EMQ » October–December 2021 » Volume 57 Issue 4
[memberonly folder=”Members, EMQ2YearFolder, EMQ1YearFolder, EMQLibraryInstitution”]By Ferdinand Nweke
“How do you eat an elephant?” I get different answers when I ask the question in the West than in my native Africa. The standard western answer is, “One bite at a time!” – to which I usually reply, “If you have time!” In Africa we say, “To eat an elephant, call the clan!” An 11,000-pound (5-ton) elephant dinner might look intimidating when left for a few persons, but not to a clan! Especially for a meat-loving clan like ours!
It is time to call the church clan to confront the global harvest, from every platform. Our de facto approach of operating from inside church and leaving the task to missionaries has been patently unsuccessful. Plus, the signs of the times clearly show that the end of all things is near. We do not have time for a one-bite-at-a-time approach. We must ditch our addition models for multiplication; we must jettison sequential for simultaneous. Speed is of the essence if we are to effectively disciple the nations. As lost humanity hurtles to an unavoidable encounter with God and eternity, our passionate battle cry must be: The gospel by everyone who believes, to everyone who doesn’t, from everywhere.
“The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” (Matthew 9:37, NKJV).
Two thousand years since Jesus made this statement, it still rings true. Despite concerted effort and great sacrifice, a third of us remain unreached. Could we be missing something?
Solving the Laborer Crisis
I have long concluded that any serious attempt at completing the Great Commission must address the laborer crisis. Whatever strategy we employ that does not multiply laborers will fall far short. As John Morley rightly said, “He who does the work is not so profitably employed as he which multiplies the doers.”
In the face of a plentiful harvest and the paucity of laborers, the Master directed us to “pray to the Lord of the harvest to force out and thrust laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38, AMPC). This translation brings out the critical point that the Lord of the harvest will have to force out and thrust these laborers into his field, i.e., burst through the inertia and the limiting paradigms holding them back to release them into the harvest.
In pursuit of this strategy, we developed the Missions by Multiplication model for engaging the global harvest.[1] It seeks to multiply seven key components of the missions enterprise with capacity for exponential impact on the harvest. They include the following:
Multiplying prayer: thereby promoting holy synergy between Heaven and earth
Multiplying laborers: thereby releasing an army of disciple makers
Multiplying platforms: so the gospel becomes inescapable as it is carried by every believer to their platforms in the marketplace, resulting in disciple making beyond church walls
Multiplying truth: in every format so it bears simultaneous fruit wherever it is encountered
Multiplying resources: thereby giving wheels to the message
Multiplying partnerships: and collaboration because none of us can do it alone, and
Multiplying fire: because without fire, we will have impeccable theology and full heads but lack the vital power and burning hearts that drive active engagement.
All the components of Missions by Multiplication facilitate exponential, simultaneous engagement. But to see this happen, we must confront several limiting paradigms which have conspired to birth the infamous silent majority in the church.
Limiting Paradigms
Paradigms are powerful; they can energize or paralyze. They often make the difference between a movement and a monument. Our perceptions define our pursuits; the way we see determines the way we do. Joel Barker’s (and others’) work in the field of paradigms has helped corporations and individuals change the way they see, unveiling new opportunities and marketplace solutions. Some major paradigm realignments could benefit kingdom strategists as we seek to complete the Great Commission.
In biblical reality, paradigms are mental strongholds, arguments, thoughts, and reasonings that contradict the plans and purposes of God and keep people from grasping and engaging them. Paul knew that unless these blinding reasonings were dethroned, his audience would be unable to see the light of the glorious gospel. There was no way to bring them to the obedience of Christ while these paradigms remained rooted in their minds: they had to be “overthrown” – “pulled down” (2 Corinthians 10:4–5).
It is hard to quantify the contribution of certain entrenched paradigms to the dearth of laborers. These reasonings, arguments and unscriptural ideas have paralyzed God’s harvest force. They have minimized their roles in the Great Commission, or worse, helped excuse them altogether from it.
