the nets are breaking
The Call
Most of us know Jesus' words, "I will make you fishers of men." For many, it's become a catchphrase. But it's really the Great Commission in a single sentence. Our mission is to make disciples, and that starts with evangelism. You can't catch fish without fishing, and you can't fish for men without boldly sharing the gospel. Paul makes it clear: no one believes without first hearing.
"For 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" (Romans 10:13–14)
It's no accident that Jesus used this phrase when he called fishermen to be some of his first disciples. They understood what it meant to cast a net and haul in a catch, and they knew it was hard work that often came up empty. Twice, the Gospels tell of them working all night and catching nothing. They were ready to quit. Then Jesus stepped in. He didn't tell them to stop fishing. He told them to fish differently.
In Luke 5, Peter and his partners had fished all night and caught nothing. Then Jesus told Peter, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." When they followed his instructions, they caught so many fish that their nets began to break. They had to call their partners in another boat to come help, and even then, both boats began to sink. Then Jesus said to Peter, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." Then, just after the resurrection, it happened again in John 21.
Catching Nothing
I don't need to quote statistics or give a history lesson. If you have a heart for the gospel, especially for the next generation, just look around your church. Several generations are missing. Many churches are aging and dying off because they aren't being renewed by younger believers. As the church, we've been fishing for a long time, in many different ways, and our nets keep coming up empty. Like those fishermen in Luke 5, we've worked all night and caught nothing. Here are three ways the church has been fishing that just haven't worked.
Fishing the Old Way
Fishing from Shore
The church's main strategy has been, "Invite your friends to church." That's like sitting in a boat on the shore, hoping the fish will swim up and jump in. But most people today aren't looking for a church. Our culture no longer sees church as a positive place to be, and a growing number of people, often called the "nones," don't practice any religion at all. People just aren't coming, so this way of fishing isn't working.
Just Sitting in the Boat
Some churches do have a heart for reaching people. They see their community as an important place to minister, and they make the effort to get out there. But once they arrive, they never cast the net. They sit in the boat mending nets, preparing for the catch, even planning what they'll do once the fish are in. A church may meet physical needs, like food or clothing, but stop there. It never moves beyond the physical need to the spiritual one: everyone's need to hear the gospel. There's no intentional plan to share it. Remember Paul's question: how will they hear without someone preaching? As a church, we haven't been preaching the gospel.
One Man, One Pole
A third common, but ineffective, way we fish is by sending out the “professional fishermen.” Pastors, youth pastors and missionaries are the ones we expect to do the fishing. After all, it's their job. Meanwhile, the rest of us sit on the shore and wait for the fish to show up. But one fisherman with a pole might land a fish or two. One person can't cast a very big net, nor can they haul in a catch by themselves. That's why fishermen in Jesus' day never worked alone. It took a team. Yet we keep sending a few people out by themselves.
These are the ways the church has typically been fishing, and they haven't worked. We need to change the way we fish.
Fish Differently
In both stories, the fishermen had fished all night the way they always had. Then Jesus told them to do something different. In John 21, he said, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat." In Luke 5, Peter pushed back: "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!" Then he added, "But at your word I will let down the nets." That's obedience. Peter didn't expect a catch, but he did it because Jesus said so. If we're going to be fishers of men, we have to cast the net Jesus' way, not ours.
Go Where the Fish Are
The first change is to go where the fish are, and that means reaching the young. Most people who follow Jesus come to faith before they turn 18. That makes our schools one of the most urgent mission fields we have. They're full of students who don't know Jesus, and the window to reach them is short. So we need to go to our schools, where the fish are. After all, everybody knows fish swim in schools. Students have to be there every day. As one student put it, "God put the fish in a barrel for us."
Cast the Net
An important change is to actually cast the net. Schools are a mission field. They're unreached and full of people who need to hear the gospel. A church would never send missionaries overseas just to huddle together, study the Bible and pray, and never share the gospel. So why would we work our way onto a campus and then just sit in the boat?
There's a saying often credited to Francis of Assisi, though he probably never said it: "Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words." But words are always necessary. The gospel can't be mimed. It has to be spoken. Too often, though, we approach the campus as if presence were enough. It won't answer Paul's question: how will they hear without someone preaching? We have to share the gospel clearly, invite people to respond, and expect them to. That takes a vision for the campus as a mission field, a strategy for sharing the gospel, and the intention to follow through.
