Ambassadors For Christ

In my first post on ambassadors, I shared with you the verse from 2 Corinthians 5:20. Here it is again for reference:

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”
2 Corinthians 5:20

After sharing this verse, we went on to look at the ways in which the responsibilities of a political ambassador parallels the responsibilities we have today as ambassadors for Christ. In my next post, I shared what I believe are the most critical points in understanding our jobs as ambassadors for Christ.

I won’t go back into the details from those posts now, but I will encourage you to read them before moving on. It will help you understand the context for this post. For today, I want to look specifically at the workplace location for political ambassadors and illustrate how it relates to our roles today.

Ambassadors’ Workplace?

I understand that most of have not studied the job of political ambassadors. That’s fine. You don’t need to know the intricate details of how they work and exactly what they do to understand their overall role and how it impacts us.

Since we have covered the major functions of the ambassador role in my previous two posts, let’s now turn and look at the workplace of the ambassador. If you had to guess, based only on the knowledge you currently have about an ambassador, where would you think they perform most of their work duties?

If you were to guess that an ambassador’s work takes place at the embassy, you would be wrong. Sure, that is where their office is located. In fact, their staff is located there as well. But the majority of their work – building relationships with the native people and representing the desires of his king – is done outside of the embassy.

Active And Intentional

See, the ambassador serves in an active and intentional role. He is not assigned to a certain foreign land and asked to sit idly and wait until he is called upon when needed. He is actively seeking to build relationships outside of the embassy.

He is likely meeting in government offices throughout the foreign land. He is probably eating many meals with various representatives in that land. There are probably many impromptu conversations between the ambassador and people of influence in that land. He is also likely attending many functions of various sizes for all sorts of organizations.

Role Of Embassy?

The entire time he is doing all of this, his focused purpose is to represent his “king” and influence the people he meets in the direction of his “king”. At no point does the ambassador have the luxury of waiting for someone to call on him.

Regarding the embassy, there are certainly times that he performs work there. He is probably communicating with his king when he is there. He is planning strategy for influencing the people of the foreign land when he is at the embassy. And of course, there are times he invites to the embassy some of the people he is attempting to influence.

Church = Embassy?

Now, let’s take the same set of lenses and focus them on our roles as ambassadors for Christ. For the sake of this discussion, let’s substitute the church building in the place of the embassy. While it is not a perfect analogy, I think there are enough parallels for you to see the point.

First, as ambassadors for Christ, we are to be active and intentional. We are not called to sit and wait until someone comes to us and asks us about our King Jesus. We are instead to be actively seeking to build relationships with the lost that are OUTSIDE of the church (embassy).

Wherever We Go!

Just like the political ambassadors, we are to be meeting people wherever our lives take us – workplace, community, home – and influencing them toward the desires of our King. We can do this in our office or out in the field. We can do this at the soccer field or at the theater. This can and should be happening in our homes.

The key is that wherever we go and whatever we are doing, our focused purpose is to represent Jesus and point others toward Him. We cannot ever allow ourselves to relax and simply wait for others to come to us and ask. That is not the job of an ambassador.

Church Building Has A Role

As for the church building, it plays a role as well. We should go there to communicate with our King in the faith community. We should go there to learn about our King so we can better represent Him and His desires as we leave to go out into the community. We will also learn and develop our strategies there.

We are even going to make the effort to invite people we meet to come and visit our church. I do not want to minimize this part at all, but I DO want to emphasize that this is not our end goal. Nor should it be part of our strategy to just invite them and hope they catch what we have.

Go Make Disciples!

Our job is much more involved than that. Our job is to make disciples, not just to add to the church membership. This requires our full attention AS we go about our lives in this foreign land. It is our purpose for being in this foreign land. It cannot be overstated.

Do you do most of your work at the “embassy” or in the field?

What part of the ambassador’s work do you struggle with?

What action do you need to take?

Photo by monkeybusinessimages / iStock

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”
2 Corinthians 5:20

What Is An Ambassador?

When you first look at this verse, you may not recognize the fullness of the charge we are given by it. That’s fine…I did not either when I read it the first hundred or so times! Fortunately, it has finally clicked for me and I want to pass my thoughts on to you for consideration.

