Tony and Felicity Dale
A couple of days ago, I was on a conference call with Tony and Felicity Dale, David Underwood, and Jim Mellon – all people with a huge heart for the simple church movement and all business people who are paving the way for those who are asking questions about self-funded ministry and mission and how to make a marketplace impact (Tony, David, and Jim and I will be facilitating the Marketplace Ministry track at the H2H2008 conference while Felicity will be working with John White in the House Church Basics track).
While on the call, the Dales told the story about a new direction in their ministry and perhaps in the lives of many in the movement. Since sometime around last Christmas, the Dales have felt God urging them to support and serve people who want to do Godly business within the movement, so they brought in their good friends and long-time collaborators Jim and David (who played a significant role in founding House2House). These four have been listening to people far and wide as they ask questions about surviving and thriving in the new paradigm with few professional Christians and blurring boundaries between the spheres of family, faith, and work.
Three key issues (below) have risen to the surface from the many stories, conversations, and questions. We’re thinking that we may use each of the three workshop sessions at the conference to work on one of these. Our journey in simple church has immersed us in a unique experience of the reality of God, so we think how we frame these issues, the questions it draws up in us, and the solutions we will create will be somewhat unique.
- Relationships to Support The Journey: Because of the competitive and materialistic foundations of commercial enterprise, relationships in business often remain shallow and broken. In many circles, “professionalism” means not sharing who we are on a human and spiritual level with those we engage in business. But our God is a community of Three so interconnected they are One, and we are called to mimic God who seeks authentic connection to everyone and who calls us to serve as the conduits of grace and love to every life. This means we must journey as a community and brotherhood (and sisterhood) of business-focused mission. We must seek the shalom (holistic peace) of all through cooperation, generosity, hospitality and fellowship. If simple church has taught us anything, it’s that God’s will for us is to link arms for missional empowerment and healthy living. What would it look like to form groups of twos and threes for intimate support of our journey in Godly business? How could this connect to larger expressions like our home churches and apostolic teams? How can these relationships be woven into the fabric of holistic lives while maintaining enough distinction to handle the particular supports needed for Kingdom Enterprise?
- Personal Development of Entrepreneurs and Business People: My good friend and teammate Hugo Monroy is an executive and organization coach who specializes in supporting individuals and groups as they go through transition. Moving into missional business will be a giant change for many in the movement. Hugo says that the most difficult part of such transition is what it means for our identity. Many people are surprised by the grieving and depression they feel as the move in what should be an exciting new direction. According to Hugo, this is because it is painful for the old person to die in order for a new person to be born. Hugo says our greatest asset to managing such change is the universality of the Kingdom of God and the tools in terms of transformational relationships we have in the Kingdom. We have a great advantage in that we understand the need for discipleship and constant growth and support as we become what the mission requires. How can those of us on this ever-changing journey connect with people like Hugo who can help us understand what is going on within us and build new lives as we seek to follow God into places that demand new identity? Who has God positioned to help us develop along the way?
- Maps for Starting, Growing, and Transitioning Enterprise: Many of us have heard the call and know it is for us. But we can’t quite see how to make this thing into a reality. Perhaps you want to walk this new path but have little or no practical knowledge for the way ahead. Maybe you’ve done business for years but want to be more Kingdom-oriented while at the same time wondering about the costs in terms of our relationships to clients and coworkers and our own retooling. It could be we are tired of “business as usual” and simple church has awakened us to an alternate way of life that makes us restless in our current work. We entered simple church because we wanted freedom to follow Jesus – we knew the answers to our questions lay in tracing the footsteps of those ahead, while removing human obstacles and entanglements. In the same way, there are those who have followed Jesus into the business world and have developed maps to show us the way ahead. They understand the pitfalls and know the best paths to success and missional impact. What are the principles to starting, transtioning, and strengthening Kingdom Enterprise? How can we practice sound business principles and sound Kingdom principles for businesses that really work while really doing God’s work? What resources are there to leverage for sustainability and success? How can we form communities of collaboration that share resources as they are created and discovered?