Send Students as Fishermen
Another change is who we send. Too often, we send our youth ministers alone, like a fisherman with a single pole. But on campus, they are visitors. More and more schools limit what outside adults can do, and some restrict access altogether. Our students are always there. God has placed them there for a reason. They're the indigenous missionaries to their campus, and they can reach their own generation better than we can.
That doesn't mean adults step aside. It means we change roles. We send our students as missionaries, and we come alongside them as mentors. We encourage them, resource them and provide for them, the same way we'd support a missionary we sent overseas. And we need more adults willing to do it. When the catch came in John 21, the disciples "were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish." No one hauls in a net alone.
Catch Every Fish
In John 21, when the disciples obeyed, the net was full of large fish, 153 of them. The early church writer Jerome taught that ancient experts counted 153 kinds of fish, so the catch held every kind.
Fishing the wrong way often comes with the wrong mindset about which fish we want. Most fishermen want the pretty fish, the one they can photograph, share and mount on the wall. But we're fishing for broken, sinful people, and they aren't always pretty. That's how we see them, not how Jesus sees them. He came for every one.
When we fish on our school campuses, we'll catch the hurting and broken students, the ones in the principal's office every day, the ones hostile to the message, and the ones who come to Christ with messy lives. Jesus will make them clean, but discipling them won't be easy.
Fish Together
If we're going to go where the fish are, cast the net and haul in the catch, we have to do it together. That means getting into a boat and putting out onto the sea. In this story, the boat is the strategy that gets us onto the campus and gives us a place to cast the net from. It can take different forms. A church might have its own ministry that serves the school and builds relationships there. A youth group can be a boat too, when it trains its students to share the gospel with their friends at school. And student-led clubs focused on sharing the gospel may be the most effective boat of all.
Every boat needs a crew, and it takes more than one fisherman. Students are the ones casting the net. Teachers, administrators and school staff who follow Jesus can support them from inside the school. Parents and other adults, not just youth pastors, can mentor and encourage them. Prayer warriors in the church can pray over the students, the school and every chance to share the gospel. And donors can provide what the work needs, from Bibles to pizza.
Bring Them to Shore
Making the catch is only the beginning. Jesus didn't stop at "go and make disciples." He went on: "teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." Every new believer needs to be brought to shore, into a local church where they can be nurtured and discipled. One or two churches can't disciple a harvest this big. We don't just need more hands pulling in the nets. We need more churches ready to receive the catch.
Here's what it looks like when it all comes together. A friend invited a middle school student to a campus ministry club, where a student leader shared the gospel using the Romans Road. The young girl said she wasn't interested and left. Later that day, she came back to ask her teacher, the club's sponsor, to help her understand what she'd heard. For weeks, she kept coming to the club and kept asking questions.
Four weeks after first hearing the gospel, she asked her teacher about Romans 10:13: "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." As they talked, she began to cry, and she prayed right there at the teacher's desk to ask Christ to save her.
That Sunday, she asked to go to church with her teacher, and she made a public profession of faith there. She planned to be baptized. But her father was hostile to her faith and wouldn't let her go back to church, much less be baptized. Over Christmas break, she moved across the region to live with her mother. But her new school had the same campus ministry, and those students helped her find a church where she could be nurtured and discipled.
A friend who invited her. A student leader who shared the gospel. A teacher who answered her questions. Two clubs and two churches. All of them were in the boat together.
The Nets Are Breaking
In Luke 5, when Peter obeyed, "they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them."
The nets are breaking again. Today, ministries across the country are reporting record numbers of students hungry for the gospel. They're choosing Jesus, asking for Bibles and looking for churches to attend. We need more people and more churches who see the school as a mission field and their students as missionaries. We need believers committed to making sure every student on every campus has the chance to hear the gospel and respond before they graduate.
Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." In our case, it's a harvest of fish. There are nearly 30 million fish (students) spread across about 43,000 seas (middle and high schools). The sea is full, and there aren't enough fishermen. It's time to get in the boat.