Let’s start by asking the question, “What is an ambassador?” Though the following is not the official dictionary definition, I believe it does a good job of combining various definitions and descriptions that I have found for an ambassador. Take a look:

An ambassador is a dignitary whose full-time job is to live for a period (usually years) in a foreign land, intentionally building relationships with the people native to that land and purposefully representing to those people the desires of his king.

If you will agree that this accurately describes an ambassador, then I think it would be good for us to break it down into components, applying each one to our own lives.

A Dignitary

The first part of this definition I want to cover is “dignitary.” A dignitary is a person considered to be important because of high rank or office. If the U.S. were to send to a foreign country an ambassador that had absolutely no authority, no knowledge, no “rank” at all, then the only reasonable expectation would be failure. No one would take them seriously, right?

The same is true of us. Whether we realize it or not, we are all dignitaries of our King. We are children and heirs of the Most High God (Romans 8:16-17), the One that created everything that is! We are His chosen children…I am not sure there is a higher rank we should desire.

Lives In A Foreign Land…

An ambassadorship is a position that requires the individual to relocate to the foreign land where he is assigned. This is not a commuter job. It is not a summer job. To be effective in executing this job, the ambassador establishes a residence in the foreign country.

Once again, the same is true for you and me. This earth is not our home. Often in Scripture, we are called aliens or strangers here (1 Peter 2:11). This earth is where we are to live for a period, but it is not where we belong. We belong in heaven with our Father, only here for a time.

…For A Period

Though the ambassador does relocate to the foreign land and commit to living there while on the job, he also knows that at any time he could be called home. An ambassador goes into the job knowing it will not last forever. At some point, he will return to his home “country.”

We, too, will be called home some day. Some will be called home sooner than others. Whether we have a relatively long stay here or a brief tenure, we know it is only temporary (Job 14:1-2). We have a job to do while we are here, but that job will eventually end and we will return home.

Builds Relationships

The ambassador must build relationships with the people in the foreign land if he expects to be effective in his job. These people are very different in their culture and traditions. They will not easily respond to an outsider without first having a relationship with him.

If we are to be effective ambassadors in this world, we must build relationships with the people here (Matthew 9:10). We must learn what makes them tick and study their needs. We need to meet them where they are and help to meet their needs. By building solid relationships with them, we will better be able to complete the next step.

Represents The Desires Of The King

The ambassador’s job does not stop at building relationships. There is a purpose to these relationships. His purpose, from the very beginning, is to represent his “king’s” desires to the people of this foreign land. His purpose is to win them over to these desires and to convince them that these desires are in their best interests.

When we become ambassadors for Christ, we are to be doing the same thing. We should be building relationships with those around us SO THAT we can express to them the desires of our King (Matthew 28:19-20). We need them to know that God loves them and wants the best for them. They need to be convinced by us that Christ’s desires are in their best interests.

To Be Continued!

In my next post, we will look at what I would say are likely the most important aspects of the ambassador job, specifically the one we are called to fill. In the meantime, I would encourage you to take some time and think about what this verse means to you and your job or business.

Do you see yourself as an ambassador?

What part of the above descriptions gives you the most trouble?

If this is new to you, what are your thoughts right now?

Image by Fly_dragonfly / iStock

If you have been following this series on the command to Christian business leaders to be teachers, then you have probably been waiting to hear exactly HOW we are to do this. While I cannot adequately cover ALL of the HOW of teaching in one post, I believe I can get you started on the right path. You can figure out the rest with God’s leading!

[This is the fifth and final post in a series about how Christian leaders are commanded to be teachers. In the first post, we looked at the actual command to be teachers. In the next post, we discussed what it means to be a skilled worker, correctly handling God’s Word. After that, we looked at being a godly example. In the most recent post, we determined our GOAL for teaching. Today, we will learn from Paul’s instruction on HOW we are to teach.].

