The MP is the context in which people everywhere try to improve their circumstances, raise their living standards, educate their children, and find a better life. Individuals immersed in poverty turn to the MP to transform their personal and family situations, to bootstrap themselves out of poverty, to earn their daily bread, to have sufficient food, better housing, and nicer clothing. In short, through the MP they seek to have and enjoy the best of modern civilization and to participate in the “good life” they see around the world.
In a larger context, nations and regional groupings of nations continually form alliances to improve their MP-based economies in order to achieve greater prosperity and security for their people. Lesser political subdivisions such as cities and states uniformly seek to transform the economies in their areas, attract new industry, create new and better jobs, generate wealth, and ignite the modern engines of prosperity.
In today’s globalizing world, transformation of the external, physical aspects of life through the MP is on virtually every personal and political agenda worldwide regardless of political structure or ideology. That is because the MP is perhaps the only human institution that touches, directly or indirectly, virtually every person on planet Earth. In one form or another, it is a pervasive part of every society, culture and people group, and is found in the midst of every religion and every political system in every historic era. Everyone either earns a living or is supported by someone who does, whether it be through filial duty, charity or taxes; and since the dawn of humanity, when people came together to form social units, they have interacted to their mutual good within the context of the Marketplace. Their goal is simple: survival, sustenance, and success for their personal, familial, and societal transformation, both quantitatively and qualitatively, both externally and internally.
The Marketplace: A Definition
What is the MP? It is variously defined, but in its most basic sense, it is the forum through which human economic commerce is conducted.
It is called various things in various regions of the world and in various historic eras, but today it is predominantly known as the private commercial business community. And yet, it is so much more than that. It also includes the workplace – the place where people earn their livings – whether that be in business, government, education, non-profit organizations, or churches.
It also includes those policy-making forums that impact the economy, the commercial business community, and the people in the workplace. Those policy-making forums can be governmental such as legislatures, central banks, and administrative, bureaucratic rule-making bodies or they can be quasi-governmental, transnational, even global or regional institutions such as the World Trade Organization, World Bank, International Monetary Fund or European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
In summary, the MP exists at both the micro (individual and company) and macro (main state and global) levels. In this day of vast economic disparity, the MP is ubiquitous and, in the popular mind, synonymous with prosperity, transformation of external circumstances, and transformation to an improved quality of life.
The Gospel and the Marketplace
It follows that if the Gospel of Jesus Christ is needed by humanity, if it applies in any and all situations, if it is relevant to every aspect of human existence and activity, then it is needed by, applies in, and is relevant to the MP. It follows further that the MP, as a major center of human power, activity, and attention, cannot be ignored or neglected by God’s people if the Church is to be obedient to its calling. Quite the contrary, the MP should receive major attention from the Church in both its institutional, ecclesiastical forms and in its broader para-church manifestations if it is to truly engage people contextually where they live. Historically, however, this has not happened.
Tension Between the Marketplace and the Church
Traditionally, the MP and its various venues – business, government, and education – have been off-limits to the Church. This is especially true in regard to the commercial business community. In fact, a great historic, cultural divide remains between the pulpit and the business community. This divide, in many instances, manifests itself not only in mutual antipathy, but often in outright hostility and suspicion. Recent Harvard-based research found that there is a “new collision of [the] spiritual and business,” that “many people’s faith suffers a bifurcation when set in a business context” and that the church is “anticapitalist,” and “antibusiness.”
Fortunately, these walls between the MP and the Church are beginning to crumble. The scriptures are being re-examined through MP eyes and we are beginning to see a sharp return to the doctrine of the Priesthood of All Believers, a critical reassessment of the role of the clergy as shepherds of their flocks, and the rise of a new laity-driven, pastor-supported mission paradigm. In the MP, it is becoming universally recognized that one can be both a good, successful businessperson and a faithful, obedient follower of Jesus Christ.
The Marketplace Mission Movement
This resurgent movement of the laity is bringing about a new appreciation among God’s people for the role of the MP in the holistic, Christ-centered transformation of all humanity – physical, emotional and spiritual. The dynamic of this movement are fast and fluid, but it is quickly turning into a massive MP movement among God’s people within the business community. Not coincidentally, the movement is erupting spontaneously and independently all around the world and many keen observers are saying that the marketplace may well be the primary mission field of the 21st century.
