Intro - What does it mean to put the Church back in business?
“Putting the Church back in business” is an intentional play on words with two distinct meanings. But before describing the solutions, I’ll present the two problems they are intended to address:
1) In my experience, Christian men often pursue one of two career paths. One is what we call “full-time ministry.” We’re all called to be full-time ministers, but there are men who get paid to do ministry. Peter was probably the first example of a man pursuing this kind of vocational ministry. 1 Corinthians 9:13-14 says, “Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.”
The problem is, Peter had an important contemporary and American Christian men seem to have forgotten his example. Paul was a businessman. We don’t think of him that way because he was a follower of Jesus first and a businessman second. Paul continues in 1 Corinthians 9, “But I have not used any of these rights (receiving his living from the gospel)…I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast…What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge…” (v. 15-18). Paul sold tents to provide for himself and his followers, not so they could rest in the wealth they had accumulated, but so they could preach a “no strings attached gospel.” It saddens my heart that people have rejected Jesus because the men teaching us about Him often have misrepresented His teachings on money.
So why is it that men, when selecting a career path, often feel as if they must choose between being a committed Christ-follower and entering vocational ministry or compromising their faith to work in the business world? Maybe it’s our fault for failing to remain singularly-focused, full-time ministers disguised as businessmen. Maybe it’s the business world’s fault for forcing compromise. I think it’s both.
When God set up society in ancient Israel, He set aside the Levites to “perform duties for Him and for the whole community at the Tent of Meeting by doing the work of the tabernacle” (Numbers 3:8). It’s interesting to note that the total number of Levites was 22,000 (Numbers 3:39) and only 8,580 were old enough to serve (chapter 4). If you take that number and add it to the total number of Israelites from the other 11 tribes old enough to serve in the army (603,500 – 1:46), the adult male population in Israel was 612,130. The “full-time ministers” accounted for a mere 1.4% of the population. I’m not suggesting that God desires a similar ratio today, but it’s a simple fact that 98.6% of the Israeli society was not to work in the Tent of Meeting. But God certainly intended for them to be committed followers. They had their role in this society centered on God. Someone had to raise the bulls that were sacrificed in worship and then used to feed the Levites. For the Peters of the world to get paid for ministry, there have to be Pauls willing to sell some tents.
But what constitutes Godly business? Are corporations Godly? Is it Godly to sell products like cigarettes or “soft core” pornography even if they’re legal? Is it Godly to pay “market wages” in third world countries if that wage isn’t enough to provide a sustainable living? Business is not inherently bad, but some business is. Where do we draw the line?
2) The Church (capital “C”) is failing to meet its potential in a colossal way. God doesn’t need our money but He commands us as believers to participate in His work. God could wipe out disease, crime, suffering, death and all of the other ills we introduced to the world through sin, but He hasn’t. Instead, He gave us a very simple system showing how the Church and business should interact while remaining focused on Him: generosity. The minimum standard for this generosity is a tithe of 10%. Unfortunately, in America, Christians give only about 2.6% of our income to the Church, drastically short of the Biblical minimum. Incredibly, if we all generously responded to Jesus to the point of giving 10%, an additional $139 billion would be available every year for God-fearing leaders of the Church to distribute as He directs. Some estimates say that just $5 billon could end preventable global deaths of children under the age of 5. Seven billion could provide primary education for every child in the world. Eighty billion could provide access to basic health and education services to all of the world’s poor. That amounts to $92 billion per year. What if we spent the remaining $47 billion on seeking to fulfill the Great Commission? Quite a leap from the $810 million churches currently spend on reaching unevangelized nations.
I look at these numbers and I don’t think it’s a huge leap to say that extreme poverty, preventable death and disease exist because of the lack of Christian generosity.
So what does it mean to put the Church back in business?
First, it means putting the Church, Jesus’ devoted followers, literally back in the business world. Or if we’re already there, we have to teach and practice Biblical business, not American business. Jesus didn’t teach “economies of scale,” He taught intimacy and community. He didn’t teach marketing, He taught unfiltered Truth. He didn’t teach the accumulation of wealth, He taught sacrificial generosity. Biblical business is business where God is God, not money.
Second, it means serving our role as Christian businessmen to give generously to the Church to provide for our pastors and reach out to the world. The result would be a hardly recognizable movement of compassion and humble service all in the Name of Jesus.
To begin this process, I hope to use this blog to simply get the conversation going. I’ll probably just post questions and we can discuss for a few days and then I’ll post another. Or if you have questions, I’ll post those.
Twelve apostles changed the world with their willingness to die for Jesus. We can do this.