What do you think about these three main areas? Are there other things on your mind or things you relate to in each one? Is anything missing? What ideas do you have about how to explore these areas and work together on solutions given our limited time and value for participatory learning and listening to God?
How we tackle “stuff” at the National House Church conference in Dallas over the Labor Day weekend is up to everyone participating in these blogs. From what Ben has written above, you get some idea of what we THINK is of interest and concern to those of you coming, but you can actually tell us what is on your heart. Please do so!
I feel that this track and the conversations before & after the Conference have a Huge potential for the long term health + expansion of this movement. I’m sure lots of people will benefit from the initiatives that come out of these discussions.
While I’ll be busy with the missions track, I’ll be trying to follow what is blogged here as well.
Bruce Gordon, New England
The Luke 10 principles can work just as well in our business place as when we develop Luke 10 relationships outside the workplace. Being welcoming and speaking peace over all of our customers or clients is the beginning point. The persons of peace that respond will be open for a cup of coffee or glass of iced tea and just hanging out. Seeing Papa meet some needs and hearing that “the kingdom of God is near” and… Our business becomes a place of refuge– ripe for multiplication and transformation.
To our readers:
Roger and I are part of a “community of practice” called LK10 that embodies Jesus’ principles of ministry and mission in Luke 10.
Roger:
When I think about the kind of blessing your talking about, I can’t help but think of the word “hospitality” and how it was absolutely essential in the biblical stories of business.
I believe that we can become spiritually practical by acknowledging the Lord as Senior partner and ourselves as Jr. Partner. The decisions and practical changes must be passed to Senior partner Father God for transformational change. Email me for more on this, but here is some starters in some of the focus on the practical.
The context of these exercises provided tools that the Holy Spirit used to expose, heal, deliver, and shift lives, families, communities, into divine Kingdom impact. It is an honor to watch the Lord in many marketplace miracles that have a ripple effect in the lives of thousands of people in the days ahead. These are the main areas of focus we work on, but as you can imagine, when basked in prayer and the anointing of the Holy Spirit; many personal detours had to happen before we could even attempt to walk through some of these focused areas.
PURPOSE The purpose of an organization radically affects the ability of that organization to have an Impact. By having a clearly stated business purpose that is consistent with God’s purpose will lead to increased impact.
PRODUCTS Customers get to know our business through the Products and Services that we provide to them. Products create the “touch, see, and smell” factors that make an organization come alive. For non-profits and service organizations, products often take the form of programs.
POSITIONING God has positioned us in a new place – we are moved from darkness to light, from slaves to sons and daughters, from people without hope to those with an eternal hope. Our businesses should be positioned consistent with our eternal positioning and the high calling of our business. Establishing a clear positioning of both organization and products is essential. The value proposition of the organization and what differentiates it from others is essential to creating Impact.
PRESENCE Traditionally, marketing is intended to make consumers aware of their needs, and how particular products can fill those needs. Marketing creates presence—a mind-set for the product or organization—and it builds a story and experience that goes beyond the simple consumption of the product. When customers understand the story behind your products, they carry the full Impact that you intend. Kingdom marketing is a two-way street, making people experience some of God’s presence through the goods and services provided.
PARTNERING There are many benefits of partnering. Attempts at partnering have not occurred out of mutual admiration and togetherness. It has been demanded by customers and made a condition of business that suppliers cooperate. Why? Because they know that no one company can do everything well. Partnering creates better Impact for organizations and their customers alike. Biblical partnering happens so that God can receive more glory as you meet a greater set of needs, for His sake.
PROFIT The economic model of an organization is clearly essential. Transitioning profit from an accounting tool to a strategic weapon is the habit of champions. Sustainable Impact is best achieved in concert with sustainable economics. A business can have kingdom impact without profits… but not for long.