Before we get into today’s post, I encourage you to read the last post if you have not already. The reason this is so important is that much of the issues we address today are caused by having the wrong understanding of our ultimate goal as teachers. The last post addresses this issue and should put you in the right mindset to be able to avoid the temptations we will discuss today.

Scripture Foundation

Let’s start by going back to the Scripture we have been using in this series. We are looking at 2 Timothy 2:14-26, breaking it apart into various pieces. Today, we will focus on the following verses:

But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they breed quarrels. The Lord’s slave must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, instructing his opponents with gentleness.
2 Timothy 2:23-25

Let’s dive in to the three keys to teaching!

Key #1 – Be Humble

Not necessarily going in the order that it appears in the verses, I want to start with our first point by looking at the beginning of verse 24 when we are referred to as the Lord’s slave. This is a key reference that we need recognize.

Sometimes we read right past critical parts of Scripture and miss key ideas. We cannot miss this one! In this case, Paul refers to us as slaves. This is very important because it is addressing a potential root problem with teachers. If we miss this, we could easily fall into a trap and undermine our own teaching.

Paul is making sure we know that we are to be humble and resist the temptation to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. When we begin teaching, it is easy to begin thinking we are smarter, more aware, or have greater insight than those we are teaching. We have to fight this tendency, remembering that we are indeed slaves.

Key #2 – Be Gentle And Patient

Paul tells us to be patient. He tells us twice that we are to be gentle. Why would he do this? Is it in our nature to be otherwise? Is it possible that he felt the urge to be less than gentle in his teaching moments? Take a look at the following example from Paul himself as he is writing to the members of the church at Corinth:

Brothers, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, because you are still fleshly. For since there is envy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and living like unbelievers?
1 Corinthians 3:1-3

I think it is clear Paul was experiencing a desire to be less than gentle and patient. Can you sense that? Have you ever felt that way? Why is this true? For the answer, take a look at this verse from another teacher in Ecclesiastes:

For with great wisdom comes great frustration; whoever increases his knowledge merely increases his heartache.
Ecclesiastes 1:18

As you start to become more skilled with God’s word, your wisdom will grow. As this happens, not only will you be tempted to be proud in your wisdom (see Point #1 above), but you will also become frustrated with those you are attempting to teach. Paul knew this and made sure to warn us of this tendency!

Key #3 – Focus On The Truth

The final point from this passage is for us to focus on the truth and not get caught up in false arguments – or “foolish and ignorant disputes” as Paul calls them. Why does he instruct us to do this?

It is too easy to get drawn into arguments about insignificant issues and then lose track of the original intent of the discussion. As I was told growing up, we get too busy fighting alligators and forget we came to drain the swamp!

When we allow ourselves to be drawn into these side arguments, we lose our focus on the truth we are to be teaching. Church members are probably the best at this, but business people can hold their own in this category! We may not argue about the color of the carpet or the kind of music that is best, but we can still find petty issues to draw our attention away.

Instead of allowing this to happen, we are to “reject” these arguments altogether. Do not even enter into them. Instead, we are to maintain a focus on the truth we are to be teaching. Don’t give yourself permission to even entertain these irrelevant disputes.

Summary

Hopefully, you have learned more about your responsibility as a teacher of the Word of God through reading this series. I also hope you are encouraged by the material we have covered. I urge you to seek God’s leading on where you can ramp up your teaching. He is faithful to answer this request!

Is teaching something you enjoy or will you have to work at it?

With which of these three keys do you struggle?

Are you more open to teaching now?

Photo by Amanda Hobbs/Shutterstock

Learning From Paul

We have been looking at Paul’s second letter to Timothy to find out what it says about how we as Christian leaders are to teach others. Today, we are going to discuss exactly what our goal should be – and what it should not be!

Here are the verses we are studying today:

But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they breed quarrels. The Lord’s slave must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth. Then they may come to their senses and escape the Devil’s trap, having been captured by him to do his will.
2 Timothy 2:23-26

What Is The Goal?

Before we get into the HOW of teaching others in my next post, we first need to agree on the overall goal for teaching. We also need to fully understand what is NOT our goal. While this may be a bit backwards, I think you will understand my reasons for this in a minute.