Let’s ask questions, let’s share our thoughts, let’s think, let’s act. Let’s put the Church back in business.
1) In my experience, Christian men often pursue one of two career paths. One is what we call “full-time ministry.” We’re all called to be full-time ministers, but there are men who get paid to do ministry. Peter was probably the first example of a man pursuing this kind of vocational ministry. 1 Corinthians 9:13-14 says, “Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.”
The problem is, Peter had an important contemporary and American Christian men seem to have forgotten his example. Paul was a businessman. We don’t think of him that way because he was a follower of Jesus first and a businessman second. Paul continues in 1 Corinthians 9, “But I have not used any of these rights (receiving his living from the gospel)…I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast…What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge…” (v. 15-18). Paul sold tents to provide for himself and his followers, not so they could rest in the wealth they had accumulated, but so they could preach a “no strings attached gospel.” It saddens my heart that people have rejected Jesus because the men teaching us about Him often have misrepresented His teachings on money.
So why is it that men, when selecting a career path, often feel as if they must choose between being a committed Christ-follower and entering vocational ministry or compromising their faith to work in the business world? Maybe it’s our fault for failing to remain singularly-focused, full-time ministers disguised as businessmen. Maybe it’s the business world’s fault for forcing compromise. I think it’s both.
When God set up society in ancient Israel, He set aside the Levites to “perform duties for Him and for the whole community at the Tent of Meeting by doing the work of the tabernacle” (Numbers 3:8). It’s interesting to note that the total number of Levites was 22,000 (Numbers 3:39) and only 8,580 were old enough to serve (chapter 4). If you take that number and add it to the total number of Israelites from the other 11 tribes old enough to serve in the army (603,500 – 1:46), the adult male population in Israel was 612,130. The “full-time ministers” accounted for a mere 1.4% of the population. I’m not suggesting that God desires a similar ratio today, but it’s a simple fact that 98.6% of the Israeli society was not to work in the Tent of Meeting. But God certainly intended for them to be committed followers. They had their role in this society centered on God. Someone had to raise the bulls that were sacrificed in worship and then used to feed the Levites. For the Peters of the world to get paid for ministry, there have to be Pauls willing to sell some tents.
But what constitutes Godly business? Are corporations Godly? Is it Godly to sell products like cigarettes or “soft core” pornography even if they’re legal? Is it Godly to pay “market wages” in third world countries if that wage isn’t enough to provide a sustainable living? Business is not inherently bad, but some business is. Where do we draw the line?
2) The Church (capital “C”) is failing to meet its potential in a colossal way. God doesn’t need our money but He commands us as believers to participate in His work. God could wipe out disease, crime, suffering, death and all of the other ills we introduced to the world through sin, but He hasn’t. Instead, He gave us a very simple system showing how the Church and business should interact while remaining focused on Him: generosity. The minimum standard for this generosity is a tithe of 10%. Unfortunately, in America, Christians give only about 2.6% of our income to the Church, drastically short of the Biblical minimum. Incredibly, if we all generously responded to Jesus to the point of giving 10%, an additional $139 billion would be available every year for God-fearing leaders of the Church to distribute as He directs. Some estimates say that just $5 billon could end preventable global deaths of children under the age of 5. Seven billion could provide primary education for every child in the world. Eighty billion could provide access to basic health and education services to all of the world’s poor. That amounts to $92 billion per year. What if we spent the remaining $47 billion on seeking to fulfill the Great Commission? Quite a leap from the $810 million churches currently spend on reaching unevangelized nations.
I look at these numbers and I don’t think it’s a huge leap to say that extreme poverty, preventable death and disease exist because of the lack of Christian generosity.
So what does it mean to put the Church back in business?
First, it means putting the Church, Jesus’ devoted followers, literally back in the business world. Or if we’re already there, we have to teach and practice Biblical business, not American business. Jesus didn’t teach “economies of scale,” He taught intimacy and community. He didn’t teach marketing, He taught unfiltered Truth. He didn’t teach the accumulation of wealth, He taught sacrificial generosity. Biblical business is business where God is God, not money.
Second, it means serving our role as Christian businessmen to give generously to the Church to provide for our pastors and reach out to the world. The result would be a hardly recognizable movement of compassion and humble service all in the Name of Jesus.
To begin this process, I hope to use this blog to simply get the conversation going. I’ll probably just post questions and we can discuss for a few days and then I’ll post another. Or if you have questions, I’ll post those.
Twelve apostles changed the world with their willingness to die for Jesus. We can do this.
