Harvest Field and Harvest Force

Missionary Field researchers strive to provide strategic information regarding two domains: the Harvest Field and the Harvest Force. Harvest Field refers to the target culture and people group. This is the context of ministry. Harvest Force refers to the Church and specifically Christian workers and leaders. It is important to understand the context of ministry in order to make good decisions.This article will further describes the types of issues that are investigated in each area. Basic research questions for both areas, The Harvest Field and The Harvest Force, are provided

Harvest Field

• Historical Background
• DemographicComposition
• Geographic Issues
• People Groups
• Ethno-linguisticMix
• Religious Make-up
• Worldview: a description of Beliefs, Values, Customs, Behavior
• Cultural "health" Indicators: Health, Literacy, Age Expectancy, Education, Crime, Substance Abuse, Marriage, Divorces, Out of wedlock births, Abortions, etc.
• Economic Conditions: Poverty, Public Debt, Corruption, Business opportunities
• Political Environment

Harvest Force

• Church History
• Church Growth over time
• Church Distribution: Physically/Ethnically
• Evangelism and Discipleship methods and resources
• Church Planting methods
• Church Health
• Christian Education
• Church Leadership
• Leadership training: Formal and Non-Formal
• Christian Organizations and type of ministry
• Missionary Presence
• Missionary Sending
• Cross-cultural education.and missions involvement
• Church Contextual Issues: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
• Theological Issues especially relevant in the context

Basic Harvest Field Questions

• What ethnic groups are in the target area?
• What is the population and religious affiliation of the ethnic group?
• What languages are spoken?
• What are their beliefs, customs and values?
• What is their daily life like?
• What is the social structure?
• How are decisions made?
• What are important events in their history?
• Who are their heros? Enemies?
• What are the perceived needs or threats of the target community?
• What are the predominate sins or spiritual strongholds?
• What is the target people's understanding of Christianity? (Use the Engel's Scale)
• How responsive are each ethnic group in the target area to the Gospel?
• What is the status of disciple making for each ethnic group in the target area? (Use Joshua Project criteria)
• What basic ministry resources are available in each language? (Scripture, Audio Radio, Jesus Film, etc)

Basic Harvest Force Questions

• What is the number of Christians? Where are they located?
• What is the number of evangelical believers? Where are they located?
• What is the geographical, sociological and demographic distribution of churches?
• What are growth patterns for the number of Churches and the number of believers?
What denominations are evangelical? How evangelical is each denomination?
• What types of ministries are being performed? Where? By whom?
• What Christian Organizations are working in the area? What are their ministries?
• What goals do the churches have?
• Who are key leaders and change agents?
• What are the perceived needs of the churches? Threats?
• What factors are contributing the the growth (or non-growth) of the church?
• What models of ministry are producing (or are not producing) balanced church growth and evangelism?
• What resources are available?
• What training opportunities are available? (formal, non-formal)

See Bob Waymire's National Research Mobilization Handbook, pages 13-16, for more detail on the Harvest Field and the Harvest Force.