If I ask my wife what her goal is for her teaching her second grade students, she would tell me that the goal is for the students to learn, retain, and be able to apply the information she is teaching them. I think most of you would agree that is a reasonable goal.

Just as important as knowing the goal is knowing if you have achieved the goal. In my wife’s case, teaching success is measured by having the students take standardized tests at various times during the year. The stress around our house during those times is a good indicator of the importance of those tests!

What Is Your Goal?

You are probably thinking that this is pretty obvious to most people. Granted. However, if I ask you to tell me the goal for you as a teacher of God’s Word, how would you answer?

Some might say that the goal would be for the “student” to recognize the truth of the Word. Others would argue that the repentance of the “student” would be the goal. A third group might say that simply getting up the courage to teach would be their goal!

Surprise!

Guess what? I think the third group is closer to the truth than the other two groups! Seriously! Let’s take a look at why I say this. You can then decide if you agree or not.

Look again at this part of the passage:

Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth.
2 Timothy 2:25

Big Deal!

That is a huge statement! If you don’t immediately understand what I am saying, don’t worry. It just clicked with me as I was preparing this post:

The responsibility for the repentance of the “student” is not ours! It is God’s!

We Are Only To Teach

That’s right. It is our responsibility to teach the truth. We are to teach others all that Jesus commanded us. We are responsible for being skilled with the Word of God so that we are correctly teaching the truth. We are even responsible for living by example all that we are teaching.

At the same time, we are NOT at all responsible for how the “student” responds. There is nothing at all we can do to force or convince someone to accept God’s word and repent. There is nothing we can do to push anyone into a salvation experience.

Unlike my wife’s situation, we are not held responsible for the “student’s” acceptance, retention, or application of the information we give them. We are solely responsible for teaching them and we are to leave the rest to God.

So What?

Do you realize why this is so important to know? Folks, this takes all of the pressure off of us! We are not to be stressed about how our teaching is received. We are not to get aggressive with our teaching (and risk stepping outside of the guidelines we are given) simply because it does not appear we are getting through!

No. We are to teach. We are to follow the guidelines Paul lays out for us. We are certainly to do this out of love for the “student” and with the hope that they will heed our instruction. And yes, there should be passion in your teaching.

Now We Can Enjoy It!

And because we know that God is responsible for the results, we should be free to enjoy the teaching. We should allow His love flow through us to the “student” so that they are drawn to Him. We should cause them to want what we have.

If we will do this, and do it frequently, then we will provide God with ample opportunities to lead people to repentance. He is not depending on us to do the repentance work, but He does want us to do the teaching that points them in that direction. And we should be thrilled for the part He allows us to play in this awesome process!

Have you ever felt the pressure to lead someone to God?

Do you see how the pressure should be eliminated?

How will this affect your teaching?

Photo by Be Good/Shutterstock

Too Much Hypocrisy!

One of the worst complaints you will usually get from a non-believer is about the hypocrisy of Christians. The truth is that they are right! When you consider facts like the divorce rate being similar for Christians and non-Christians alike, it is no wonder we have a hard time convincing them we are different.

The divorce rate is only one example. There are many others. I do not need to go into this because you already know what I am talking about. The point is that as Christian business leaders, we simply must start living as godly examples, distinctly disciples of Jesus. Our walk must match our talk.

Godly Example

As we continue this series about being teachers and accepting the command given us in the Great Commission, we are now going to turn to what it means to be a godly example. Why is this important and what does it have to do with teaching?

Let’s look at how Paul instructs Timothy about this:

Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver bowls, but also those of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

Flee from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace,along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they breed quarrels.
2 Timothy 2:20-23

Set Apart?

These verses follow our verse from my last post where Paul told Timothy that he is to be a skilled worker when it comes to correctly handling the Word of truth. Now, Paul is telling Timothy that he is to set himself apart in order to be useful to God. Not only is he to correctly teach the Word, he is also to purify himself from anything dishonorable.

This is exactly what most Christians have NOT been doing. Instead of setting ourselves apart and getting rid of the dishonorable, too often we are right there in the middle of the mess. We are hand-in-hand and arm-in-arm with those non-believers. We act and behave differently on Sundays, but you can’t pick us out of a crowd of people the rest of the week.

