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Stories & Blog
The Obstacle to Disciple-Makers From All Professions
Read the series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Crossworld’s dream of having disciple-makers from all professions is certainly a biblical vision, not to mention a practical necessity in our world today. Every Bible-believing church would admit that the Great Commission in some sense applies to all of Jesus’ followers.
Yet for centuries there has existed a divide in which pastors and missionaries are seen as doing full-time spiritual ministry (and are held in higher esteem for it), and all other professionals are seen as doing secular employment. Most believers speak of going to church on Sunday to do spiritual ministry as teachers, helpers, elders or deacons, then getting up Monday morning to go to work to pay the bills.
I believe this reflects the prevailing mindset that our secular jobs are not really ministry, at least not our primary one. Without minimizing the importance of traditional church ministries, I believe we know this dichotomy is false. The Bible itself emphasizes the priesthood of all believers and the workplace as a venue to glorify God.
What would happen in the fulfillment of Jesus’ disciple-making mandate if all believers saw their workplace as their primary and sacred field of ministry to make disciples while working creatively to the glory of God?
In this vision, then, the role of the church becomes strengthening and equipping every member as a full-time Christian worker to make disciples where most of life happens: in the workplace.
All believers know that we are here to demonstrate who Jesus is to the unbelieving community around us. And ironically, those with secular vocations often have more opportunity to do this than those in “full-time Christian work.” The secular workplace is where life happens for people with questions, needs and even hurts, and it is the most strategic place of ministry for most of Christ’s followers. As the authors of Going Public With Your Faithwrote, “If you and your pastor go to work for different reasons, then at least one of you is going to work for the wrong reason.” Whether in church or outside it, that one reason is to glorify God by making disciples of all nations.
Crossworld’s dream of having disciple-makers from all professions is certainly a biblical vision, not to mention a practical necessity in our world today. Every Bible-believing church would admit that the Great Commission in some sense applies to all of Jesus’ followers.
Yet for centuries there has existed a divide in which pastors and missionaries are seen as doing full-time spiritual ministry (and are held in higher esteem for it), and all other professionals are seen as doing secular employment. Most believers speak of going to church on Sunday to do spiritual ministry as teachers, helpers, elders or deacons, then getting up Monday morning to go to work to pay the bills.
I believe this reflects the prevailing mindset that our secular jobs are not really ministry, at least not our primary one. Without minimizing the importance of traditional church ministries, I believe we know this dichotomy is false. The Bible itself emphasizes the priesthood of all believers and the workplace as a venue to glorify God.
What would happen in the fulfillment of Jesus’ disciple-making mandate if all believers saw their workplace as their primary and sacred field of ministry to make disciples while working creatively to the glory of God?
In this vision, then, the role of the church becomes strengthening and equipping every member as a full-time Christian worker to make disciples where most of life happens: in the workplace.
All believers know that we are here to demonstrate who Jesus is to the unbelieving community around us. And ironically, those with secular vocations often have more opportunity to do this than those in “full-time Christian work.” The secular workplace is where life happens for people with questions, needs and even hurts, and it is the most strategic place of ministry for most of Christ’s followers. As the authors of Going Public With Your Faithwrote, “If you and your pastor go to work for different reasons, then at least one of you is going to work for the wrong reason.” Whether in church or outside it, that one reason is to glorify God by making disciples of all nations.
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