Have you ever wondered about the origin of the current populist paradigm of Christianity? When professing Christians gather, why do they typically meet weekly for one to two hours, usually on Sunday morning? Why is the order of service (music, money, and message) generally the same regardless of the stream of Christianity? Why are most Sunday morning meetings open to the public? What is the source of these practices?
The above are examples of common practices today among those who profess to be Christians. The reason many of these examples are widely accepted can be traced back to events after the Protestant Reformation.
The sixteenth-century Reformation was a major event in church history that shaped Christian practices. One of the key contributions of the Reformation was the recovery of an anthropology (the nature of mankind) and soteriology (the nature of salvation) more aligned with Scripture than was commonly understood at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Sound biblical anthropology is grounded in the doctrine of total depravity: every person’s mind, will, and emotions is biased to sin (Romans 3:23). This means humans cannot self-save (humans are impotent to self-save); therefore, humans need a Savior. Understanding anthropology biblically leads to the importance of divine grace—God provides the only way to remedy the fallen condition of mankind. For fallen and impotent mankind, this is indeed good news!
Humans want to share this good news—this blessing—with others, which is why evangelism is so popular. But when evangelism is the main focus, discipleship is impaired. In the divine order, discipleship leads to evangelism, not the other way around, as illustrated by Paul’s experience in Ephesus (Acts 19:8–10).
Christian doctrine that distorts the biblical order leads to practices that block people from finding their callings. When local churches do not help people find and fulfill their individual callings, people are impaired in finding their divinely ordained work assignments. When people are blocked from finding their callings, this will impair their work product. Therefore, local churches leaders must recognize their responsibility to help envision and train workers to serve God’s purpose in their organizations. This can only come by prioritizing discipleship over evangelism.
Here is your business tip: Wise organizational leaders recognize the importance of workers who labor aligned with the will of God. The workplace is a context for people to fulfill their callings. To do this requires sound Christian leadership in organizations to prepare workers to find and fulfill their callings. To this end, support from local churches can be valued to help people discover God’s call. Local churches that prioritize evangelism over discipleship will be counterproductive. This wrong priority will impair personal effectiveness and efficiency.