Prayerfully consider how you and your church can take the gospel to your local schools. Set up a meeting with your pastor, youth pastor or elder board, and reach out to the campus ministries already working in your community. Start making plans today. Get in the boat, cast the net, and watch students come to Christ.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Haley Wherry
Most of us know Jesus' words, "I will make you fishers of men." For many, it's become a catchphrase. But it's really the Great Commission in a single sentence. Our mission is to make disciples, and that starts with evangelism. You can't catch fish without fishing, and you can't fish for men without boldly sharing the gospel. Paul makes it clear: no one believes without first hearing.
"For 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" (Romans 10:13–14)
It's no accident that Jesus used this phrase when he called fishermen to be some of his first disciples. They understood what it meant to cast a net and haul in a catch, and they knew it was hard work that often came up empty. Twice, the Gospels tell of them working all night and catching nothing. They were ready to quit. Then Jesus stepped in. He didn't tell them to stop fishing. He told them to fish differently.
In Luke 5, Peter and his partners had fished all night and caught nothing. Then Jesus told Peter, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." When they followed his instructions, they caught so many fish that their nets began to break. They had to call their partners in another boat to come help, and even then, both boats began to sink. Then Jesus said to Peter, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." Then, just after the resurrection, it happened again in John 21.
Catching Nothing
I don't need to quote statistics or give a history lesson. If you have a heart for the gospel, especially for the next generation, just look around your church. Several generations are missing. Many churches are aging and dying off because they aren't being renewed by younger believers. As the church, we've been fishing for a long time, in many different ways, and our nets keep coming up empty. Like those fishermen in Luke 5, we've worked all night and caught nothing. Here are three ways the church has been fishing that just haven't worked.
Fishing the Old Way
Fishing from Shore
The church's main strategy has been, "Invite your friends to church." That's like sitting in a boat on the shore, hoping the fish will swim up and jump in. But most people today aren't looking for a church. Our culture no longer sees church as a positive place to be, and a growing number of people, often called the "nones," don't practice any religion at all. People just aren't coming, so this way of fishing isn't working.
Just Sitting in the Boat
Some churches do have a heart for reaching people. They see their community as an important place to minister, and they make the effort to get out there. But once they arrive, they never cast the net. They sit in the boat mending nets, preparing for the catch, even planning what they'll do once the fish are in. A church may meet physical needs, like food or clothing, but stop there. It never moves beyond the physical need to the spiritual one: everyone's need to hear the gospel. There's no intentional plan to share it. Remember Paul's question: how will they hear without someone preaching? As a church, we haven't been preaching the gospel.
One Man, One Pole
A third common, but ineffective, way we fish is by sending out the “professional fishermen.” Pastors, youth pastors and missionaries are the ones we expect to do the fishing. After all, it's their job. Meanwhile, the rest of us sit on the shore and wait for the fish to show up. But one fisherman with a pole might land a fish or two. One person can't cast a very big net, nor can they haul in a catch by themselves. That's why fishermen in Jesus' day never worked alone. It took a team. Yet we keep sending a few people out by themselves.
These are the ways the church has typically been fishing, and they haven't worked. We need to change the way we fish.
Fish Differently
In both stories, the fishermen had fished all night the way they always had. Then Jesus told them to do something different. In John 21, he said, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat." In Luke 5, Peter pushed back: "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!" Then he added, "But at your word I will let down the nets." That's obedience. Peter didn't expect a catch, but he did it because Jesus said so. If we're going to be fishers of men, we have to cast the net Jesus' way, not ours.
Go Where the Fish Are
The first change is to go where the fish are, and that means reaching the young. Most people who follow Jesus come to faith before they turn 18. That makes our schools one of the most urgent mission fields we have. They're full of students who don't know Jesus, and the window to reach them is short. So we need to go to our schools, where the fish are. After all, everybody knows fish swim in schools. Students have to be there every day. As one student put it, "God put the fish in a barrel for us."
Cast the Net
An important change is to actually cast the net. Schools are a mission field. They're unreached and full of people who need to hear the gospel. A church would never send missionaries overseas just to huddle together, study the Bible and pray, and never share the gospel. So why would we work our way onto a campus and then just sit in the boat?
There's a saying often credited to Francis of Assisi, though he probably never said it: "Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words." But words are always necessary. The gospel can't be mimed. It has to be spoken. Too often, though, we approach the campus as if presence were enough. It won't answer Paul's question: how will they hear without someone preaching? We have to share the gospel clearly, invite people to respond, and expect them to. That takes a vision for the campus as a mission field, a strategy for sharing the gospel, and the intention to follow through.