In the book, Marketplace Ministry: Using Your Platform in the Workplace to Transform Lives, Cities and Nations, I set out to confront these reasonings and show how every believer can make disciples from their God-given platforms.[2] I was acutely aware that if approached from a testimonial angle, most readers would conclude whatever stories I told of how God used me as applicable to me, and not to them. I was led to a biblical approach – to show the responsibility of all believers to raise obedient followers of Christ from their marketplace platforms.
These limiting paradigms are firmly ingrained in the minds of most believers. Some are priests while others are not; some are ministers while others are just members. The ministers – the clergy – are called and ordained while the members – the laity – have not received the call and are not ordained. The ordained ministers are anointed while the rest must depend on them and tap from their anointing. Our lives are sharply demarcated into spiritual (or sacred) and secular, and hence the separation of church and state. The church should simply mind its business and not dabble into politics or other societal issues; we must not bring religion into business or vice versa. Many more of these could be listed. These invisible harbingers of lukewarmness undermine zealous engagement of the harvest.
God’s design to have a kingdom of priests was actualized in Christ who made us “kings and priest to our God” (Exodus 19:4–6; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 5:9–10). We are to do whatever we do in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving glory to him (Colossians 3:17, 23). Jesus ordained every believer to go and bear fruit that remains (John 15:16). We are whole individuals not schizophrenics living separate sacred and secular lives. But since belief begets behavior, if we believe otherwise, we will behave otherwise.
Why should someone who is not called obey the Great Commission? As far as they are concerned, they have not been called!
The Myth of Part-Time and Full-Time Ministry
However, the most egregious of these limiting paradigms is the categorization of Christians into full-time and part-time. According to this understanding, certain categories of believers are full-time – meaning that they devote their lives to full-time Christian service with no secular work, while others are called part-time, meaning that they combine their ministry with some form of business or paid employment.
With this unbiblical classification of Christians into full-time and part-time, the so-called part-timers unconsciously excuse themselves from the all-inclusive commands of Scripture. They create an imaginary second class Christianity not as demanding as is required of full-timers. Since they are not full-time, they do not need to pray, study, obey or sacrifice like the full-timers. They expect a higher level of holiness and consecration from the full-timers and excuse themselves from the pursuit of the mandatory transformation into Christlikeness enjoined by Scripture. Result: a dependent congregation of part-timers who look to the anointed full-timer for everything! There is no basis in Scripture for this dichotomy. From creation to redemption, we see that God is not interested in fractions. He made everything whole – humans, stars, apples, mosquitoes, and goats.
A full-time Savior cannot have part-time followers. A part-time Christian is a full-time sinner! The same conditions for discipleship are applicable to every believer; Jesus demanded all from all who would follow him. He gave all to redeem us; he deserves all. We are members of his body, and a body can have no part-time members. Indeed, disease is when a member of the body does not function full-time – like a part-time heart or kidneys! No wonder the global church seems puny in many places – with so many part-timers!
We have been bought with a price; no buyer will pay a full price and be content with only a part of his or her purchase. We are the lights of the world; light is light all the time. A part-time lamp is useless in darkness. We are branches of the true vine and there can be no part-time branches! Christ demands fruit from every branch, not just from missionary or full-time branches. We are citizens of a kingdom; part-time loyalty or commitment to the King and His sovereign interest is tantamount to rebellion.
We are called to present our bodies as a living sacrifice on God’s altar (Romans 12:1–2). This automatically solves the part-time, full-time problem: like the whole burnt sacrifices offered by Israel, every believer is either fully on the altar or not on it at all. An altar brooks nothing part-time; Isaac was tied and wholly on the altar when Abraham raised the knife.
Imagine what will happen if every believer can be brought to see they are full-time servants of God – as full-time as the pastor in the church. It would be revolutionary. The banker or teacher would accept their workplace as their mission field and prepare to witness there like the pastor prepares to minister in church. Miracles will be unleashed as Christian doctors, IT and media professionals, nurses, lawyers, technologists, and craftsmen study, pray, fast, and seek the power and manifestations of the Holy Spirit – with the same intensity a pastor would in preparing for Sunday church service – as they prepare to occupy for the Lord at their varied platforms.
