What is marketplace ministry?

 Marketplace ministry has sometimes been referred to as Workplace Ministry. The marketplace is where you have a sphere of influence, from your family to out in the workplace and everywhere in between.

 Where does the Marketplace Movement fit into the apostolic reformation?

 The Marketplace Movement precedes the Saint's Movement and comes as part of the apostolic reformation. If we didn't have apostles, then we couldn't see it. We would miss it with a pastoral mentality. We have to go outside the four walls of the church to get a church without walls. It's time to start moving into the places where they need the Good News. And I don't mean just the Gospel and salvation. I mean all the redemptive acts of Christ.

The Marketplace Movement encompasses every part of life. What is my calling? Where is my calling? What am I called to do? What do I do with that call? It's more than evangelism. It is more than pastoral. It is more than teaching. We needed the Apostolic Movement to bring it all together into a place where it can be tested in proven acts.

 How does the apostolic prepare believers to enter into marketplace ministry?

 The apostolic builds the awareness that we need a church without walls because the apostolic sees structure. It sees government. It sees the sending out. The Marketplace Movement is a means to transport the Gospel - the full Gospel. I believe the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. That means every kingdom, whether it's communications, entertainment, business or government. All of those kingdoms are to be redeemed and to fall back under the Lordship of Christ, and it is our responsibility to take dominion. When you take dominion, you demonstrate excellence that draws people unto the Lord.

Wal-Mart is the number one retailer in the world. Why? Because they did it better than anyone else. They have dominion over retail trading because they looked to see what was needed and filled the need in a better way. We know what people need in the marketplace. Sometimes they don't even know, but when we fill that life need in a better way - through excellence - we will have  What is the role of the local church in this Marketplace Movement?

 The local church, by design, is supposed to be the place to get equipped. The local church is not just to provide programs to help Christians to mature and grow. That's part of it - growing and maturing - but I think there has to be a place of training and equipping and activating and mentoring people to go from the local church back to the place where they have influence - into the marketplace. The apostolic takes the focus off the local church and shows us the Kingdom. When we get that vision fully all these local churches will be full. There won't be lack.

 I have heard the term "marketplace apostle." What is a marketplace apostle?

A marketplace apostle is someone who functions in the broader application of the marketplace. Business people are like people who play on a football team. They have read the playbook, they know the rules, and they want to play the game. The marketplace apostle knows that and sets up the game for them to play. The teacher gives the rules and teaches the playbook, but the apostle says, "Here's the game we can all go play. Here is a structure. We can go put this to work."

 What are the biggest hindrances to marketplace ministry?

One pitfall is relationships that we refer to as dualism. Dualism says church is church and business is business and the two don't mix. We need to blend those relationships. Another pitfall is that people judge the way you run your business. It's no one's business how you run your business, how much you pay your employees or how much you pay yourself.

Another pitfall is that I hear a whole lot of "God said." That's just pure manipulation. That "God said" stuff can be overly used and abused. Other pitfalls include not being open to wise counsel. An entrepreneur, whether he is a Christian or not, has the same drive. So, just because you are a Christian doesn't mean that your tendency won't be to get whatever you want through manipulation.

How can believers overcome these obstacles?

One way is wise counsel and apostolic oversight. You have to be willing to let leaders speak into your life about your principles. There is something in the church called, "Ask not. Tell not." That means "I won't ask how you make your money, and you won't tell me" and it has been prevalent in local churches. We have not reached over into that part of people's lives to ask, "By the way, how do you make your money?" We have not wanted to look. We have just wanted the money. One of the things that the Marketplace Movement is going to do is open entrepreneurs up to say, "I want you to look into the way I run my activities and the way I run my business and give me your feedback." With the pastoral model, there hasn't been anyone in church leadership that necessarily understood business problems and so there wasn't anyone to ask.

The biggest things we deal with are ethical issues, like the treatment of employees, or how to price a product. But there are answers. It's in the Word, but we have to extract it. We have to find it and bring it out and say, "Here's what the Bible says." It's not all about integrity. There are a lot of men of integrity and character, but they have known the worldly ways to do business. That's how they were trained up. They went to secular schools and they learned it that way. They don't know that there is an alternative. So, we have to teach it. That's part of how to prevent these pitfalls.

