My friend, Os Hillman, has become a guru to those in the marketplace who are seeking to incarnate Christ there. He wrote the definitive book on how to do it, 9 to 5 Window. But as good as his ideas or those of others may be, Jesus-followers face a hard slog making disciples there. Here’s why:
No abandon – Jesus’ model of disciple-making required his disciples to leave security and comfort behind. This was necessary to focus the mind and set up disciples to depend completely on God.
Little dependence – Dependence on God in the marketplace is largely a function of a person’s boldness. But the constant potential for a conflict-of-interest is also there. What’s good for the Kingdom in your eyes may not be good for the company in your boss’s eyes.
No immersion – to get a Kingdom mindset, Jesus threw his disciples into the deep end. They left their jobs behind and were immersed in ministry 24/7. They were forced to grapple with Kingdom issues in a steady stream of real world situations with their friend and mentor there to debrief them in real time.
This is not to say that disciple-making can’t happen in the marketplace – it’s where most of us live and breathe. We need to incarnate Christ everywhere. At the same time, to emulate Jesus’ model, we may have to leave the marketplace for a time to have an infusion of the Kingdom and make a paradigm-shift, before returning to minister there.
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