The Marketplace is a larger ministry field than just ministering in the organized church.
I remember years ago when I was the assistant pastor of a church, I was meeting with the senior pastor and I told him it was time for me to step down from working with his church. I wanted to put more focus on working with people in the marketplace and even launch a small home group. I felt I had better discipleship opportunity by working with a smaller group of people than with a larger church. The pastor got some paper and a pen out and started to draw two circles, a big one, and a small one. He said, “Imagine these are ponds. Right now you are in the big pond and have lots of fish to minister to. Why would you want to go to a smaller pond with less opportunity?” From his perspective, he was looking at his church and looking to see how he could fit the kingdom of God into the box that he was building. From my perspective, I didn’t see his church being the larger pond because I was trying to look at the body of Christ, the Church as a whole, and how could we reach people on a larger scale.
I chose to step down and walk away and over the last 6 years since leaving that church, I have had many opportunities to disciple people all over the world, including starting multiple home groups, two businesses, and pastoring a church in Costa Rica with my family for two years. I have discipled people from many nations and continue to pour out to people. My point is, if I would have stayed where I was and focused on building the local church I was part of, I would have missed out on the experience of ministering to 100’s of people from around the world, and missed out on a life that has grown and challenged me on so many levels I have never dreamed of.
I feel that so many of us have allowed church or our fellowship to become the safety net that we use to spread the gospel. What I mean by that is, we feel much safer to invite someone to come to church so that they can hear the word of God from the pastor rather than meeting the people where they are at and bringing Jesus to them. Some of the greatest times in my life when I have ministered the gospel was not during one of my sermons at church but while I was sitting in a coffee shop or even in a bar (yes you read that right, a bar) sitting in a bar hearing the stories or struggles of another person. Don’t be afraid to step away from the safety net. Jesus met people where they were.
In Matthew 9:10-13, we read:
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” New International Version (NIV).
I love how this same scripture is translated in The Message Bible:
Verses 10-13 — Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riffraff?” Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”
There is a time to fellowship and minister within your church or fellowship but if we really want to reach those that don’t know what true life and love is, then we must go to where they are. We must be willing to lay our status quo or self-images down and have dinner with “the crooks and riffraff,” as stated in Matthew 9:11. Many of us that have been involved with the church have heard many times that “the fields are ripe for harvest but the workers are few.”
Why do you think that the workers are few?
I believe it is because that most believers have been taught to work the field within their local church and have not been trained or released to work the massive field outside of the four walls. And it is because of this reason that many believers feel empty about their calling. Many have found it is easier to lay down their harvesting tools because they are not being challenged to work beyond the local church.
But as I shared with you earlier, when I made the choice to follow the Lord into the world through business, ministry, and other avenues, I was introduced to a new world of discipleship opportunities I would have never reached had I played it safe. So don't be afraid to step out and go!
Let me leave you with a couple of action steps:
Spend some time in prayer asking the Lord to show you what field He wants you to start harvesting in. This could be at your job, school, or wherever He leads you.
- Ask Him to show you what tools, skills, or talents He has placed inside you to help you in your harvesting.
- Connect with one or two others that are harvesting in the same field you are in. We can accomplish much more when we work together, then apart.
Focus on these three things and keep tent making!