Jesus said for us to study the signs of the times to know how God is moving among us. This seems to be one of those times. Often referred to as the “Marketplace Mission Movement” or simply as “The Movement”, many MP Movement insiders consider it to be the leading edge of a God-driven tidal wave that may sweep the planet and see the final realization of the Great Commission mandated by Jesus. It may well become one of the truly great Christian movements of history and it is emerging here and now, through us and in our time.
The Church and Marketplace Transformation
It is axiomatic to every believer that the MP and its participants need Jesus Christ and His life-saving Gospel. It is equally foundational that the Church, as the chosen manifestation of Christ’s body and presence on Earth, needs 1) to recognize the sign of the times and the apparent importance of today’s MP in God’s mission Dei, and 2) to focus on the MP as a primary mission field in its own right, deserving of the Church’s full attention and resources. And yet, thus far, this new mission movement is “below the radar screen” of the Church and even the foremost schools that are dedicated to studying Christian mission and missiology.
Commission and the transforming redemption of humanity. The power of the Gospel, combined with the power of the MP, in the hands of the all-powerful I AM could affect the holistic transformation of this planet and its inhabitants in ways never possible before the advent of modern globalization ant the global village.
The MP, Mission within the MP, and Mission through the MP.
Mission to the Marketplace
Mission to the MP refers to God’s people who are outside of the MP seeing the MP as a legitimate mission field to be penetrated with and for the Gospel. It is MP outsiders (etic) going into the MP to evangelize and disciple MP insiders (emic). It may take many forms such as Bible studies, prayer walks, relationship evangelism, and even personal, loving confrontation. In its essence, however, it is crossing the barriers from the ecclesiastical world into the corporate world to plant the life-transforming seeds of the Gospel and to demonstrate the love of Jesus and the grace and forgiveness of God.
Mission within the Marketplace
Mission within the MP is quite different. It refers to Christians within the MP, that is, Christians who are already MP participants, championing the Gospel in the MP. In so doing, mission within the MP takes two fundamentally different, albeit complimentary, forms. First, ministry by Christian MP insiders to other Christian MP insiders; and second, ministry by Christian MP insiders to non-Christian MP insiders.
The first form exhibits itself in many ways: fellowshipping, motivating, encouraging, mentoring, and discipling each other, not only for personal transformation, but to understand the special call of God on those within the MP. It also involves learning how to be salt and light where God has planted them, how to deal with real business problems in Christ-honoring, Bible-based, Spirit-filled ways, and, for executives, how to lead their companies for Christ.
The second form of ministry within the MP is primarily focused on evangelism – leading the lost to Jesus. This is being done in a wide variety of ways and must be contextualized to the industry, gender, age and circumstances of the seekers, as well as to the political and legal realities of the particular business environment.
In both cases, transformation of the individual is paramount. But, from this, flows a stream of living water that also transforms each workplace and each company and its culture. This allows the company to be used of the Holy Spirit to transform the lives of the company’s employees and their families, its suppliers and vendors, clients and customers, creditors and investors, and even its competitors, trade unions, trade associations, and industry.
In this way, starting at the grass roots and empowered by the Holy Spirit, the Gospel becomes God’s yeast in the MP, impacting and transforming cities, nations, and through international commerce and globalization, the entire world. The transforming power of the Gospel, carried by the MP and its modern global linkages, can now touch and potentially transform all of humanity in our time.
Today’s MP is like an invisible spider web that encompasses the entire planet. It is no wonder that the internet is known as “the web”, for its radiates outward in ever-growing, ever interconnected, tighter circles. Think what it could mean if Jesus Christ were at the center of the MP web, rather than Satan’s black widow. So too, imagine what it could mean to humanity’s holistic transformation and quality of life, if the MP were Christ’s territory, part of the universal Church, dedicated to His glory and His purposes.
Mission through the Marketplace
The third MP mission avenue is mission through the MP. This is perhaps the most exciting arena. Currently operating under the rubric of “Business as Mission” (BAM) and Pauline tentmaking, mission through the MP basically seeks to leverage the resources, power and networks of the MP for Kingdom purposes. It is Christians within the MP reaching beyond their own MP to address the holistic needs of hurting people who are in other, alien MPs or who are totally outside of all MPs. Through the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, BAM seeks to harness the secular power of the MP to touch people’s lives with the love of Christ and to help alleviate their pain.