Let’s ask questions, let’s share our thoughts, let’s think, let’s act. Let’s put the Church back in business.
posted by Matthew at 1:28 PM
13 Comments:
What we are now doing is what leads to where we are going. - John Howard Yoder
love,
kc
Matt, I am thankful that you are asking these questions. They are fodder for conversations with people in Denver who are looking at starting careers/getting jobs. I have to admit, it is a luxury that not everyone has. I think about my parents' generation...you got a job and went to work. I think about a lot of the homeless people with whom I work...they get a job if they can. In some ways, this is a question that always must be asked. In some ways, it is a question that can't always be answered in the face of adversity. I'm not too sure how to remain obedient to Scripture in our desires to provide for ourselves and our families, while laboring toward God glorifying ends. They shouldn't be diametrically opposed, but there is a definite conundrum there.
Josh, I love the perspective you bring -- we have to recognize that this struggle is rooted in a freedom that not everyone enjoys. We should be grateful for the opportunity to struggle. It's funny, it's almost as if we are enslaved by our own freedom. Because of talents, circumstances and opportunities we don't deserve, we have an endless supply of occupations at our disposal...and the proliferation of choice paralyzes us. I hope we can wrestle long enough to break some of those chains.
Matt,
In response to your comment about being 'enslaved by our freedom'...
We have discussed this before and I think I agree with you but here are some thoughts I wrote down recently:
I never liked the idea of 'having' or 'getting' a job or occupation. I think we need to change our vocabulary to that of vocation and calling. Just because we have the 'luxury' of being able to do what we want doesn't in fact give us the freedom to do what we want. Only in a system where who we are matters less than what we do is our freedom paralyzing.
We are free to do anything we want, but we can't run away from who we are. And as the people of God I think we have both the freedom and responsibility of understanding what that means and trying to live it out.
peace
kc
Good point, KC. On one hand, I'm tempted to dismiss the difference between "career" and "calling" as semantics assuming that we obviously would seek God's call in the search for a job...but I think you're right, changing our vocabulary is a direct reflection of where our hearts stand because the truth is, career often becomes more important to me than God's call. Unfortunately, they are often different.
Os Guinness wrote a book that talks about this stuff -- "The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life." I haven't read it but in an interview about the book, he quotes Lord Acton: "Freedom is not the permission to do what we like, it is the power to do what we ought."
In regards to 'calling' and 'vocation,' I've counseled guys recently to evaluate their search of these things only after they are doing that which they know they are called to.
Scripture gives us definite answers to what we 'should' do: we should pray, we should care for the widows and orphans, we should give sacrificially, we should love others and God with our whole being...etc.
If we are in the process of obedience to these things, then we might start asking the question of where God would have us go and do. It is only after we have done that which we know God has called us to do that we should begin to ask 'what's next?'
So many people are enslaved to the fears of taking a wrong step that they aren't willing to follow that which we know we are to do.
Good point. I hope the basis of all we do would be an obedient, active, thoughtful, and faithful Christian life. Unfortunately it is often times not the way we like to work, so I think that we should always stop and evaluate our faithfulness to what we already know God desires of us.
That being said, I think it is important to study and think and pray hard about where we are in God's story and remember that, historically speaking, the church has always asked the question of itself, "In this time, in this place, in the circumstances we find ourselves in, what does it mean to be the people of God?" We have made a mess of separating our 'devotional' lives and our 'public' lives and we need to reclaim all of life as holy. Otherwise we will continue to think that our work life (and i use this in the broadest sense) is secondary to our devotional life. In my opinion they should be one and the same.
There is a sub-issue I want to bring up, are we to consider those monetary contributions to the church differently from those contributions to other organizations.
If so, is this because we believe that the church is “godly” or teaches faith (or something else- Christianity?) (If so, then what of TV evangelists and rich preachers?)
If faith is the overall reason then, do contributions to other organizations such as the American Red Cross, Salvation Army (both “faith” based), the World Wildlife Fund or [insert organization(s)] reside on some sort of sliding scale faith based line/spectrum.
In other words, is there a value judgment that we can place on the organization by its supposed function? Can we then additionally say that saving people’s lives (like HIV prevention or spending on health care) is better or worse or equal to giving money to a church or saving the environment for future generations (thereby saving future lives).
I guess the question that I end up asking is why should I give money to the church instead of something else? Is it “right” or “wrong” that I would rather my money (what money) goes somewhere that I believe in apart from the church? Lastly, is my ability to ask these questions a function of my lack of faith in the traditional sense; I tend to see faith in the broadest of uses of the term and see faith based organizations in a diversity of organizations.
Clayton
"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. BUT SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, and all these things will be added to you."
