10 Reasons Why We Need to Release the Church in the Workplace by Joseph Mattera for Charisma News
In the early church, there was no separation between the clergy and laity. This separation happened when the church began to imitate Rome, and as a result, became an institution in the fourth century.
Every believer in the early church was expected to be a witness for Christ. Most congregations met in homes and many had their place of business in the same location where they resided. Consequently, they used the workplace as their primary platform to share the gospel. They did not depend upon a professional pastor to share the word on Sundays, inside a so-called “sacred building.”
Historically speaking: In the first century, Jesus started a way of life. Then, the Greeks made Christianity a philosophy in the second century. In the third century, faith was defined as a creed. Later, in the fourth century, Christianity became an institution. In the Middle Ages, it became a religion.
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The Protestant Reformation made it a national culture. In the 18th century, the Pietistic movement made the faith a personal experience. The liberal 18th century made Christianity an opinion. In the early 20th century, the fundamentalist movement made it a legalistic lifestyle. In the mid-20th century in the United States, Christianity became an enterprise.
To have the greatest global impact, we must restore the church to the way of Jesus and His apostles of the first century. Part of the way of Jesus is ending the bifurcation between the workplace and church place so that the church gathered on Sunday becomes the church scattered on Monday!
The following are 10 reasons why we need to release the church in the workplace:
1. Jesus chose 12 marketplace leaders, not 12 religious leaders. He chose people with practical leadership skills who knew how to manage their time, relate to people and create wealth as entrepreneurs. Two sets of brothers owned fishing businesses, one was a tax collector and knew how to handle money. At least one was a zealot involved in politics; even Judas had experience in managing money since he was the treasurer for the Jesus movement (John 13:29). Many of the most influential pastors in the world I have met have a business background.
2. Jesus Called the church to plant the gospel in cities, not buildings (Acts 1:8-9).Jesus commanded the church to be His witnesses in cities, not merely in buildings on Sundays.
