Marian Shek—Leicester, UK

         And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men." So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him." (Lk 5:10b–11)

As followers of Christ, we have been called to become fishers of men. We are commissioned to preach the gospel of salvation to all nations so that they, too, have the chance to enter the heavenly kingdom. The Lord reassures us that we can do this work without fear because He will be with us until the end (Mt 28:19–20).

And yet, evangelism feels like a daunting task. The idea of venturing out to preach to strangers, let alone bringing them to belief and baptism, strikes a chord of trepidation in our hearts. We worry that we are ineloquent, unknowledgeable, and spiritually weak. We fear rejection, or worse, persecution for our beliefs. We observe the inhospitable waters in which we fish, and blame our unsophisticated tools and strategies.

However, before Jesus called Simon to be a fisher of men, He demonstrated how simple this work can be through a miracle. Even though Simon and his companions had been toiling all night without a catch, Jesus instructed them: "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." When they obeyed Jesus' command, they caught such a haul of fish that their net started to break (Lk 5:4–6).

When we boldly do this work at the Lord's command, trusting with a simple heart, God Himself is the One who will bring souls into the net. So if we are disappointed that our catch does not seem proportional to the effort we put it, we must shift our mindset back to the Lord. The church must be united in following the Lord's instruction and consistently pray for the door of the gospel to be opened (Col 4:3). When we return to these basic principles and faithfully do the work—be it through posting flyers, speaking to friends and strangers, or sharing on social media—we will see God's hand. Many of our brethren have noticed that when they make this shift, not only do more truth-seekers come through the doors, but some are miraculously guided to us without seeing any of our evangelistic materials, proving that the work is not accomplished through our own efforts.

In this issue, we will focus on the act of casting our nets upon an ever-changing seascape, navigating the challenging, tumultuous waves of the world. In Greater Works Than These He Will Do, we are encouraged to launch out into uncharted depths, breaking through barriers to preach to the farthest reaches. Our Christian Living Columns also explore how we can extend our reach beyond geographical boundaries and into people's lives by preaching through social media.

In I Know Not How the Seed Grows and Persistence and Patience in Preaching to Family, we are reminded that we should not only cast our nets widely, but we should plumb the depths—it takes time, patience, and care to fully explain the doctrines to a truth-seeker, to show them God's love, and bring them to accept the truth of salvation. But when we do this with faith and perseverance, God will cause the seed to grow in ways we cannot imagine.

When we launch out into the deep, following the Holy Spirit's guidance to cast the net where He instructs, He will fill our net and the net will not be broken (Jn 21:6).