We Must Change!

This is wrong and must change!

First, it must change because it destroys our intimate relationship with God. We cannot expect clear and consistent communication with Him while at the same time we are ignoring His guidelines for us.

But this kind of behavior also eliminates any credibility we have for teaching others about His Word. No one is going to listen to us teach about patience when we blow up at the slightest mistake from an employee or coworker.

We will not be able to instruct others to love mercy when we fail to forgive those who have crossed us. Our teaching effectiveness will be next to zero when it is clear to others that we do not practice our own material!

Student’s Perspective

Think about it from the student’s perspective. How convincing is a teacher that obviously does not follow his own instruction. I still remember being told (in fun) as a kid, “Do as I say, not as I do.” While I still obeyed, I knew there was just something wrong with that logic!

Paul is wisely telling Timothy (and us at the same time) that in order for a teacher to be effective, he or she must also live by example. We all must heed this instruction if we truly desire to live out the Great Commission.

Just one thing: live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Philippians 1:27

Have you had a teacher that ignored this instruction?

What was your response to their poor example?

Where do you need to improve your living by example?

Photo by sculpies/Shutterstock

Hard Work

A number of years ago, with our children entering middle school, she went back to school to get her Master’s degree in education. She had not studied education as a undergraduate, so she had to take extra courses in order to earn her teaching certificate along with the Master’s degree. This was incredibly hard work and she met the challenge head on (with excellent grades, I might add)!

Immediately after graduation, she started as a 2nd grade teacher at a local elementary school. She was not sure (at the time!) if 2nd grade would be the best age for her, but she was excited to get to work and teach! I knew she would be good at it, but I truly had no idea exactly how good.

An Incredible Teacher!

I honestly wish I could I could describe the pride in my heart and the emotion in my throat as I think about exactly HOW great she is at being a teacher. It is not possible for me to communicate the depth of her commitment to these kids and to their education. It is truly an emotional experience for me to watch.

I know I am biased, but there is simply no way I am overstating the impact she is having as a teacher. I promise that her students will look back as adults in a couple of decades and credit her for whatever changed in them while they were in her class. I am confident of this!

What Is The Application?

Now, you are probably asking what this could possibly have to do with business and Christian faith. That is a good question! Let me explain.

There is no doubt that my wife is gifted by God to be a teacher. It comes naturally to her. She LOVES what she does and cannot imagine doing anything else. The work she puts in after hours and on weekends does not seem like work to her.

Not A Teacher?

Many Christian business leaders might look at someone like my wife and point to her gifting. Doing so, they might claim that they have no such gifting. For them, being a teacher is not exciting. Depending on their perception of the job requirements or the size of the crowd, it may even scare them!

Some may not fear teaching, but simply think they do not have the time. Others may feel they are not enough of an expert to be a teacher. There are many excuses we come up with to explain why we don’t play the part of a teacher.

Commanded To Teach!

Because of these thought processes, many Christians ignore the fact that we are in fact commanded by Jesus himself to be teachers! Instead of accepting this command, we may tend to rely on others to be the teachers. We claim all sorts of other activities to show that we are making a difference. We think this earns us a bye when it comes to teaching.

The bottom line is that we are all to be teachers.

Gifting Not Required

Now, some of you will argue with me about this. You may say that Paul says not all of us are given the gift of teaching. In this case, we are on the same page. I agree that not all are given the gift of teaching. Yet, I think we are all commanded to do it anyway.

Stick with me and let me explain my position before you close out this post and move on. If you finish this series and still feel the same way, then we will simply agree to disagree. No harm, no foul!

Commanded?

Most likely we are all familiar with the Great Commission. Jesus was speaking to the disciples (and, I believe, to all of us as believers) when he said the following (emphasis added by me):

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and TEACHING them to obey all I have commanded you.
Matthew 28:19-20

If you believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God and that this verse is directed to all believers, then you accept that you are to be a teacher. I do not see any way around this. It is right there in black and white.