PROCESSES Processes are what make the organization work. Core business processes are all the work-steps, tasks, actions, etc. that makes things happen. They can either be handled just efficiently, or they can be deliberately directed towards the creation of Impact. Decision-making is an important aspect of business processes. With the ever-increasing information component of products, the location, speed, and quality of decision-making processes are influencing customers’ perceptions of value. Hearing God is part of the decision process. God does not want us to be legalistic, but he does want our business processes to be fair, consistent, and glorifying to him.
PEOPLE Many companies say “our people are our most important asset.” This taps into a Biblical truth that God’s business is a people business. When people—including the way in which they are organized—are thoroughly aligned with the Purpose of the organization, Impact is heightened. When people are built up as they build the company, God is pleased.
PLANNING Plans include strategic plans, marketing plans, sales plans, product plans, financial plans, human resource plans… and more. Appropriate planning is a crucial driver of Impact. Planning with God is even better. The old adage is true: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
PLACE A company’s location, the environment/image of the facilities, the corporate identity that goes beyond buildings, proximity to customers, partners, and others in one’s ecosystem…all of these can be used for Kingdom Impact. This is no less true for virtual organizations.
In response to Tony’s invitation to “tell us what’s on your hearts,” I was wondering how many were aware of what God is doing through the ministry He gave me called “The Church @ Work” (TCAW). Although I was using the ministry as a means for training the Saints via email, Facebook and personal speaking engagements, the Spirit laid a burden on my heart which – along with the counsel of Tony Dale, Robert Fitts, Larry Silverman and others – was designed to assist those former pastors who had left the “steady” job of serving as traditional church Pastors for a new kind of ministry in Simple Church settings…one with the potential to actually help them in keeping food on the table.
Allow me to clarify – and if anyone knows this to be true, it’s me – I am a firm believer that everyone’s job is a ministry. By simply “dropping our nets on the other side of the boat,” so to speak, fully relying on our talents and training to function in our secular calling, we can ALL make a Kingdom difference. Same person, same job, different perspective. Our minds must be renewed to this truth. However, it grieved me to think of so many ex-Pastors turning to jobs as shoe salesmen and underground parking attendants, completely lacking in any marketable skills after serving in the Church for many years, but still burdened to make disciples.
Using my lengthy email list and the social network called “Facebook,” I sounded the alarm that, if you are a former Pastor (or merely a person with a burden) who would like to be endorsed by TCAW as a Workplace Chaplain, such as myself, climb aboard! I received several dozen inquiries immediately but, after two weeks, I now have 15 individuals who have already begin the 11-part certification process which was initiated upon receipt of their 500-word testimony (anyone reading this now is welcome to do the same. Send to: team1min@our-town.com).
The responses to each of the eleven topics has become a dialogue whereby I am establishing a relationship with the interested parties. No one will be left alone “out there.” There are no right or wrong answers. The process costs nothing. I am not attempting to re-shape these seasoned ministers to fit my mold. I am here to offer encouragement, edification, information and marketing assistance as they launch out in an effort to obtain Workplace Chaplaincy positions. Aside from eMail communication, continuing education will come by way of the weekly email newsletter and a monthly Conference Call.
At the end of the certification process – their responses and dialogues regarding the 11 Topics – each Workplace Chaplain will receive a Certificate and eMailed artwork for the printing of their business cards.
That’s it! This is the bread that’s been melting my butter lately!
As Robert Fitts exclaimed in my ear one day over the phone, “I see it now! You’re starting Simple Churches in the workplace!”
Yes, essentially, that’s what this is all about. That’s my secret ambition.
So, if you know anyone who might appreciate the free endorsement from TCAW, or would simply desire to further their training as a Workplace Witness, have them kick things off with that initial 500-word testimony emailed to yours truly.
There you have it. If you weren’t aware of what the Father’s been up to, you are now. It’s already WAAAAY bigger than me. I like it that way.
Every blessing,
Michael Tummillo
Workplace Chaplain