Amongst all the huff and puff, wailings and gnashing of teeth about the state of the Church, one central fact has been overlooked… the bulk of church-generated initiatives have nothing to do with the way people spend the bulk of their waking hours. That’s why over 50% of evangelicals have never heard a sermon on work… not one. How can we possibly pretend that the Church is supporting its people where they are when the vast majority have no support whatsoever for the way they spend 60 or 70% of their waking lives? And if it’s true that most people think their work is spiritually inferior to the pastor’s and the missionary’s, if it’s true that most people have very little idea why their particular work as secretary, bricklayer, stockbroker, housewife, engineer might be of significance to God, then it’s also true of evangelism

Dennis Peacocke is the founder and president of Strategic Christian Services, a leadership organization dedicated to demonstrating the relevance of Christianity to every area of contemporary life. He has authored three books: Winning the Battle for the Minds of Men, published in 1987 and 2000, Doing Business God’s Way, published in 1994 and 2003, and The Emperor Has No Clothes published in 2003.
Visit his website
I had the privilege of hearing Dennis speak many years ago and the impact of his teaching remains. Here is a recent article he wrote.

The foundational principles of any human institution, culture, or nation, are the most important thing for the leaders to both teach, re-enforce, and defend. If the foundations are weakened or destroyed, all that rests upon them collapses and must be re-built. We live in such a historical moment when the very foundations of western culture as we have known them are at risk.

While many could argue what exactly those most critical foundational principles are, I would like to put forward seven of them:

1. Strong cultures have a clear hierarchy of values that hold the majority of citizens together. If the culture or the nation is unclear about exactly what their hierarchy of core values or principles are, the nation will fracture, the people will be confused, and all existing social structuring will move into decay.

Australian Marketplace Connections is an organisation headed by Peter Kentley in Melbourne which seeks to empower Christians to impact their workplace. You can find out more by visiting their website.

Marketplace Connections
Here is an encouraging testimony that shows the sort of work MC is involved in.

Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting a good friend at her work place, a call centre.

I met her staff as well, and after work other ex-staff members started to drop in. One of them, Alisha, came in to say goodbye before heading off to her Muslim country for 8 weeks. My friend asked her if she wanted us to pray for her and before I knew it, we were passionately praying for this girl for protection and for God’s spirit to guide her and help her. The other four staff and ex-staff members present joined us in prayer and stood around Alisha and laid their hands on her. For me it was a very special moment. The Lord was here, in the middle of the work place. It was so good to see how these people loved each other and cared for each other.

It has not always been like this. At the end of last year, my friend received a phone call from a distant friend, asking her to come and help and manage a team at the call centre, which was very difficult, over the past 12 months a number of managers had given up and left. Although my friend was not keen on this job, she felt an urge from the Lord to go there.

Many of you will be aware that the concept of Business as Mission (BAM) is growing across the globe. In terms of missions BAM is seen as one of the most important and effective ways to impact other countries for the gospel. A group of business leaders on the Sunshine Coast have begun discussions about establishing a Business as Mission school here in SE Qld possibly next year. It is early days yet but we will keep you posted as our deliberations develop. If in the meanwhile any of our readers are interested in this concept or have some ideas for its implementation please get in touch.
As they say – Watch this space!