Perception Of Being A Teacher

Now, the problem most people have is with their perception of the word teacher. When I say all of us are to be teachers, many assume that means they are to be in a typical classroom (at school, church, etc.) and are to teach a room full of students (youth, adults, etc.).

This is not so. When I sit down with a salesperson and give them advice on how they can improve their performance, I am a teacher. When I spend ten minutes giving a simple devotion to a small group of employees at work, I am a teacher. The size of the audience and the setting are both irrelevant. There are endless combinations of situations where I can show I am a teacher.

More To It!

Of course, to fulfill the Great Commission, there is more to it than the above examples. Hopefully, you are interested in digging further into this idea. If so, you will be glad to know that I will spend the next several posts doing just that.

My hope is that you are excited to see your role as a teacher once we have completed this series. If nothing else, I pray you have begun to seek God about this, asking Him to reveal to you how He wants you to be a teacher.

Stay tuned!

Gifted or not, do you see yourself as a teacher?

Who do you see as your student(s)?

Who has been a teacher to you?

Photo by Syda Productions/Shutterstock

Not Just The Pastor

Before you jump to conclusions, please understand I am not taking a shot at your pastor. I do think a majority of the time, a pastor will unknowingly overlook Christian business as a vital segment of Christian ministry. However, this post is more about the overall misconception most people (including pastors) have about the integration of our Christian faith into the workplace.

Christian Business Impact

It is my firm belief that God has much greater plans for impacting the world through Christian business owners and leaders than most people realize or acknowledge. In the right hands (and heart!), a business running according to Scripture can have immeasurable influence for eternity. Unfortunately, because there are not enough pastors talking about this to their congregations, it is up to the rest of us to get the conversation started!

5 Things You May Not Be Hearing

Here is a brief list of things I believe need more attention among Christian business owners and leaders today:

1. God cares about your work and business.

Too many people think God is only concerned with what we do on Sunday or after hours at the church. They mistakenly segment their lives into compartments and think God only cares about the “spiritual” things.

The truth is that we were created with work in mind. God told Adam and Eve to subdue the earth. Later, Paul reminds us to do our work as service to the Lord. Add that to the fact that He cares enough to number the hairs on our head. I am convinced He cares about our work. (Ephesians 6:6-7; Colossians 3:23-24)

2. You are a full-time minister.

Though it sure would be easier for all of us if we could just leave ministry up to our church’s paid staff, that is not how it works. We are all given different talents and gifts and we are each parts of the body of Christ – each with a different function.

We are also called ambassadors for Christ. As ambassadors, we are to live in a foreign land (the world) and represent our King (Jesus) to the people (non-believers) of that land. This is a full-time job, not something reserved for one day a week! (1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 2 Corinthians 5:20-21)

3. Your business is a gift and a responsibility.

God has given you the gift of owning or leading in business. This gift can produce rewards, financial and otherwise, that the vast majority will never experience. This is a tremendous gift. You should be thankful for it.

The gift comes with added responsibility. Just like in the parable of the talents, more is expected of you because more has been given to you. This responsibility takes many forms. You are to use your God-given resources to build what will survive into eternity. Simply using your business to provide a better lifestyle for your brief stay on earth is not Biblical. (1 Timothy 6:17-19; 1 Corinthians 3:9-15)

4. Your words can carry more weight than his.

Though you may not have thought of this before, it is a simple truth. If a pastor says something about living his life according to the pattern that Jesus gave us, no one will think anything of it. That is his job. He is paid to say and do things like that.

However, if you say the same thing in a group, people will take notice. They take you more seriously because they know you are not paid to say that. It will get their attention. It will be even more powerful when they see you living it out.

5. You can have a greater impact than he can.

Your pastor will most likely only have significant influence with those who attend his church. While there are exceptions, few pastors have much impact among those who do not attend church.

Your situation is likely different. As a Christian business owner or leader, you have the opportunity to influence your employees, customers, and the community where you work and live. You will regularly come into contact with people who may never darken the door of a church. The impact you can have among these people dwarfs that of your pastor.

So What?

