The citywide Church—one Church of many congregations—is a formidable force of talent, diversity, gifting, and anointing. In fact, it is within the citywide Church, throughout its local expression, that God has given “some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service...” (Eph. 4:11). It is in unity that the Church has strength and it is in unity that the Church has the ability to raise up the leadership needed to reap the coming harvest. And it is this common vision of unity, strength, and anointing that birthed HarvestNet Ministries. HarvestNet therefore represents many leaders coming together to meet the challenge to train the workers in this region. And by reaching into the greater Body of Christ, HarvestNet is able to provide the resources you need to fulfill your specific call in God.
“As God draws His people together on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, in preparation for ‘glory in the church’ and ‘joy in the city,’ one of the shifts in emphasis we are seeing in various places is the establishment of local Bible schools wherein the local leadership carries a joint responsibility for the equipping of the new generation of leaders and workers. HarvestNet is such a movement and is an expression of the coming together of ‘bone to bone’ in northeast Ohio, as God raises up a mighty army.” John MacFarlane Nehemiah Ministries Nuremburg, Germany
We are all waiting for the Lord to declare, “Let down your nets!” for that great harvest of humanity that we see pictured in Luke 5. Until that time comes, we need to ready ourselves and prepare the nets, both individually and corporately, and be about our Father's business now. HarvestNet knits together a wide range of leaders to work directly with the gifted and committed people who are willing to take the necessary steps to be trained to fulfill the Great Commission. HarvestNet anticipates that the Lord will not only strengthen those nets, but widen them well beyond this region, to include all of Ohio and the nation. If you know you are called to be a fisher of men, become a leader and a part of the HarvestNet. HarvestNet Institute (HNI) is the leadership training component of HarvestNet Ministries. It is based in Northeast Ohio, and the first joint project of the HarvestNet Ministries leadership team. The Institute’s objective is to envision and to equip the next generation of leaders and workers for a vision of a massive city-wide harvest of souls that is coming, not only to the Northeast Ohio area, but to other cities in the nation and the world. We embrace the very vision of the Lord of the Harvest that workers be sent into His harvest field and will work together—leaning into the John 17 prayer of Jesus in such a way that a self-evident and self-authenticating unity will be a testimony to “the world.” We believe HNI will produce those envisioned and equipped workers. The Lord Jesus commanded us to lift up our eyes and look on the ripe fields. He also directed us to ask for workers to go into those fields. By enrolling in HNI, you are asking to be raised up as one of God's workers! HNI represents a radical departure from many existing training centers. It is neither denominationally based nor associated with a particular local church. HNI is regionally based and administered by numerous Cleveland-Akron area churches—each of which recognizes that it is part of one larger body. The result is one vision and one school with multiple campuses benefiting from the synergy of multiple strong churches partnering together. HNI is a vehicle for training and equipping modeled after the apostolic strategy demonstrated by the apostle Paul in Acts 19:9-10. Paul expanded his direct evangelism methods to include training and impacted a whole region as a result. We believe that HarvestNet has the same potential to impact northeast Ohio and beyond.