Labor Day Sunday 2012

transcript

Carpe Monday Equipping People for Their

Monday Morning Mission Field

Bill Peel www.CenterforFaithandWork.com

Marcus Goodyear www.TheHighCalling.org

Losing Ground

• 320K churches

• 800K ministers

• Several religious broadcast networks

• 5,000 evangelistic organizations

• $1B Christian book and music industry

• 67% believe religion is losing

influence in America

• 8% know the gospel

• 97% of 16- to 29-year-old

non-Christians have a poor

impression of evangelicals

• 1/3 of young adult church-goers say

church is out of touch with reality

• U.S. is the 3rd largest mission field in

the world

Mark Greene at Lausanne 2010

“The 98% of Christians are who are not in paid church work … have never been envisioned or equipped for mission in 95% of their waking lives.”

—Mark Greene

The Monday Morning Opportunity

• Every day your church members walk into the most strategic mission field in the world …

their workplace

The Spiritual Speed Bump

Prayer

Bible Study

Evangelism

Worship

Business &

Finance

Politics

Rock Music

World Series

REAL WORLD GOD’S WORLD

God's World

Prayer Bible Study Evangelism

Worship

Real World

Work Business & Finance

Politics Rock Music

World Series

Results of This Faulty Thinking

• Faith becomes a private matter

• See daily work as unimportant to God

• See themselves as marginally significant

• Spiritually formed by the workplace

• Go to work unequipped

• Miss opportunities for influence

• Worship happens at church only

God’s Heroes?

★ ★ ★ ★ Missionaries

★ ★ ★ Pastors

★ ★ Bible college graduates

★ Work at a “secular” job

Why is the workplace so important?

Bureau of Labor Statistics, (part- and full-time adult workers)

1. We need to help them understand …

• Monday Work can/should be as much an act of

worship as Sunday praise.

Colossians 3:23

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as

working for the Lord, not for men.

Good work well done is a glory to God

and a blessing to the world.

Dorothy Sayers In nothing has the church so lost her hold on reality as in her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation. She has allowed work and religion to become separate departments, and is astonished to find that, as a result, the secular work of the world is turned to purely selfish and destructive ends, and that the greater part of the world’s intelligent workers have become irreligious, or at least, uninterested in religion. But is it so astonishing? How can anyone remain interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of his life?

2. We need to equip them …

• To apply biblical truth to their workplace setting

Work in the Bible

• More about work than worship

• 75% of Bible’s heroes had workplace jobs

• 90% of Jesus’ life spent in a small business

• 45 of 52 parables have a workplace context

“Now go in peace…..and remember: you go

nowhere by accident. Where you are

going…..God is sending you. Where you

are…..He has placed you. God has a purpose

for your life….right where you are. Christ

Jesus—who indwells you—has something He

wants to do, in and through your life……..right

where you are. Believe this…..and go in His

grace……and in His love……and in His power.

In the name of the Father….the Son….and the

Holy Spirit. Amen.”

3. We need to help them see…

• The opportunity

Colossians 4:5-6

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Why is the workplace so important?

Sunday’s church-goers are Monday’s missionaries

The Workplace Connection

75-90%

• Special need

• Walk-ins

• Pastor

• Church program

• Visitation

• Sunday school

• Evangelistic crusade/TV

• Friend or relative

How do adults come to Christ and church?

4. They need to recognize …

• The obligation

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

Now about brotherly love …

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Some Easy Steps You Can Take

1. Pray for the workplace.

2. Visit church members at their work.

3. Watch your language.

4. Use workplace illustrations in sermons.

The Benefits to Your Church

1. Your church will feel SUPPORTED.

• Good work is economically significant.

• It strengthens the family and stabilizes the community.

1. Your church will feel supported.

2. Your church needs your INSTRUCTION.

• The best climate today is complex and changing moment by moment.

• Your congregation needs moral guidance and practical ethics for the workplace.

2. Your church needs instruction.

3. Your church will be EMPOWERED.

• In the 21st century, our neighbors are not just across the fence.

• Neighbors are coworkers and customers and clients and patients and students and...

3. Your church will be empowered.

4. Your church will EVANGELIZE.

• Neighbors and coworkers will see the results of your church member's hard honest work.

• This opens the door for effective evangelism.

4. Your church will evangelize.

5. Your church will be INSPIRED.

• Organizations can love their neighbors, too.

• Work can be socially significant in the local community.

4. Your church will evangelize.

5. Your church will be inspired.

6. Your church will be ENERGIZED.

• God is redeeming our lives and our work to the original cultural mandate.

Resources for Labor Day Sunday

1. Sermon Outlines • http://centerforfaithandwork.com/resources/sermons

1. Sermon Outlines: • http://www.thehighcalling.org/content/sermon_notes_order.htm

1. Sermon Outlines

2. Commissioning Service

3. Praise Song and Hymn Suggestions

4. Bulletin Inserts

1. Sermon Outlines

4. Bulletin Inserts

5. The High Calling Videos

• http://youtube.com/thehighcallingvideo

• http://vimeo.com/thehighcalling

The High Calling Videos

1. Sixty Seconds to Significance

2. High Calling Visualizations

3. Short Films

1. Sermon Outlines

4. Bulletin Inserts

6. Small Group Curriculum (6 weeks)

• (register at the link above to receive the curriculum for free)

Small Group Curriculum

1. Sermon Outlines

4. Bulletin Inserts

7. Articles from The High Calling and the Center for Faith & Work

http://CenterforFaithandWork.com

http://TheHighCalling.org

Daily Reflections http://www.thehighcalling.org/user/register

Weekly Calling http://www.thehighcalling.org/user/register

Sermon Notes http://www.thehighcalling.org/content/sermon_notes_order.htm

1. Sermon Outlines

4. Bulletin Inserts

7. Articles from The High Calling and the Center for Faith & Work

Questions and Answers?

Bill Peel

Center for Faith & Work http://centerforfaithandwork.com/

Marcus Goodyear

The High Calling http://www.thehighcalling.org/