Send Students as Fishermen
Another change is who we send. Too often, we send our youth ministers alone, like a fisherman with a single pole. But on campus, they are visitors. More and more schools limit what outside adults can do, and some restrict access altogether. Our students are always there. God has placed them there for a reason. They're the indigenous missionaries to their campus, and they can reach their own generation better than we can.
That doesn't mean adults step aside. It means we change roles. We send our students as missionaries, and we come alongside them as mentors. We encourage them, resource them and provide for them, the same way we'd support a missionary we sent overseas. And we need more adults willing to do it. When the catch came in John 21, the disciples "were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish." No one hauls in a net alone.
Catch Every Fish
In John 21, when the disciples obeyed, the net was full of large fish, 153 of them. The early church writer Jerome taught that ancient experts counted 153 kinds of fish, so the catch held every kind.
Fishing the wrong way often comes with the wrong mindset about which fish we want. Most fishermen want the pretty fish, the one they can photograph, share and mount on the wall. But we're fishing for broken, sinful people, and they aren't always pretty. That's how we see them, not how Jesus sees them. He came for every one.
When we fish on our school campuses, we'll catch the hurting and broken students, the ones in the principal's office every day, the ones hostile to the message, and the ones who come to Christ with messy lives. Jesus will make them clean, but discipling them won't be easy.
Fish Together
If we're going to go where the fish are, cast the net and haul in the catch, we have to do it together. That means getting into a boat and putting out onto the sea. In this story, the boat is the strategy that gets us onto the campus and gives us a place to cast the net from. It can take different forms. A church might have its own ministry that serves the school and builds relationships there. A youth group can be a boat too, when it trains its students to share the gospel with their friends at school. And student-led clubs focused on sharing the gospel may be the most effective boat of all.
Every boat needs a crew, and it takes more than one fisherman. Students are the ones casting the net. Teachers, administrators and school staff who follow Jesus can support them from inside the school. Parents and other adults, not just youth pastors, can mentor and encourage them. Prayer warriors in the church can pray over the students, the school and every chance to share the gospel. And donors can provide what the work needs, from Bibles to pizza.
Bring Them to Shore
Making the catch is only the beginning. Jesus didn't stop at "go and make disciples." He went on: "teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." Every new believer needs to be brought to shore, into a local church where they can be nurtured and discipled. One or two churches can't disciple a harvest this big. We don't just need more hands pulling in the nets. We need more churches ready to receive the catch.
Here's what it looks like when it all comes together. A friend invited a middle school student to a campus ministry club, where a student leader shared the gospel using the Romans Road. The young girl said she wasn't interested and left. Later that day, she came back to ask her teacher, the club's sponsor, to help her understand what she'd heard. For weeks, she kept coming to the club and kept asking questions.
Four weeks after first hearing the gospel, she asked her teacher about Romans 10:13: "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." As they talked, she began to cry, and she prayed right there at the teacher's desk to ask Christ to save her.
That Sunday, she asked to go to church with her teacher, and she made a public profession of faith there. She planned to be baptized. But her father was hostile to her faith and wouldn't let her go back to church, much less be baptized. Over Christmas break, she moved across the region to live with her mother. But her new school had the same campus ministry, and those students helped her find a church where she could be nurtured and discipled.
A friend who invited her. A student leader who shared the gospel. A teacher who answered her questions. Two clubs and two churches. All of them were in the boat together.
The Nets Are Breaking
In Luke 5, when Peter obeyed, "they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them."
The nets are breaking again. Today, ministries across the country are reporting record numbers of students hungry for the gospel. They're choosing Jesus, asking for Bibles and looking for churches to attend. We need more people and more churches who see the school as a mission field and their students as missionaries. We need believers committed to making sure every student on every campus has the chance to hear the gospel and respond before they graduate.
Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." In our case, it's a harvest of fish. There are nearly 30 million fish (students) spread across about 43,000 seas (middle and high schools). The sea is full, and there aren't enough fishermen. It's time to get in the boat.
Prayerfully consider how you and your church can take the gospel to your local schools. Set up a meeting with your pastor, youth pastor or elder board, and reach out to the campus ministries already working in your community. Start making plans today. Get in the boat, cast the net, and watch students come to Christ.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Haley Wherry
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