An Army of the Whole House
In a vision God gave Ezekiel, the dry bones eventually became an exceeding great army – an army of the whole houseof Israel (Ezekiel 37:10–11). God has always desired an army of the whole house – a church of warriors – one where every blood-bought believer is living all out for the King, burning and shining for his glory. A church where every member is “salt and light” seasoning and lighting up a dark and insipid world.
Modern-day Israel comes closest to modeling the church of God’s vision. Hedged between the devil (mortal enemies) and the deep blue sea (the Mediterranean), Israel since its re-birth on May 14, 1948, has learnt the importance of not leaving national defense to a select group while the majority civilians enjoy a loose and undisciplined life – with avowed enemies like Iran plotting their national annihilation.
Israel is unique in that military service is compulsory for both males and females. It is the only country in the world that maintains obligatory military service for women. This continues the tradition of female fighters during Israel’s War of Independence. Males serve for three years and females for just less than two years… It is not rare in Israel for two generations to be serving simultaneously in the army – the son in obligatory service and the father in reserves.[3]
Like Israel, the global harvest is in urgent need of an army of the whole house – every believer mobilized and equipped to make disciples wherever their walk or work takes them. God even spoke of a day in Israel when “the feeblest among them will be like David” (Zechariah 12:8, NIV). Imagine a church where the feeblest believer is like Paul! Wow!
Upending Pareto
The Pareto Principle (the 80/20 Rule, also known as the law of the vital few) states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes (the vital few). Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto noted the phenomenon while at the University of Lausanne in 1896. It has been shown to apply in diverse fields including business management, economics, computing and even occupational health and safety (to target the 20% of hazards that cause 80% of the injuries).[4] In the context of Christianity, it will imply that only 20% of the believers (the vital few) make 80% of the disciples or give 80% of all the offerings, or pray 80% of the prayers, etc.
But the Pareto Principle could never have applied to the Church in Acts. This was not a church of a vital few but of the vital many – a church where every branchwas fruitful. It was a church where the least disciple – like Philip who served tables – could take a city (Samaria) and overthrow the evil principality there (Simon the magician). A maidservant like Rhoda could pray all night and an unassuming Dorcas could make impact by making clothes in love.
Marketplace Ministry Platforms
God provides different platforms for his children. Every preacher does not preach from a church pulpit! In the Old Testament, everyone did not serve God as a priest. There were prophets, kings, artisans, judges, musicians etc. Solomon described himself as The Preacher who was king, not the king who was also a preacher; royalty was his platform, a throne his pulpit (Ecclesiastes 1:1,12). And his messages (Ecclesiastes, Proverbs) were as authentic as those of other preachers. In the New Testament, we see apostles, prophets, teachers etc., but we also see administrators, authors, and business owners. Zacchaeus remained in the marketplace after he met Christ; Erastus was treasurer of the city of Corinth; Tertius, a literary expert wrote down the book of Romans; Gaius, a prosperous philanthropist, hosted Paul and the church (see Romans 16:21–23). They all served God using their peculiar gifts, but from different platforms.
Lamp and Lampstand
In Matthew 5:14–16 (NKJV) we read: “You are the light of the world…. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand (emphasis mine).…Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Every believer is a lamp to be set alight by God. There can be no part-time lamps. A burning lamp is a lamp all the time – whether in church or in the workplace, it continues to shine. For each lamp, the Lord provides a lampstand– the platform from where the lamp shines. The platform may change but as long as the lamp is on fire, it keeps shining. At this lampstand, the lamp is both a light source, and a fire source with the dual responsibilities of shining and igniting others.
