October 1999 Update
Current Update:
This
issue is brought to you by Marketplace Meditations,
a Daily Electronic Devotional published by Os Hillman at Marketplace
Leaders. Please visit
the site today to
sign up for a subscription.
HEADLINES:
YWAM discovers its destiny to take THE Whole gospel to THE NATIONS
Faith Works City Cycle multiplies Business and Ministry Partnerships.
Christianity Today Features Ordinary People Making a Difference in
Everyday Life.
Scruples & WOWI catalogue 700 plus Marketplace Ministries at faith @
Work Directory.
New Marketplace Book promotes THE power of agreement as a means to
SUCCESSFUL organizational change.
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America launches Ministry in Daily
Life Web Site.
Scruples Forum Visitor recommends Working Mothers stay at Home with
Children. What do you think?
Article in Decision Magazine - How to be a Christian At Work.
1.
CNN Financial Finds Religion in the Marketplace!
Over
the past year CNN Financial News has featured several articles on the
integration of religious faith and business.
Ranging from Biblical Stewardship to Social Responsible
Investments, CNN FN is waking up to the impact that faith has on the
marketplace. Check out these
links:
“Consume
with conviction -- It's hard to filter fact from fiction, but shopping can
make a statement <http://www.cnnfn.com/1999/07/16/life/q_consume/>
“Mixing
business and faith --
Religious groups are big stakes players in socially responsible
investing.”
<http://www.cnnfn.com/1999/04/02/investing/q_social2/>
“Investing
with a conscience.”
<http://www.cnnfn.com/1999/03/26/investing/q_social/>
“The
gospel of finance -- Groups using Bible as guide to money management are
flourishing.”
<http://cnnfn.com/1999/07/20/investing/q_church/>
In an
address to the Biannual workshop of Youth With A Mission’s
University of the Nations. Landa Cope, Dean of Communications,
challenged 1,500 YWAMers to think differently about missions.
“Our destiny as a Mission is NOT Salvations; Miracles; or
Churches…”, stated Landa, “Perhaps God has kept us from reaching the
10-40 Window because our gospel is too small.”
“We need to preach a gospel of the kingdom that God is the God of
law, development, science, technology, health care, and economics.”
God does not just want a big church, he wants a diverse church, a
deep church. He does not want just to save individuals in nations but to redeem
the nations themselves. Thus,
our destiny IS the Nations, REACHING and TEACHING them.
A full
text of the notes is available in a pdf format at <http://www.uofn.edu/workshop/9UofN99d.pdf>
Or Visit Landa’s Web Site at <www.ottemplate.org>
to read for further information on reaching and teaching nations according
to the Old Testament Template.
In the
next 50 years Globalization and the Internet will connect and integrate
the world into one community. The
marketplace will be the common ground where people, cultures and nations
meet. Perhaps God is positioning the marketplace as THE mission field of
the 21st Century and marketplace ministry as the method to
“reach and teach” the nations. The
Scruples Web Site is tracking a spontaneous movement developing in the
marketplace of Christian business and professional people taking the
initiative to think and act, strategically and intentionally, to reach and
teach their nations.
I am
in the process of developing a book that will cast some vision for others
to run with (See Hab. 2:2) I would like to recruit the Scruples Audience
to help me. The above forum has the Book
Outline. The Chapter Contents
are: 1.Introduction to Marketplace Ministry. 2. A History of Marketplace
Ministry. 3. The State of Marketplace Ministry. 4. The Marketplace Mandate
- the Marketplace as THE
Harvest Field of the 21st Century. 5. Seven Challenges of Concern for
Marketplace Ministry. 6. Seven Requirements for Results. 7.Seven Ideas
with Impact in the Marketplace. 8.The Seven Stages of The Marketplace
Mandate. 9. Seven Steps to Starting a Marketplace Ministry. 10. The Result
- Marketplace Christians that Shine like Stars. 11. Epilogue - Fire Proof
for God.
Please drop by the SCRUPLES Forums for Discussion and add your thoughts and suggestions for the book or you can e mail me at <mm@scruples.net> .
The
Faith Works Movement with Bob Buford and Peter Drucker have taken the idea
of Business and Ministry Partnerships into the local community.
The Initiative is called City Cycles. “We have learned that in
order to sustain ongoing partnership creation, the effort must be owned
and driven by local "champions" who have a passion and desire to
see business and professional leaders engaging their real abilities in
service to others. The tools we have developed to assist with this process
are transferable and highly customized to fit the unique dynamics of every
community. It is our ultimate goal for a local committee to be
self-sustaining with support from the FaithWorks National Office in
Dallas, TX. If you sense God's leading to advance the development of life
changing partnerships in your community, FaithWorks will provide the
strategy, tools and processes and will assist you with implementation. For
more info visit <www.faithworks.net>
or e mail <faithworks@faithworks.net>.
