The Church and The Marketplace

I just read this article, after HQ showed the rest of the CG this article... it's really very spurring!

Something I felt lifted up when I read this article was this:

The Church cannot forfeit her rightful place and role in the marketplace where she must be able to extend her influence beyond the walls of the church or it will be seen as irrelevant.

For too long the Church has been confined and conforming to the world, it is time that the Church demonstrates the power and presence of God in engaging and transforming the world. If this isolation continues, the Church will eventually lose her God-given authority and inheritence as the head and not the tail.

I was thinking: What exactly does it mean by influence?

One of my good friends shared with me recently that the boss of his company had asked another manager to push his team to an impossible deadline. My friend was shocked when he heard the deadline - it was absolutely impossible. But the other manager simply said, "Ok, no problem."

Something that touched me when my friend narrated that incident to me was his shock and dismay at the boss' impossible demands and the unfair treatment of the overworked team - that "this is economic slavery!" I was touched, because to be honest, I most likely would have thought, "Erm, as long as I'm not affected by the demands, it's not my problem..."

But my friend's heart for his fellow overworked colleagues spoke to me a lot - that this is one Christian who doesn't just look only to his own interests, but cares for the welfare of others.

That is the same heartbeat that stirred the hearts of a few Christians a few centuries ago in England and the USA, to make a decision to stand against slavery then. So thank God for my friend who wants to make an impact in the marketplace - to in future be able to establish fair working conditions for the people under his care next time.

So moral influence. That's how the Church can really be salt and light in the marketplace - even if you don't have the skills to be the next Elim Chew or Bill Gates... ultimately, it is your character, your attitude, your care and concern for those around you that will make a lasting impact on those around you. A refusal to compromise on the truth, even if it means losing a job. A determination to keep my promise to deliver the goods, no matter how painful. A heart for the needs of others. A willingness to go the extra mile, even if it costs you extra.

Then that day in heaven, you'll see with your own eyes, as the song "Thank You for Giving to the Lord" goes:

One by one they came, far as your eyes could see.
Each life somehow touched by your generosity.
Little things that you had done, sacrifices that you made,
They were unnoticed on this earth
In Heaven now proclaimed.