WorldconneX E-Newsletter

E-Newsletter

April 2009
From the Workplace to the World

[Click here for PDF version]

Joe Accountant sitting in row ten of his church has more to offer in advancing the spread of the gospel than he thinks. He doesn’t realize how necessary he is in penetrating the ends of the earth for Christ. The issue lies in both Joe’s and his church's lack of understanding that being an accountant is a noble calling in God’s eyes and that God wants to change the world through people just like Joe.

Joe and thousands of other business professionals walk away from church on Sunday to lead disconnected lives. They do not have an understanding of their unique role, purpose, and calling for God’s glory in their workplace and in the world. They are a forgotten asset of the church.

Synergy between the local and global world of missions will come to pass as the church embraces business people as neither sacred nor secular, when business people are transformed through the modeling of how they can most glorify Christ in the workplace, and when their workplace expertise is applied to the missional goals of the church.

Whether believers admit it or not, hierarchy in Christendom exists. This spiritual hierarchy disconnects Joe Accountant from the understanding of his role in the world. If people believe that their profession is not seen as sacred by the church, then they will live frustrated lives. They will not be appreciated by their church and/or they will live under-stimulated toward the greater role to which God has called them in their workplace.

Most often, a person will rise only to the standards expected. When the church separates the secular from the sacred, secular professionals see their calling only as that—missing the greater role to which God has called them in their sphere of influence—whether in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria or to the ends of the earth.

Christian Hierarchy (ranked in order of importance)

1) Pastor

2) Overseas Missionary

3) Full-time Christian Worker

4) International “Tentmaker”

5) Elder

6) Deacon

7) Poor Christian

8) Christian

9) Rich Christian

10) Employee/Homemaker

Taken from a Business As Mission (BAM) workshop conducted by Patrick Lai

The rift between the sacred and the secular shown above exhibits the disconnect between people’s view of #3 “Full-time Christian worker” and Joe Accountant, who ranks in at #10 “Employee.”

Carol Davis in her webinar “Globalizing the Business and Professional Capacity of the Church” conducted for The Mission Exchange claims that when lines are erased between the “ordained and the ordinary,” professions and passions connect with God’s purpose. “We tend to put the ordained on pedestals while the ordinary Joe Accountant never gets recognized for all he does in his workplace,” concludes Davis.

Bob Roberts, senior pastor of Northwood Church in Keller TX, contends that "The Great Commission to 'go and make disciples of all nations…teaching them' was given to the whole church, not just to pastors, missionaries, denominational agencies, or parachurch groups." (Glocalization: How Followers of Jesus Engage a Flat World, 74). The church must acknowledge Joe Accountant and others like him, and bless the unique callings and arenas of influence God has placed on their lives.

Modeling

Church leadership should embrace the idea of modeling to move professionals towards greater relational impact. Kent Humphreys, CEO of Fellowship of Companies for Christ International and author of Shepherding Horses: Understand God’s Plan for Transforming Leaders, delves into the need for modeling within the church, following the example of Christ with His twelve disciples.

Joe Accountant has likely not realized that his testimony of God’s work in his life is powerful for advancing the kingdom because he has probably never understood how to live missionally in the workplace. Humphreys points out that small group modeling, as opposed to large group teaching, follows the model of Jesus. “When we equip a person, we are taking a person from the pew that is not functioning properly and making him to function correctly for God’s use” (Shepherding Horses: Understand God’s Plan for Transforming Leaders, 23.)

North Point Community Church in Georgia is developing a small group curriculum specifically for Christ following business people. The hope is that these professionals will live out what they learn in their workplace and use it to mentor business people in developing countries.

Bob Roberts believes that a local church must be a global church—or “glocal.” Roberts explains, “When the church glocalizes, it acts as a connection center between believers and all of society's domains. It focuses on training the people in the pew how to view their vocation as their 'Jerusalem' in terms of ministry. From there, it motivates them toward how they can use that vocation to intersect a domain locally—and globally—throughout the ends of the earth! The church connects to society through the natural infrastructures, equipping and sending people through their jobs to affect a particular domain” (Glocalization: How Followers of Jesus Engage a Flat World, 41). As churches begin to model Christ’s life in applicable ways to business people, they will begin to see the mission field surrounding them.

Business as Missions

Joe Accountant is daily engaged in a glocal world. Glocalization according to Bob Roberts “explains how the work of the church must shift from the pulpit to the pew, from the church building to the community and world at large.” The world needs Christ honoring businesses and Christ following business professionals as a conduit for the gospel and discipleship.

Durwood Snead of North Point Community Church believes that Business as Mission (BAM) is God’s strategy for reaching the least reached. Generally speaking, business people are called upon for their financial investment rather than their expertise in a certain field. The dichotomy of goers and senders has stifled the spread of the gospel because the church has not utilized one of the greatest assets—the passions and gifts of business people. Rather, they are seen merely as financial donors.

Business people are needed to advance and enhance overseas work. Increasingly, overseas workers are looking to business to impact and transform a culture for the glory of God. Patrick Lai in Tentmaking, the Life and Work of Business as Mission explains how tentmaking provides natural access to people with whom to build relationships. Furthermore, a need exists for entrepreneurs to serve among unengaged people groups, for consultants to help develop business plans, and for mentors to advise in the growth of companies (Open Fair Trade).

Rather than merely sending a CEO to build a house with his hands, a church might consider how advantageous it would be to use the CEO’s knowledge and passion to transform an entire community through business transformation. Carol Davis in her webinar “Globalizing the Business and Professional Capacity of the Church” conducted for The Mission Exchange concludes, “The Christian faith has always spread along the trade routes…as they were places where conversion happened.”

As churches realize the potential of Christ-following business people such as Joe Accountant, they will help shrink the gap between the sacred and the secular, add modeling as a means for equipping, and empower business people toward ways their business expertise can change the world for Christ. Synergizing local and global missions comes as business people are exhorted toward their unique niche in the work of the Lord—in their own Jerusalem and to the ends of the earth.

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