Finding blessing in the 9-5 window.

I’m sure that you may have heard about the ‘least reached’ portion of the world called the 10/40 window? This is a geographical region where there are no Christians, or very few Christians. For many years churches and Christian ministries have focussed their energy and attention on getting missionaries into those areas to spread the Gospel of Christ.

You may be surprised to discover that there is a region much closer to where you are every day that is also classified as an ‘unreached’ group for the Gospel! I call it the 9 to 5 window! Of course I am referring to the place where you work each day – the reality is that the work place is one of the least reached and transformed regions of the world.

Of course there are many reasons for this. Some people have come to believe that Christianity is something that belongs to a particular building (your church) or a particular time (Sunday morning). However, what do you think Jesus meant when he prayed ‘…let your Kingdom come, let your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:10)? Of course Jesus wasn’t just praying that God’s Kingdom would be established in a particular place, or at particular times! Jesus longs to be Lord of both the Church and the Marketplace!

So, the question is, who takes responsibility for the establishment of God’s Kingdom where you spend most of your day? Who is God calling to transform your work place to reflect the values of His Kingdom?

Part of the answer can be found in the following verse: ‘go and make disciples of all nations…’ (Matthew 28:20). Being a disciple of Jesus means that one is disciplined in the ways of Jesus. Believing in Jesus as saviour is only the beginning (sure it is the most important start that any person could ever make, however it is just the beginning of what God longs for!) You know I read this verse for many years and never realised that Jesus commands his disciples, and also commands you and me, to go and make disciples of all nations.

I was a Pastor of various Churches for almost 17 years. As I think back on the teaching, preaching, and courses that I ran in those churches I came to realise that we spent quite a lot of time trying to help people to become disciples of Jesus. However, we spent very little time trying to disciple those elements that make up a nation!

Have you ever considered that God may be calling you to be a minister in the marketplace? It may just be that God has placed you in the office where you work, among the people that you encounter (co-workers, clients etc.) in order to disciple them, and the systems within which you work, in order to establish His Kingdom on that little bit of earth!

If you were to think about the people and things that you face regularly during your work week, what would God want to change? Perhaps there is a particular policy in your company that is unethical. Maybe there is some relationship between your boss and another co-worker that does not reflect Christ’s love. Maybe there are some decisions that are being made that are unlawful, or hurtful, to your community. I think God may be calling you to take responsibility for establishing His Kingdom in that place!

Doing this may not be as difficult as you imagine. In the company where I serve, the Power Group of Companies, transformation began when one employee (a lady named Eleanor) decided to start praying for her bosses and her co-workers. That was all she did! Then eventually she got some others to join her in prayer, and from there some key influences and decision makers started changing small little things in the company during meetings and gatherings. They prayed that God would bless and use their company to transform the industry and reach the nation. This simple act, by a secretary, eventually led to the conversion of the CEO, Graham Power, who went on the start the largest prayer movement in all recorded history – the Global Day of Prayer.

Eleanor took responsibility for her work life and her work place, and through her God was able to reach into and transform one of the least reached places on earth, the 9 to 5 window! Where is God calling you to take responsibility?

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Dr Dion Forster is the chaplain to the Power Group of Companies and the Global Day of Prayer and Unashamedly Ethical campaigns. He is a marketplace minister who helps others to find ways of serving Christ from Monday to Saturday. His most recent book, written with Graham Power, is entitled ‘Transform your work life: Turn your ordinary day into an extraordinary calling’ (Struik, 2010). See http://www.dionforster.com for further information.

Transform your ordinary day into an extraordinary calling!

My ministry changed radically about 9 years ago when a wealthy business person came to faith in Christ. He is a gifted and capable person who had made an incredible success of his companies. My first inclination, when he asked how he could serve the Lord, was to suggest that he get involved in the leadership of our Church, or perhaps run our Church's finance commission (clearly he was a gifted leader and a person who knew how to work with money). If I had suggested that to him the result may have been two things.

1) I may have helped one Methodist Church in a single city of South Africa to develop.
2) I'm fairly certain that in the process this new Christian would have become bored and frustrated with the task I had assigned him to and he would have moved on.

Thankfully I was dumb enough NOT to get him into that position - rather I invited him to join a small group that I was running specifically for business people. Here I knew his peers could start to disciple him on things like Christian worship, loving service, stewardship and the use of his influence and resources for Christ's Kingdom... The long and short of it is that the person I am talking about is Graham Power, who went on to start the Global Day of Prayer (which this year had between 300 and 400 million persons participating).

Graham has become a significant figure in world Christianity. God has used him to bring new excitement, passion, and drive to many Churches and denominations worldwide. Equally significant has been his influence among his peers (all leaders in their own right, either in business or politics) who have made some significant choices that have bettered the lives of many millions of persons in countries such as Ghana, Argentina, Kenya, the USA and a host of other nations.

I have come to consider this one fact: Graham was created by God to do business... It's what he does well, and he God blesses his efforts.

So, when Graham works to God's glory and towards the aims of achieving God's will for his companies, the industry in which he works, and the nation that he influences, then his work becomes worship!

What the world really looks like! It's all a matter of perspective.

What the world really looks like! It's all a matter of perspective
In my first New Testament lesson of each year at the University I use a simple illustration to help the students understand why we need to study the bible, and particularly why we need to find tools to help us understand the bias with which we read the text.

For example, if I were to ask you, what God's gender is, most people would say 'Male' because the Bible speaks of the first person of the Trinity as 'Father', but if I ask you what race God is, many would say that God is a Caucasian (white) person. However, there is no evidence in scripture that God is 'white', or in fact even male!

The fact that the Biblical writers refer to the first person of the Trinity as Father has much more to do with their culture (and the role and respect accorded to fathers) than it does with God's gender! Yet, because of the dominance of western perspectives on the text we just assume such approaches, as male dominance, and race bias, uncritically.

So, let me ask you, what is the first image above a representation of? No, it is not a map of the world. Rather, it is a North American / European view of the world, i.e., it is Eurocentric. It emphasises the size of Europe and North America, presenting them as larger than Africa and South America.

However, this is what the land mass of the world actually looks like (see second image)! Look how small Europe and North America are actually in comparison to Africa and South America (the Peters Projection is a representation of 'actual land mass' of the continents). Amazingly this map is referred to as a 'distorted map', even though it is a more accurate representation of the land mass of the world... Even reality does not always change perspectives.

Bias is powerful! We need to be aware of it, lest we put words into God's mouth.
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This is from Dr. Dion Foster’s blog – Dion’s random ramblings. Dion’s profile on his site tells us that he loves theology, science, computers and Vespa’s! Dion has a Doctorate in Theology and Science (Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience and African Theology). He is an ordained Methodist minister, teaches theology and presently works for Global Day of Prayer. Catch his blog on www.spirituality.org.za

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