Now it came to pass that a group existed who called themselves fishermen. And lo, there were many fish in the waters all around. In fact, the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes filled with fish. And the fish were hungry.
Week after week, month after month, and year after year, these, who called themselves fishermen, met in meetings and talked about their call to fish, the abundance of fish, and how they might go about fishing. Year after year they carefully defined fishing as an occupation and declared that fishing is always to be a primary task of fishermen.
Large, elaborate and expensive training centres were built, whose original and primary purpose was to teach fishermen how to fish. Over the years courses were offered on the needs of fish, the nature of fish, where to find fish, the psychological reactions of fish, and how to approach and feed fish. Those who taught had doctorates in fishology. But the teachers did not fish. They only taught fishing.
Imagine how hurt some were when one day a person suggested that those who don’t catch fish were really not fishermen, no matter how much they claimed to be.
. . . Is a person a fisherman if year after year he never catches a fish? (Australasian Record, September 15, 1984).
This excerpt was printed in the year 1984 as a challenge to churchgoers. Between 1980 and 1984, Seventh-day Adventists worldwide were issued with the challenge to be fishers of men, rather than merely talking about mission and ministry; to look at the fields and see that they are “ripe for the harvest”. This worldwide initiative was called the One Thousand Days of Reaping.
The One Thousand Days of Reaping was a soul-winning mission that prioritised evangelism in all forms and at all levels, starting on September 18, 1982 and continuing until June 15, 1985. The objective of the One Thousand Days of Reaping was for the world church to win 1000 souls per day for 1000 days (Record, April 26, 1982).
Recommendations made to each conference and mission around the world included engaging in daily intercessory prayer, setting aside days of fasting and prayer, leading by example in evangelism, prioritising evangelism in budgeting and promoting evangelism in all departmental activities and planning (Record, January 21, 1984).
One group in particular that reported a special blessing for their ministry was a group of young people from Liangai Village on the island of Vella Lavella in the Western Solomons. These young people toured the whole island to witness through preaching, testimony and song. At one village they visited, the chief was very interested in their ministry and invited them to run Bible studies. The local minister in the village had a “discussion” with the Adventist minister accompanying the group, informing them that the Bible studies had to stop. The chief, however, stood up for these missionaries and said, “As long as life lasts, we will not stop studying God’s Book!” (Record, December 22, 1984)
The reports on the effectiveness of the One Thousand Days of Reaping initiative revealed that 1,171,390 people were baptised into the Church during the 1000-day period, exceeding the one million goal by about 17 per cent (Australasian Record Supplement, July 13, 1985). The period from 1980 to 1984 saw the most productive and successful evangelistic outreach period in the history of the Church. Nothing in previous years had galvanised the Church to action more than this challenge. Through God’s guidance and blessing, the Church surpassed the goal (Australasian Record Supplement, July 6, 1985).
The year 1984 marked one of the greatest spiritual revivals of the Adventist Church, seeing our Church become one of the fastest-growing Christian denominations (Australasian Record Supplement, July 13, 1985). The number of “fish” caught was truly miraculous—only made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit.
It must be mentioned, however, that though millions were brought into our Church, not all these people remained, and a big part of evangelism now is learning how to integrate these new fish into streams of community. Next year marks Harvest 2025, another worldwide church initiative to promote evangelism in all levels of the Church. It’s time for us all to pull our rods out, so to speak, and get fishing!
Olivia Fairfax is an assistant editor at Adventist Record.
