Audio Transcript: "3 Trends in the Marketplace Christianity Movement"

Episode 33 three trends in the marketplace Christianity movement. Welcome  back to the theology of business podcast, the show that helps marketplace  Christians to partner with God in business to transform the marketplace and  make an impact in eternity. I'm your host. Darren Shearer, author of the brand  new book, The Marketplace Christian, a practical guide to using your spiritual  gifts and business, and also the book marketing like Jesus 25 strategies to  change the world. I hope you enjoy today's episode, and I'd love to have a  discussion with you in the comments section for this episode at  theologyofbusiness.com, find this episode and also the transcript. Just go to the  search box at theologyofbusiness.com and type the word trends, and the  episode will come up. And also, before we get going here, starting a few months ago, I announced that our sponsor, Highbridge books, is sponsoring a book  contest, actually a book proposal contest in partnership with theology of  business on the theme of doing business God's way. And at the end of today's  episode, I'm going to announce the winner of this year's contest, who will  receive a complimentary book publishing package and will be interviewed about  the book as a guest on this show, the old Sunday, Monday, sacred, secular  divide has been closing at an increasing rate. In recent years, the church in the  marketplace is maturing and the marketplace Christianity movement is  advancing. In a previous episode, I talked about a brief history of the  marketplace Christianity movement, going back to the 1930s and then up  through the present, to show how we arrived at this adolescent phase of the  movement. So I talked about how from the 30s to the 50s, we could define that  and probably label that as the men's evangelism focus with groups like the  CBMC and the in the full gospel businessman's committee, and then in the 60s  and 70s, during the Charismatic Renewal, it was what I called a charismatic and Diversity focus of of the marketplace ministry, or marketplace Christianity  movement. And then in the 80s, you had the timeless business principles focus  Larry Burkett's book, business by the book really was a milestone. And really, I  think, encapsulates the significance of that in the in the principles, bringing from  Proverbs and talking about how biblical wisdom is applicable in a business  setting. And then in the 90s, you had groups like halftime that was helping  people to discover a sense of meaning and purpose in their work. And that was  what I call the search for meaning focus, and then in the 2000s It was sort of  three streams that seemed to emerge. One was the Neo Calvinist stream that  emphasized Genesis 1-2 and and the creation story, and basically how our work in the marketplace, whether as a janitor or as a banker or as a baker, no matter  what our job is, is glorifying to God, our work is our worship because it's it's  going back to God's economy. It plays a role in God's universal economy, and  work is a good thing. The Neo Calvinist stream has taught us, and then in the  2000s we also had the evangelical stream, which I think we can label as the  businesses mission focus, very much an emphasis on doing international 

missions work with the vehicle of business and going into other countries and  going about business redemptively in order to make impact in the culture. And  then in the 2000s also, there was a Pentecostal charismatic stream that I'll call  

the the cultural transformation focus. If you're familiar with the seven mountains  mandate teaching basically how God wants the church to go in and reclaim  these seven mountains of culture, of business and government and education  and so on. So what are the trends that characterize the marketplace Christianity  movement in this present decade? The first trend I want to talk about. I'm going  to label less talk more action. Since the 1990s the movement has been focused  primarily on highlighting problems such as the separations between sacred and  secular church in the workplace, etc. But today, rather than waiting for an  endorsement of their ministry callings to business, many marketplace Christians  are simply doing what they're called to do. They're not having just having  discussions about faith and work. They're actually going about doing it. For  example, many of today's Christian entrepreneurs, and by the way, with with the  millennials that are really coming into leadership in corporate America, the  millennials are asking the question, does it work? Not, not. Okay, that's that's a  good message, but does it actually work? And so that's forcing the conversation  to become more than just a conversation and to actually become action. And an  example of how this is happening is that many of today's Christian  entrepreneurs are launching and growing successful companies for the  foundational purpose of glorifying God in the marketplace. One that comes to  mind is Telos ventures capital. It's early stage venture capital fund that is built  and invested in several of these, what they call gospel centered for profit  ventures. The company invests $50,000 to $300,000 in viable, early stage  startups whose founders demonstrate a compelling response to the question,  how are you planning to live out your faith through this business model? Okay,  that's great that it seems like you've got a good market. It seems like you're  going to be able to make money with this, but in what, in what way is this  consistent with biblical principles. How are you expressing your love for Christ?  How are you expressing your Christian faith through this business? That's what  that's what really sets this venture capital company apart. And they're going after companies and entrepreneurs that don't just want to make money, but they want to make eternal impact as well. So that's Trend number one, Less talk, more  action. The second trend I want to talk about is what I'll call division of labor.  Every spiritual gift given by the Holy Spirit to the people of God, which is the  church, which isn't just a building, it's the people of God. Every spiritual gift is  represented in the marketplace, because that's where about 85% of the church  spends a majority of their waking hours as marketplace Christians are  discovering their unique ministry assignments in the business world. What's  happening is that a division of labor among the extended churches ministry  responsibilities is emerging, and the uniqueness of our different assignments is 