-- Matthew 6 (this applies more to anxiety about providing our earthly needs...which few of us, if any of us, need to be worried about for ourselves. Regardless, I think the principle of the verse still applies.)
I apologize in advance for my over-simplification. But before we run too long with our thoughts and opinions, I want to bring us back to the central truth. Love Jesus. Follow Jesus. Obey Jesus. If we can do this, the question seems to answer itself. If we are focusing on Jesus, beholding His glory, then we will die to ourselves and obey His calling. If we could truly stop thinking about our own lives and think more about God's desire for HIS glory, then and only then will we be honestly open to go wherever God leads.
I agree 100% that God has called the majority of the church to live as laymen in the world. I also believe that the secular world has more than enough believers in it, the problem is that they are more focused on themselves and their own career than they are on God's glory. Meanwhile, I believe that the mission field is in great need of laborers. I will repeat...I think God has called the majority of the church to live as laymen in the world. But with that said, I believe there are more people who are called into the mission field that disobey God by going into the "ministry" of the business world, than there are people who are called into the business world and disobey God by going into full-time ministry.
The answer isn't to pull out of the business world. The answer for many is stay right in the middles of it. But, we must genuinely seek the kingdom of God FIRST.
I appreciate these questions. Tough, tough questions that we must all wrestle with. I encourage all of us to be focused whole-heartedly on God's glory, blinded to ANYTHING else (especially our own desires). Only then we will be able to hear God's will for our lives.
This is from Rexman, forgot my password....
Got something:
http://www.wpbf.com/news/9963635/detail.html?subid=22100411&qs=1;bp=t
Please read and comment.....know your leadership in and out!! Doesn't matter if you are deemed snoopy or not...know your leadership. We are all fallible, yes, but these are individuals who have devoted their lives to living life by the Word and in Spirit. This is plainly unacceptable. Thoughts?
You could be more Christologically focused in the way you argue these points, but I take them to be good ones. For example, you could say Paul was a Christian. Being a Christian redefines what it would mean to participate in economic realities. I think this is rhetorically and theologically preferable to Paul was a Christian first, and businessman second. This is an aside, not an argument.
That being said, you have to be open to the possibility that one may be compromising one's faith by working in the business world or for that matter living in a wealthy exclusive suburb. Not necessarily, of course, but these are the kind of concrete claims that being Christian should entail.
Here's to making this blog as rigorously theological and as concrete as possible!
Here's a question (the kind which I take to be important) which someone can take up or not: What does fasting have to do with determining the kinds of jobs which a Christian can accept?
dan...I've not met you, but just looked at your profile. What are you doing in Aberdeen? I spent the summer in Glasgow. I thought you comments were...interesting.
So, as one who works in an innercity church (www.scumoftheearth.net), I have wrestled with these questions a lot. As a church, we have a benevolence budget of close to 20% of our monthly budget. Our monthly budget is, though, only about $6,000/mth. We can't give that much away, but we give away that which we can.
We are in the process of trying to get a building to have church in. We are about 300 to 350 in weekly attendance, so it is difficult to find a place to put ourselves. That said, we need a larger space that we could use all week long to house a clothing bank, life skills classes, etc.
So, in the process of trying to get a building, we've gone to several churches to ask for money. One of them is a local church here in Denver who recently built an 8 Million dollar sanctuary just for weddings and special occassions. That's four time what we are asking for a building that would be used on a daily basis.
I've had to ask myself these questions and wrestle with these issues. What I've come to realize is, though, that anything that we receive as a church, whether it be a building or money or any other number of things, is a measure of grace from God. We have a church who rents us their sanctuary every Sunday night for $1000/mth. That is a measure of grace. We have people who come down and cook dinner for about 200 people every week to be served before church. That is a measure of grace. We have been incredible recipients of grace.
As a church, it is easy to look around and note that people haven't given sacrificially and haven't gone without so that there might be equity in the church. But the moment that I think that I have that mentality is the moment that I enter into the mindset that perpetuates poverty among so many people in the city: a strong sense of entitlement; that which we receive is not grace, but what is owed to us.
As a minister, I raise 100% of my salary from outside the church. It is not something that I would have ever wished for, but it is something that God has worked through strongly in my life and in the lives of my supporters. I have come from a job where I made more than twice what I am currently making, but I have learned thankfulness and contentment in my current position in life and finances.
I say all of this to give a perspective that might be different than that which is held by most of the people on this blog. I say this also to note more than money, the city needs hope. The exchange of hope as a commodity between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' only occurs through relationship. And relationship creates significant opportunity for mutual learning.
Well, since you asked, I'm working on my Ph.D. in Theology at the University of Aberdeen under the great Karl Barth scholar John Webster.
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