If this is all true, what does that really mean for you? Well, I believe it means you need to get on your knees and seek God’s guidance as to how you should be running your business. Is your perspective eternal or temporal? What do you think He wants from you?

Get in a deep conversation with God and start pressing into Him for answers. At the same time, get more familiar with what His Word has to say about your purpose. The answers will come.

Do you agree with the items on the list? What would you add?

Are you already impacting eternity with your Christian business? How?

How could you increase your influence beginning today?

Photo by Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock

Learning Attitude

I believe it is critical for all of us as Christian business owners and leaders to have a learning attitude. I know you likely already get this, but the moment we stop learning, our influence begins to decline. When we stop learning, we begin to lose our opportunities to teach and point others to God.

I assume you know this so I will not dwell on the fact THAT we need to learn. What I would like to address today is HOW we learn (and teach). While many of you might feel you already have this part figured out, I would like to offer something you may not have considered – at least not intentionally.

How Jesus Taught

If you look at how Jesus taught, you get a model of what I am talking about. I think we can all safely assume that Jesus had an intentional plan for teaching. We can agree that He knew how the disciples would best learn and would therefore structure His teaching in a way that would maximize that, right?

So let’s take a look at how Jesus taught.

The Crowds

First, He taught the crowds. There were many examples in the gospels of Jesus teaching to the crowds. His teaching to the crowds was an integral part of His ministry. Clearly, He saw value in this form of teaching.

If that is the case, then it makes sense for us to follow His model. We should (and frequently do) learn in this setting. Our seminars and conferences use this format to communicate information to large groups at one time.

The Group

While learning and teaching in a large group like this is fine, we need to look further at how the disciples learned from Jesus so we can get a more complete picture. In doing this, we see many occasions in which Jesus took the disciples off to the side after teaching to a crowd.

In the smaller setting, He explains more to the disciples than He did to the crowd. In this more personal setting, Jesus was better able to communicate some of the more difficult ideas to the disciples. He knew there were things that the crowd could not understand or accept so he taught these ideas to the disciples in a smaller group setting.

You likely see this exact same idea carried out in small break-out groups or focused training sessions. If you have participated in these groups, then I am sure you know how much more beneficial they can be to your learning. The more personal setting allows for deeper learning and adds an amount of accountability.

Whether we are teaching or learning (or both), it is critical that we do so in smaller groups like this. Without getting into smaller groups, we are going to miss a critical part of the learning process. While some people are often afraid of the vulnerability that comes in a smaller group, I promise you that the results are worth the investment.

The Core

As we look even further at the model Jesus used to teach His disciples, we realize that He went a step further. There were times that He pulled Peter, James, and John out of the group setting and taught them in a much more intimate setting. Again, this was completely intentional on His part.

We see an example of this in Matthew 17:1-13. Jesus shared a very powerful moment with the three of them. The others were not given this opportunity. We don’t know exactly why Jesus chose these three. We don’t know all of the specific, incremental teaching He gave them. All we know is that He did teach them separately at times.

Follow His Lead

We need to follow His lead. We need to teach and learn in the more intimate setting that comes with a group of only a handful. I don’t think there is an exact number here, but the smaller the better. For me, the impact has been the greatest when in a group of 2-4.

The benefits of a group this size are incredible. Accountability is impossible in a crowd and somewhat difficult or awkward in a smaller group of 10 or greater. However, in an intimate group of two, three, or four, accountability becomes a powerful force. The same is true for transparency and confession. I could go on.

Don’t Be Afraid!

As I said before, some of you have avoided the smallest of groups. You have your reasons and they are real. I understand that. At the same time, I am strongly urging you to take the leap and go smaller. This principle is true for teaching or learning. The smaller the group, the deeper the learning and growth. Find a way to create a small group this size and you will not regret it.

Each of the three methods Jesus used are effective in their own way. I would not throw out any of them or discount their effectiveness. Just recognize that Jesus did not stop with just one of the methods. He used all three for good reasons. If He did it, then it should be good enough for us!

Where do you experience your best learning?

Have you gone “small” enough in your learning?