the reason for the wide variety of terms and phrases currently being used to  describe what God is doing in the business world. And you've probably heard  some of these, if not all of these, biblical entrepreneurship, marketplace ministry, Business as Mission, workplace ministry, the seven mountains mandate, work  as worship, theology of work, values based investing, theology of business, one  of my favorites, eternal return on investment or EROI, Christian companies,  social entrepreneurship, great commission companies, Christ centered  companies, workplace evangelism, Kingdom business, values based business.  And certainly those aren't all of the terms that are being used out there, but  that's that's certainly a good sampling. It's a good thing that not every  marketplace Christian approaches marketplace Christianity in the exact same  way. So let's not worry about trying to get everyone to use the same terms to  describe what the Holy Spirit is doing in business. Every marketplace Christian's gifts and callings are essential for the fulfillment of God's will for the business  world. Okay, so that's the second trend, the division of labor, and how the Holy  Spirit is using all of the spiritual gifts, all of the denominations, all of the  theological backgrounds and denominational backgrounds, to to contribute  something critical to the to the Holy Spirit's mission in the marketplace. The third trend that I want to talk about is what I'll call ministry collaboration, as we  recognize this variety and diversity of the church's marketplace assignments,  many of us are realizing opportunities to collaborate with other Christians for the purpose of revealing the glory of God in the business world, Christian business  consultants are providing spirit led, biblically based business advice for Christian business leaders. One that comes to mind is Dr Jim Harris. I just had him on the podcast talking about releasing your unfair advantage, the unfair advantage that we have as Christians because we're in partnership with the Holy Spirit. Another example, Christian venture capitalists are investing in the companies of  Christian entrepreneurs. Talked about that just a moment ago. Christian  chaplains are serving the employees of Christian business owners. Christian  pastors are collaborating with business professionals and their churches to host  a marketplace ministry equipping programs. I know my church is doing that. It's  very exciting what the Holy Spirit is doing. Christian business professionals are  referring new customers and clients to each other. I mean, I get a lot of new  clients for my publishing company from referrals from other brothers and sisters  in Christ. Another example is that in the podcasting industry, and those of you  who are listening, you may be familiar with some of the other great Christian  podcasts that are out there targeting and really speaking about marketplace  Christianity, but in this industry, an entire ecosystem is developing around The  theme of marketplace Christianity, since about 2013 2014 podcast shows such  as The Success edge, church for entrepreneurs. Kingdom driven entrepreneur, I work for him. Gospel driven entrepreneur, eternal leadership, theology of  business and others have emerged with the goal, and not just emerged, but they

have been lasting like they they didn't just do, you know, the the typical podcast  is going to last about seven episodes, but these really have lasted, and are  going the distance to continue to provide value, and to continue to provide  equipping and training for marketplace Christians. And they're sharing stories of  of other marketplace Christians that are out there that are doing this stuff in  business, day in, day out, and so and so. We all have the goal of helping  Christians to apply their Christian faith to their work in business. Very exciting.  What's happening with this movement in the podcasting industry, specifically,  also the mission America Coalition, which is a big missions organization, a big  missions coalition, that's part of the Lausanne convention, if you're familiar. It's a big international missions convention. Billy Graham had, had been a part of it  and so forth, but, but the mission America coalition is a US plant, the US focus  of the Lausanne convention, and it's launched a new initiative in which key  leaders in the marketplace Christianity movement have united under a vision to  see 56 million people reached with the love of Jesus in the workplace by the  year 2020, and of course, that's just talking about the United States. I know we  have listeners from all over the world, but it's just exciting to see people that  have a vision to reach the business people in their nation. I mean, what is do  you have that burden for the people in your nation? I know we have people that  listen to Nigeria and Kenya and even all over Europe and Asia, South America,  but what is your vision for the marketplace in your nation? And if, if 56 million  people in the United States are going to be reached with the love of Jesus in the marketplace by 2020 it's definitely going to require that we as marketplace  Christians work together across denominational, racial, professional, socio  economic and any other lines that divide us. Now, approximately 85% of  Christians spend most of their waking hours working in for profit companies, so  the potential impact of our ministry collaboration for the glory of God is just  astounding. So in closing, I want to leave you with a discussion question again.  I'd love to hear your thoughts about this. Go to theologyofbusiness.com type in  trends in the search box and comment on this question down in the discussion.  Have you noticed evidence of any of these current trends in the marketplace,  Christianity movement? And also, have you noticed any other current trends in  the movement. Love to hear from you. This episode of the theology of business  podcast was sponsored by high bridge books, which provides professional book  publishing and author coaching services for inspiring thought leaders. You can  take the next step toward getting your book published by requesting our free.  Three video author training course at Highbridgebooks.com/course. And thanks  to everyone who submitted an entry into this year's theology of business book  proposal contest, where we were selecting a book proposal on the theme of  partnering with God and business and doing business for the glory of God,  because, as you know, that's really the mission of theology of business. Now, I  can't reveal the subject of his book at this stage, but the winner of this year's 

contest, who was selected is Dr Justin Gandy, who is an Assistant Professor of  Management at Dallas Baptist University. He's an expert in social  entrepreneurship, and you're definitely going to be hearing from him on this  podcast. I hope you've enjoyed this episode, and I would like to hear your  feedback at theologyofbusiness.com where you get more information about  marketplace ministry, spiritual gifts in the marketplace marketing like Jesus and  Christ centered leadership and entrepreneurship. And also feel free to email me  at darren@highbridgebooks.com if you have any questions or comments related to the theology of business, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for listening and  keep partnering With God in Your business.