Should believers beware of wolves in sheep's clothing when seeking out materials on marketplace ministry?

There is no question. There has been enough fraud in the Church already, and this is just another opportunity for some people to extend their fraud. Another thing that makes me go to my knees is the fact that when we get some of these opportunists who operate under the cloak of marketplace ministry and start extracting money out of the Church, and it goes south, it could split a church wide open. Those issues are out there, but do we shy away from marketplace ministry because of it? Of course not. We go forward, but we do it with wisdom. Leaders will arise that can help set some precepts in place.

Why has God chosen this time to emphasize the importance of marketplace ministry in the Body of Christ?

What we have experienced within the local church has been a diminishing of effectiveness and relevancy. When you study the Scriptures and you start looking all the way from the Tower of Babel to the stoning of Stephen, what you see is that God always allows persecution to come when we don't take what we know and share it with others - when we don't change the world. If you go back and study the effects of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ all the way back to the early Church and into Europe and Asia, they transformed society. You don't find society being left as it was. We are not making enough transformation. We are dealing with the same sin symptoms that we have been dealing with for years. Now I believe that the Lord is allowing persecution to come to the Church.

What type of persecution?

Well, you turn on your TV and you see explicit sex. And if you don't agree with the gay agenda, you are homophobic. And you don't know whether to take a Bible to work or not. You don't know whether you have to leave it in your desk or not. You are afraid to say anything or you will lose your job. You are afraid to speak out anywhere outside of the four walls of your church. I think we have become very comfortable within our four walls, and I think we believe that that satisfies God. But I think God is saying, "I want this beyond the church." The church is to prepare you to spread the Gospel. The marketplace is where He wants it. That's where Jesus spoke. That's where He was. He was out there with sinners.

Do you think the church has become too introverted?

Yes. I tell people in our church all the time, "Please go out there and meet some sinners. Go out and get to be friends with somebody else. Don't hang out with each other all the time. Go hang out with somebody." That's what work is for - to make you hang out with people you don't like. God intended for you to spend time with people you don't want to be with. You have a calling out there, and you are going to be held accountable for it. Learn to do it. Get trained. Get equipped. That's why we are seeing the Marketplace Movement happening now. There is a lack of social reform; a lack of transformation. I am not a pessimist. I am an optimist because I believe we can change this. I believe that power is within the Body of Christ and God will work through His Body. We are part of the Body. Your job is not your calling. It is the means to carry out your calling. That's your assignment. So, let's get you trained and get you ready to know your assignment.

How will Marketplace Ministry impact the Body of Christ over the long term? Is this a critical part of the end-time harvest?

Equipping marketplace leaders

Many people look at it that way. I don't personally focus too hard on the end-time harvest. My calling is to be a change agent. We are not here as escapists. We are here to make change. We have the power. We have the abilities. We have the tools. So, let's go out and make change. In my opinion, once we begin to move into the understanding of marketplace ministry it's going to revolutionize the way we do church. I think you are going to have businesses that are owned purely for the purpose of propagating the Gospel.

For example, if we are going to fuss about abortion, then we need to at least have an alternative, like adoption. We can't just fuss about it. And if we are going to talk about lack of money, then we need to go out and build some teams of businesses with the purpose of providing money. I believe strongly in this. I believe that, one day, I am going to be able to say, "Does anybody want to go on a mission trip? We have plenty of money. Anybody want to go to Ghana and set up a mission over there? We have businesses that will support you once you get over there." There won't be a lack because the offering plate within the church won't be nearly big enough.

I believe the Marketplace Movement is going to make a tremendous impact. It's going to take some time because we have a paradigm. We have to work through mental thinking on the way it's been.

Jennifer LeClaire is the editor of The Voice magazine and author of "Doubtless: Faith that Overcomes the World." You can also visit her online at www.jenniferleclaire.org.