As we’ve listened to the stories and questions of people interested in marketplace ministry with the simple church movement, three groups of people or three types of journeyers have come to the surface:
- Many people, who have come from full-time ministry in other forms of church or directly from seminary where they have been trained for professional ministry, face a dilemma when they want to enter simple church: How will I make a living if I’m not supported by the church? In some cases, this person may have few marketable skills and little business experience. In other cases, they need guidance in how to make a living that will still allow the time and energy necessary for them to follow their calling.
- There are many business people in the simple church movement whose journey in this incarnational approach to Jesus-following has drawn up questions about how they can reform their careers and businesses for the sake of the King. This would also include entrepreneurs who are attracted to the pioneering nature of simple church because it aligned with their personal passions and who want to reform existing careers or businesses to serve the Kingdom they’ve come to love and serve.
- We’ve also heard that some people are just sick of their current job because it isn’t the vibrant life they are now used to in Christ or because it limits mission and sane living in some way. They are asking questions about better ways to make a living by reforming their careers or starting up businesses of their own.
Which one are you? Let us know if you think there are other categories. We’re trying to get a bit of an idea about who and how many people are interested in each conversation/journey. Tell us a little bit of your story and what you hope to do with marketplace ministry in the future.
When I moved to the United States from England in 1987, I was involved in “full-time Christian ministry” leading a group that worked with Christian medical professionals. Little did I know that what had been so blessed in England and various other parts of the world, would be the very thing that would enable us t fall flat on our faces in this country in failure! So not by choice, but by God’s design, this doctor was now a country where he could not practice medicine (at least I could not practice without first taking four years to do my medical finas through specialty boards all over again), and where my “minisry” was not working spiritually or financially. Desperate to be able to support my family, including four very active and hungry kids, I turned to business as the only thing likly to provide a meaningful income. Every job I applied for turned me down without even an interview becaus I was “over-qualified!”
What a journey it as been. The ups and downs, the apparen successes, and the equally dramatic failures. The risking of everything, including our home, as all of our savings had long since gone. The reaching within one month of probably being forced into bankruptsy, and then the slow, steady ascent into stable, growing viable business models. Just becase you are following God is no guarantee of either “success” in business, or of common sense in business dealings. I have had, and continue to have much to learn. But would I miss the freedom that is now available through blood, sweat, toil and tears (and a hefty dose of hanging on to God’s grace)? No way. Freedom in the spirit, and financially, is always going to have a price tag.
My name is James Henderson, and I live and work in Mexico City as a church planter. My wife and I have been starting simple, organic house churches for several years now.
Last year, I was approached by my Canadian neighbor from our apartment complex, and he invited me to teach English and leadership classes to business executives. I considered that God might be in that, and was excited about being able to scatter more seed in a different kind of soil, corporate Mexico.
My experience to date has been fantastic. Three things stand out to me.
1. I am making many friends, and I sense that my background in church planting lends itself to spiritual questions from business men and women who are becoming my friends. I percieve that these business people care about Mexico and its development and struggles (which are many).
2. Because I brush shoulders with executives, I was invited to teach teamwork seminars and have coaching sessions with the team of one of the house church leaders in his workplace, Banorte, one of Mexico’s leadng banks. Our friend is a systems director, leading a team of 10, who also lead teams of 20s. He is introducing them to the power of holistic growth, community teamwork, deepening relationships, and becoming people of excellence in the workplace. I sense that he is trail-blazing on his own, and I hope that we can uncover resources that might help him as he develops a community of leaders in his workplace. They have begun experiencing community life together, (bowling together, having family outings, and becoming very sensitive to spiritual awakening).
3. Through this experience, I have felt more solidarity than ever before with our Mexican church planting coworkers. I think for me, rubbing shoulders this way has pushed me farther into Mexican life and culture. And as a young missionary, that is very good for me. I’m learning more everyday.
My Canadian friend, the founder of the school, has invited me to become a partner in the language company. We are taking steps to make that happen, and I sense that it is an opportunity coming from the Lord.
I plan on being at the house2harvest ‘08 conference in August, and I look forward to learning from everyone else’s experiences of sharing and sowing in the marketplace.
Soulster, here is the shortest version of my journey I can give you….
When my husband and I married 24 yrs ago, he was doing short term outreach and discipling ministry with Native People in Canada paying his own way by working when he wasn’t on a mission.
When we married, we wanted to spend our lives 100% for the purposes of the Lord and were directed by leaders to spend some years in Bible school for “preparation”. We did, thinking that we would be “full time ministers”, which meant for most of us at that time, that we would be financially supported in our ministry by “the church”. We saw many friends and fellow workers find this route and become fruitful for the Lord and having the burden to work a secular job AND minister relieved.
Wow, did God have a different plan for us!
During these past 24 years we started and planted people, churches, various groups, outreaches and ministries at home and in different countries. Very little of this was supported financially by anyone. When we started a 501c missions ministry in 1995, we raised financial support for some of the early trips the ministry took that we used to bless those we were going to minister to. However, almost all our personal costs and expenses we paid for ourselves. I remember being asked if I received stipends for all the speaking I was then doing in churches (overseas) and laughing. I GAVE money to almost every place I was asked to speak. Then in 2001, the Lord told me to stop receiving ANY support money and pay for the trip expenses and gifts we left with the various ministries ourselves. We spent thousands of dollars of our own money ministering from then on.
The thing is, my husband worked two jobs (painting during the day, loading trucks by night); not high paying jobs but honest labor. I worked various part time jobs like daycare, house cleaning, retail, office support, food service etc . Again, no big bucks there! All this part time work was done while raising and homeschooling our three kids.
We have come to see over the years that the Lord desires obedience. And that usually requires sacrifice. So be it if that is His direction for us. We can work jobs AND be full time ministers for the Lord, bearing fruit for His Kingdom.
We are now on the journey of finding more of His direction in how to continue on this path of being financially able to be even MORE fruitful in the Kingdom in the years ahead. Now our kids almost grown are going on their own path and we have more time and can focus our efforts more directly on this next mission.