God never ordained that all his lights should shine from a church pulpit. He plants his burning lamps in all sectors of society – in government, business, education, arts and entertainment, the media etc. – so they can maximize these platforms for kingdom agenda. These key sectors of human society constitute the marketplace – equivalent to the ancient Athenian agoraor town square where Paul engaged culture with Scripture. It included both town and gown – workplaces/businesses, academia … temples and idols, entertainment, politics, and court of law.[5] It is the place of power and influence, regulations, decision making, wealth creation, commerce and exchange, conflict and competition, and the definition of worldviews. Those who control these pillars of society will leverage them to shape the worldviews, beliefs, and values of society.[6] How could the church’s witness be absent from such an arena?
Jesus was no stranger to the marketplace. He was born there, grew there, and operated there as a carpenter; He taught, healed, died, and rose there, and sent His disciples “into all the world.” He taught them to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth (not “in church”) as it is in heaven.”
Satan does not operate from a corner of society; he is active, not sequentially, but simultaneously in all corners of society. He strategically positions and maximizes the influence of his people in the marketplace – in government, the media, business, etc. – to multiply evil in society. The Church must engage the marketplace if we are to garner influence and resources for kingdom advancement.
Engaging the Marketplace
For believers to be effective in making disciples from their workplace platforms, they must be rooted in Christ; walking in the light. Anything less will undermine their witness. They must master the rules of the marketplace which are very different from the rules of church. For example, some believers expect mercy in a marketplace that runs on policies, and arbitrary favor in an arena fueled by excellence and innovation. They must thrive through diligence and competence and rise in influence to greater platforms from where they draw more to the love of Jesus. They can then wisely employ appropriate evangelism and disciple-making models like lifestyle and friendship evangelism, Discovery Bible Study (DBS) or small groups to transform lives.
Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon are prime examples of transforming witness in the marketplace. Daniel was not a priest, but he was deeply spiritual and thoroughly professional. Along with his three friends, he brought the kingdom of Babylon and its arrogant king, Nebuchadnezzar to encounter the living God.
As we target Unreached People Groups we must, like Paul, engage their marketplaces through access ministries. In this context, the marketplace becomes a nexus connecting us with the people to whom we are sent. Instead of being viewed as peddlers of some exotic religion, the disciple maker integrates into the society as a professional or as an entrepreneur. As believers set up businesses, hospitals/clinics and schools amongst the people and live the life of light, opportunities for witness open. DBS and other tools of Church Planting Movements (CPM) and Disciple Making Movements (DMM) can then be employed.[7]
Conclusion
What could happen if believers used their God-given platforms to advance the gospel? I believe this is key to finishing the task: galvanizing and equipping the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world in the power of the Holy Spirit, from every platform. Our church-based, solo superstar model has not been effective. Let’s call the clan!
Dr. Ferdinand Nweke coordinates Eternity Ministries (www.eternityministries.org) and its training arm, Truth Institute. He serves with a dynamic team to help people live with eternity in view and to maximize the finished work of Christ. He is a member of the Global Steering Team of Global Great Commission Network (www.ggcn.org). He has authored several books, including The Indwelling: The Exceeding Greatness of God’s Power at Work in You. He makes his home in Abuja, Nigeria.
[1] Missions By Multiplication is Eternity Ministries official strategy for maximizing the finished work of Christ, https://www.eternityministries.org.
[2] Ferdinand Nweke, Marketplace Ministry: Using Your Platform in the Workplace to Transform Lives, Cities and Nations (Burning Books, Abuja, 2015), https://courses.eternityministries.org/product/marketplace-ministry/.
[3] “IDF Background Information,” Mahal IDF, accessed June 26, 2021, http://www.mahal-idf-volunteers.org/information/background/content.htm#who.
[4] Wikipedia, s.v., “Pareto Principle,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle.
[5] David Claydon, ed., “Marketplace Ministry Occasional Paper No. 40,” 2004 Forum Occasional Papers, accessed June 26, 2021, https://lausanne.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/LOP40_IG11.pdf.
[6] Nweke, Marketplace Ministry, 15.
[7] “What is a disciple making movement?” Zúme, accessed June 26, 2021, https://zume.vision/articles/what-is-a-disciple-making-movement/ and “Growing Disciple Making Movements,” DMM Training, accessed June 26, 2021, https://discoverapp.org/training.
