Sheep to the Slaughter

Proverbs 24:11 says, "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter." As I read this passage this morning I laughed. I thought of all the young men wanting to go into full-time vocational ministry. In many ways they are being led away to death by slaughter. Now I know this sounds bitter and cruel coming from a former pastor but let me explain because I really believe that God is doing something marvelous in our world today.

I had breakfast this morning with one of the pastors at my church who went into full-time vocational ministry after he had been very successful in the marketplace. He and I discussed that the real work of ministry happens in the market place. His leadership position with our church is to train, mentor, and lead the people in our church to identify their ministry in the marketplace and minister there and not at the church building. He admitted that he sometimes feels ineffective not being in the marketplace on a regular basis, but we acknowledged that he is helping many people in the marketplace by mobilizing our church members to be equipped where they work and live.

My passion is to lead men and women to stay in the marketplace and engage with the lost and hurting where they are. I want to encourage them to not ask people they are around to come to a Bible study or worship service but to take their Bible to work and disciple them there. Demonstrate how real Jesus is and he can transform their life right where they are. "Go into all the world and make disciples."

So when I laugh at Prov 24:11 it's because so many people think that "real" ministry is working for a church. WRONG and SAD! Real ministry is in the community. I hope that people feeling God call them into ministry will realize that what he is calling them to is not full-time vocational ministry, but full-time marketplace ministry. To leave the world you live and work in to isolate yourself inside the traditional organization of traditional church work will lead you to be ineffective. I laugh at the "sheep to slaughter" idea because in a traditional church setting you will most usually be slaughtered by the wolves in sheep's clothing within the church. They want you to take care of them, not the lost and hurting of the community. I laugh because it's all too real and true.

The greatest joy is taking care of people at work, your neighborhood, and in your own home. Find your best ministry by lifting up your eyes seeing who needs Jesus right now. In our world today I believe God is stirring the hearts of ministers, pastors, and marketplace believers to be the church in the work place and the community not inside the walls of a church's buildings. God is calling us back to a Biblical authentic expression of what the Church is supposed to be and do. We are called to go. That going today means going back to the places you live and work and minister to those people and not try to bring them inside the walls of a building.