A very
interesting article has appeared in Christianity today telling Peter
Drucker’s story as a Christian and vision for partnerships between
business and non profits. You can read it at
<http://www.christianity.net/ct/current/9B08/9B08a.html>
The
Life@Work CO.® announced a partnership with Family Christian Stores that
will provide Christian consumers with various business related titles in a
2 foot section in each of Family Christian Stores 300 plus locations. The
new retail section is called the Life@Work Resource Center and will
feature The Life@Work Journal -- the award winning bi-monthly business
magazine and books from best-selling authors like John Maxwell, Bob
Briner, Kaurie Beth Jones, Ken Blanchard, Bill Hybels and others. For more
information you can visit the Life at work web site
or email <information@ifeatwork.com>
The
Christian Reader is a publication of Christianity Today that tells the
stories of Ordinary People making a difference in everyday life by putting
their faith into practical action. If
you know of someone who you think is an Ordinary Hero at Work or in
Business please submit their story to Christian Reader. “Submit the
name, address, and telephone number of your nominee (s) and why you
nominated them. Also include your name, address, and phone number. If we
do a story on your nominee, you'll win a $25 finder's award. We reserve
the right to edit all responses and to use this material in any form.”
Check out their article submission guidelines at Mail
to: Editor,
CHRISTIAN READER 465 Gundersen Dr. Carol Stream, IL 60188, E-mail: <CReditoria@aol.com>
You can read some of the inspiring stories of Ordinary Heroes at
The
Faith @ Work Directory will guide you to the people, places and
perspectives you need to succeed in your faith as a Christian in the
marketplace. It is a service of the Scruples for Marketplace Christians
Web Site <www.scruples.net>
in partnership with Workplace Wisdom Inc. <www.wowi.net>.
You can visit the Faith @ Work site at <www.wowi.net>.
Be sure to look for the Faith @ Work Directory on the far right
sidebar!
Organizational
Managers often overlook a crucial element in their planning because it
appears to be common-sense: positive change happens only when a committed
team of people agrees on the organization’s purpose and direction.
Brian D. Molitor, founder and CEO of Molitor International,
specialists in organizational change, calls this dynamic -- The Power of
Agreement. In his new book by that title, he systematically details the
change process, showing why and how the chances for long-term success
increase exponentially when management and staff share the same vision.
Brian Molitor is the founder and CEO of Molitor International, a
consulting and training company specializing in organizational change. He
can be reached at <Molitor@concentric.net>
The Book can be purchased at the WOWI Site at <http://www.wowi.net/wowistore/>
Located
at <http://www.elca.org/dm/midl/>
the site provides links to existing resources that support the work you do
every day in God's world. There is opportunity
to play with Ideas and
explore Biblical insights, questions, theological musings that begin with
the priesthood of all believers and end with changed congregations.
Finally, there is a Connecting People link where you can be linked
to thousands of Christians around the country whose passion for their
daily life ministries is similar to your own.
For more information on the site contact Sally Simmel at <ssimmel@elca.org>.
One of
the recent submissions to our Scruples Forum on Marketplace Articles
expressed her concern for working Christian mothers. “Dear Christian
mothers, you seem to find it difficult to stay at home and take care of
what the Lord has entrusted to your care. You want to run the fast race of
making more money only to spend it on more things that you don't need but
want. Spend the time to instill Christ like virtues in your children, your
gifts from the Lord. Remember you are in the world, but not of the world.
Teaching is a on the job task daily and there are no substitutes for what
ever reason.”
What
do you think? Should vocations for Christian mothers take them out of the
home and away from their children? What
is your opinion? You can
respond directly to our reader at <http://www.scruples.org/_articles/00000035.htm>
or you can reply and I will post your comments. Thank you for your input.
13.
Article in Decision Magazine - How to be a Christian At Work.
An
article in a recent Decision Magazine by William Backus, Ph.D.,
outlines Five Ways to represent Christ in the Workplace.
1. Pray for Coworkers & Clients (Substitute prayer for fault
finding!) 2. Show the character of Christ with loving behavior toward
others. 3. Practice humility toward others and avoid self righteous
moralism. 4. Accept criticism and learn from it. 5. Maintain the highest
moral and ethical standards. Keep watch on your behavior rather than blaming others.
For the full text of the article you can visit <http://www.decisionmag.org/07Jul/07FA2.htm>
The
Scruples Update Newsletter is brought to you FREE from the Scruples for
Marketplace Christians Web Site. Scruples
is an Internet gateway Site for Marketplace Christians. It is full of
helpful news, information, directories and reference guides for Christians
in business, professional practice or career employment. It is located at
<www.scruples.net>
To subscribe to the Scruples Update please send an e mail to
<mm@scruples.net>.
Please
forward this Update to your colleagues' associates or friends who would
also appreciate these resources.
Visit the Archive Page for past Scruples News and Updates.
Please bring to our attention other news worthy items of interest to Marketplace Christians by visiting our feedback page.