Can I be a Corporate Missionary?
The Present Day Missionary Challenge:
“There is nothing wrong with change if it is in the right direction”, said Winston Churchill. If we are honest and pragmatic in looking back at mission history we would acknowledge that change has been the only constant that has never changed. The world is a global village today and with the ‘open market inter-dependence’ socio-economical situation in India has changed drastically. This has accordingly contributed to major paradigm shifts in missions too. We read that even the political situation has changed the mission movement in the early Churches by scattering and thus multiplying. So to underestimate or overestimate the influence of the changing times would be a mistake.
Gone are the days where a person has to work his entire life to build a house, buy a car and get his children married. Easy money and fast-track express career growth are few of the key words in the corporate world. The changing times has also ushered in new outlooks about ministry itself. With this foreword as back-ground let us dare to question, “Where are the missionaries?” and “What is their identity in this fast-track world?”
HE is the SAME
Even though the world scenario is rapidly changing, our God and His ways are unique. He still works and transforms people. His concern for the perishing souls and the urgency in taking His saving knowledge to the masses has not changed at all. His great commission is still the same. He still uses people and is still looking for available people to carry on His purpose. Times will change but His way, His concern, His purpose, and His commission remains the same. Yesterday today and for ever He is the same!
Man is NOT the SAME
Whenever I talk to people, they say that “God wants me do something else but….. I am stuck with my job”. Why is this situation prevalent everywhere? Are there any missing links? One of the major reasons for the difficulty in adjusting to the demands of life could be lack of preparation in dealing with changing work culture and another dimension could be the Spiritual diversion that the enemy devises that we may not be productive in our ministry. I look at people in four broad areas in terms of mission involvement.
- The Journeying Man - People who are in the making
- The Toiling Man - People who are struggling to do something
- The Unaware Man - People who are not aware of their potential to involve in the ministry.
- The Lost Man - People who are lost in the world
The World is NOT the SAME TOO
Sometimes I wonder about the toils of St. Thomas as he ventured out towards India. How many months… no… no how many years he might have travelled to reach India? But now it is different. You could breakfast in Mumbai, lunch in Dubai and have dinner probably in New York! New age transport has shrunk the world and has taken us into new heights. Once upon a time going abroad was a big thing for the middle class Indian. But now it is a common thing and an every day affair to see people travel abroad. Films which are released in Hollywood can be seen in India almost at the same time as seen in America. International brands like McDonald, Coco-Cola, Coffee Day and Pizza Hut are at our door steps. But the question is how far has this “shrunk” world enabled us to deliver the Gospel to every person in an understandable legitimate way? Has Gospel Work Benefited?
The Contemporary Need
In the past God used the western missionaries to bring us the Gospel, but it is so unfortunate that we are still western in our thinking of reaching out to our people with the Gospel. Many of us think that resigning from “Secular Job” and going into “Full Time” ministry is the only way to do missionary work. It is because of this misconception that I challenge people to be a “missionary in their workplace” first. I feel that it is the primary of qualifications for a person to then become a “full time” missionary.
I was attracted to GEMS ministries when I heard about their willingness to accept “Tent-Makers” to be part of the missionary workforce. Almost seventy percentage of their work force is non missionaries and they are able to make greater impact in work places around the world. Missions need to be prepared to accept “Tent-Makers” as mission work force, and missions must be prepared to handle them ‘Tent-Makers’ with a new heart and a new thinking. It is high time for us to ask the Lord for a new wineskin that he may pour into it new wine.
The Plentiful Harvest
India’s nuclear alliance with America and its rapid economic progress because of its IT strength are both clear indications that India will soon become a “Super Power”. Whether India beats China in that race for Asian supremacy or not is not the subject of our debate, But we need to ask ourselves certain other questions. How many of us have imagined having a Church in a Call Center? How many of us are dreaming of setting up churches in any of the many closed countries with the Diaspora Indians? Can the Indian Diaspora Christian community influence other Diaspora Non Christians? Can the Diaspora Christians be motivated to reach the host nationals through their work place relationships?
GEMS started a “Christian Professionals’ Job Portal” under its PROfessional Fellowship of Indian Talents (PROFIT) initiative to send people to countries closed to the gospel as tentmakers. PROFIT started its initiatives in many “Creative Access Nations” and the kind of work which can be done as professionals into a real job for testifying the Gospel is tremendous. Keep your attention and watch this magazine-space in the future editions for more strategic inputs about how as a Christian professional you could also be a missionary, about job opportunities in closed countries and success stories.
The Way Forward
Stop asking ‘Why’. Ask ‘WHY NOT’. It’s the Eleventh Hour! High Time Indeed
Let this generation be molded for work place evangelism. let us empower them to be better tools in our Masters’ hands. Let us go an extra mile in lending a helping hand to the toiling man and to assist and facilitate those who are struggling in their workplace, recognize their weaknesses and help showing the way for the journey man. Let us search for the people who are lost in the demanding world with misplaced priorities in life. As the pressures of life and peers are very high let us build bridges for the lost Christian professionals.
Let us constantly challenge people for personal involvement in ministry than focusing only on their tithes and offerings. Many are not aware of their potential through their profession and when we give them practical do-able ministerial assignments, the expansion of the Gospel will increase like never before.
Let us think outside the box and prepare ourselves for a greater harvest with the motto of
“The Total World” for our “Master God”.