already begun to open the eyes of the church to God’s plans. He has already created in pastors and leaders a genuine hunger for Kingdom answers to the brokenness of their societies. May God help the Church today to obey Him in their immediate context and beyond. May 2020 be a year when God will renew our passion to love and obey Him.
We invite you to participate
Praise God with us for the fruitful work in 2019 and the renewed vision for 2020. Click on the picture below to learn more about SamS projects and their potential to grow. On average, a SamS project costs $4,700 but you can help with any amount. As you fund SamS projects and the workers who lead them, your investment will help local churches around the world take their role in God’s plan, flourish, and reflect His glory. You can write a check to «Harvest» and mail it to P. O. Box 2670 – Phoenix, AZ – 85002, or click on the «Donate» button on this page for a credit card donation. We invite you to visit our website at www.harvestfoundation.org to learn more.
“This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves,
others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ,
and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.”
2 Corinthians 9.12-13
Thank you!
We are grateful to the Harvest global staff and to the participants in the SamS projects around the globe. Their servant spirit and collaboration blessed many people. We thank the donors who so generously contributed to this project, without their participation we would not be able to go that far. We praise the Lord for His provision, guidance, and protection, and pray that SamS projects may be multiplied in many places for His glory.
Field Strategic Leadership:
- Harvest President and Founder: Bob Moffitt
- Global Field Coordinator: Elly Oliveira
- Global Communications Coordinator: Steven Johnson
- Harvest Bookkeeper: Jacki Luethmers
- Field Advisers: Kristina Avanesyan (Armenia), Ramiro Carbajal (Honduras), Linda Morris (USA), Jacob Ndabaramiye (Rwanda), Prakash Nemade (India), Diógenes Nascimento de Jesus (Brazil)
Click on the picture below to learn more about SamS projects and their potential to grow. 