Are you leading your employees to go “small” as well?

photo by Golden Pixels LLC/Shutterstock

Basic Missionary Plan

If you remember, I gave you the basic outline of the missionary plan my friends have for taking the gospel to Peru. While it looks very simple, I promise it is a powerful and effective plan.

Now, in an effort to show you how you and I can execute this same plan exactly where we are, let’s go through each step of their missionary plan and apply it to our situation as Christian business owners and leaders. This plan will also work when applied outside of the workplace, but for the purpose of this blog we will stick to the workplace as the setting.

1. Establish a life among the people.

I am personally in the car business. I am not sure what your job happens to be, but most likely it includes interaction of some sort with other people. Regardless of the job or occupation, most all of us have people all around us where we work.

As a result, we are already established among those people. We work alongside them and have conversations with them. The easy part for us is that in most cases, we speak the same language and already understand their culture. For a foreign missionary, this is usually a fairly large hurdle. Not so for us!

2. Build relationships with them.

What you may not have – even for those you have worked with for years – is a relationship with them. Sure, you may say “Hey” at the coffee maker or as you pass each other in the hall. But you may not have conversations that go any deeper than that.

You need to become intentional about building a relationship with them. While you don’t need to start out with a really deep question, you do need to begin to make an effort to go a little deeper. You need to start seeing these other people as eternal souls that need what you have. While you currently have not earned the right to share with them, building a relationship over time will solve this problem.

For a larger company, it will be impossible to do this with every employee or co-worker. Don’t even try. Do with a handful what you wish you could do with all of them. Don’t let the overall numbers stop you from engaging the handful.

3. Do life with them.

This is obviously related to the first two points, but it goes an extra step. My missionary friends in Peru came up with a weekend retreat and an Olympics-style competition for the medical students they are getting to know. There was nothing overtly spiritual about the weekend – just spending more focused time together and relaxing away from the pressures of work and school.

We can do the same thing. Start planning opportunities to do life with these people. Plan lunches or other activities in which you can interact with them at work as well as in the community. Engage them when you see them in the grocery store or at the soccer fields. Show them that your interest is genuine (it needs to be!) and that you are not angling for anything other than relationship.

4. Sprinkle conversation with the gospel.

As you are doing life with them, allow the Holy Spirit to spill over into your conversations. If you are filling your mind and heart with God’s Word, it will start to appear in your interaction with them. Don’t go overboard – just relax and let God work through you on this.

Don’t forget, this does not only apply to your conversations. This idea applies to your actions as well. As you are doing life with these people, your everyday business decisions and actions should also reflect your beliefs. As I posted earlier, the conflict between your beliefs and your actions should be shrinking as you get closer to God. If not, this post may not apply to you.

5. Be prepared to share the gospel.

Over time, life happens. The people you are building relationship with will face tragedy or crises. So will you. When this happens, it is likely that you will have the opportunity to answer some questions about your faith. This will happen naturally if you are walking the walk.

When asked about your faith, it is not your responsibility to launch into a theological discussion and overwhelm them with your superior Bible knowledge. Neither is it acceptable to be caught unprepared to respond in a genuine and personal way. For that reason, you need to have a ready response for the hope you have. It should not be robotic, but should instead flow from your heart!

6. Disciple them to do the same.

For those that make decisions to surrender their lives to Jesus (and for those that already have!), you need to begin to disciple them. Obviously, encourage them to join a church and join up with a small group of some sort. But do not let that be the extent of your discipling program!

You may not have the time to meet with everyone of them on a regular basis, but you can still influence them in some way. As you do, show them this same pattern and encourage them to follow it as you have. If you do enough of this, you will have missionary work going on all around you!

7. Go somewhere and repeat the process!

When I say we need to go somewhere, I do not mean we now need to move somewhere else. Instead, we just need to continuously be on the lookout for others we can take through this process.

As you see those you have discipled go on to be mature disciple-makers themselves, you just begin looking for one more to replace them and start back at the beginning of the process. The key is that you have the mindset of a missionary. You keep your eyes and heart open to anyone that God is calling you to reach with His love.

Have you ever considered yourself as a missionary?

photo by Alex Dunne

]]>