This type of mission may take many different forms. It may involve businesses that reach into their local communities with holistic people projects – individuals or group – such as social services, educational support, employment training, health care, youth service, or family assistance. It may mean providing airplanes, money and doctors to fly into neighboring nations – or motoring into the inner city – to conduct medical and dental clinics. It may be an auto repair business in Pasadena that supports a missionary in Armenia, or a Christian farm implement dealer in Tennessee who donates equipment and expertise to Kazakhstan farmers. It may be a Korean merchant who underwrites a Bolivian micro-loan program, or a German manufacturer who hires the mentally challenged to give them a chance in life, or a Swiss consortium that sets up a job factory to train unemployed youth. The possibilities are endless.
The point is that the business community, because of its enormous power base of influence, resources, and expertise is in a unique position to undertake mission for Christ: both worldwide and next door. This mission can be done effectively and efficiently by Christian believers in the business community. The heart of mission is helping hurting people holistically through the love of Christ. And what matters is not who does it, but who receives it; not who does it, but how and why it is done. In these instances, it is the business community itself that is replacing the traditional “sending agencies” of earlier Christian mission paradigms. It is the business community utilizing the resources God has placed in their hands to become a major part of missio Dei.
The Three Camps of Marketplace Mission
From a mission organizational perspective, God’s mission to, within, and through the MP (which I call Marketplace Missiology), has thus far divided into three distinct camps: Pauline tentmaking; Marketplace Ministries; and Business as Mission. The distinctions between and among these camps is far from clear even to the participants, and there is often a blurring of lines among them. Nonetheless, each camp is currently operating independently of the other two camps and all three are operating with only the loosest ties to the ecclesiastical Church. Each camp has its own associations, its own conferences, its own literature, and its own leadership. There is little, if any, communication among the camps and there is little awareness of what is transpiring within the rival camps.
A good example of this distinction is the 2004 Forum for World Evangelism, hosted by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (LCWE) in Thailand. The Forum boasts a Marketplace Ministry Track, a BAM Track, and a Tentmaking Stream. In addition, to seriously confuse the matter, there is a separate track on Globalization, which is the central issue within both the Tentmaking and the BAM tracks. As noted above, however, the Marketplace Mission Movement is a fast-moving, ever-changing, shape-shifting phenomenon that is in an exciting, embryonic stage. At this stage, confusion and competition are inevitable, and in all probability, exceptionally healthy to the long-range viability and sustainability of the Movement.
Summary
Transformation and the MP go hand-in-hand. Every human being is impacted directly or indirectly by the MP. It is a universal institution capable of being used by the Church to realize the Great Commission, especially given today’s globalizing world. The parallels are pregnant with possibilities for mission, both next door and abroad: The Gospel seeks inner healing and spiritual transformation, the MP seeks outward healing through economic improvement and inner healing through improved quality of life and Holistic Mission seeks inner and outward transformation, both spiritual and physical.
Given the omnipresence of the Lord and the ubiquitous nature of the MP, it only makes sense that God might see the MP as a useful instrument for His mission Dei. And, from all outward appearances, He seems to be doing just that – using the MP in a bold, fresh way to spread His word and to seek redemption and reconciliation with humanity through an aggressive Marketplace Mission Movement. While this Movement appears to be in its early stages, it holds the distinct potential of forming a great, global tidal wave for the Kingdom.
In the midst of God’s mission to, within, and through the MP, God appears to be effecting transformation on several levels simultaneously. First, transformation at the personal level, of those who are within the MP, both through evangelism and discipleship; second, transformation at the company and workplace level, seeking to modify the business culture and environment, making it a healthy, Christ-honoring, joyful place to work; third, transformation through the company’s sphere of influence at the local and regional levels, seeking to do business in such righteous, scripturally sound ways as to positively engage and impact the company’s community and industry; fourth, transformation at the national and multinational level through the interaction of the MP participants and government officials, seeking to have a Christian impact on public policy; and last, at the global level, seeking to harness Christian business resources to holistically touch and alleviate the pain of those lost, hurting souls worldwide, especially those who are living in poverty.
It behooves the Church, in its quest to be used of God to transform the world, to take special note of the MP and God’s bold movement to, within, and through it. Clearly, the MP is a stream of global transformation that is high on God’s agenda.
Taken from the book of Transformation: A Unifying Vision of the Church’s Mission
2004 Forum for World Evangelization, Thailand – September 2004
Edited by Luis K. Bush, Foreword by Paul Cedar