Who We Are
What does it mean to believe that our work is worship?
This important question drives everything we do at Discipling Marketplace Leaders.
We believe that our world needs to return to this core Biblical truth:
God created humanity to work and care for creation, and this makes work, all work, an act of worship.
This core Biblical truth leads us every day to partner with and empower Christians to minister in their marketplaces (workplaces).
When they do, churches are unleashed, communities are transformed, and the world is changed – all for God’s glory!
Where We Work and What We Teach
Our current efforts are primarily in Africa (but in a few select other countries too), working with:
- Bible colleges and seminaries
- Church leaders of local congregations
- Christians in the marketplace
Our Mission is to educate, equip, and empower the local church.
We teach that every Christian and every business has a quadruple bottom line:
- Missional (intentionally sharing the love of Jesus)
- Economical (businesses lift a country out of poverty, not aid)
- Environmental (caring for creation is a Biblical mandate)
- Social (loving God and loving others includes in business)
Why We Work Where We Do
The work we do in Africa and elsewhere (Central America, SE Asia) has significant consequences.
For example, estimates are that by 2050 the population of Africa will have doubled from roughly 1.3 billion people to approximately 2.6 billion people. As Africa grows, the Church there has been growing along with it.
The “Christian” population has gone from approximately 9 million in 1900 to well over 350 million in 2018 and will likely reach 633 million by 2025.
The opportunity before the African Church to reclaim the marketplace for Christ is significant, but the tools for how to do this are lacking.
At Discipling Marketplace Leaders, we work to equip the local church in Africa with the necessary tools to help local church members recognize their ability and potential to be light in the midst of darkness, to be the Church every day of the week where they work.
Three Great Directives from God
Three Great Directives from God guide our work:
- The Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind… Love your neighbor as yourself.”
- The Great Commission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…”
- The Great Commitment: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky.’”
In response to these three great directives, we ask:
- Who is our neighbor in the marketplace?
- Who are we discipling in the marketplace?
- How does our work, that which we are made to do, connect to The Great Commandment and the Great Commission?
We believe that learning how God has called us to work will open up new insights for Christ-followers, strengthen their faith and strengthen the worldwide church.
Go deeper into what we believe with our faith statement:
What We Offer
In our work, we always partner with local pastors and church leaders.
Local partners are the conduit to their local congregations, and together we want to unleash the God-given power of every believer in the workplace.
We work with Bible Colleges and Seminaries, we work with Pastors and Church Leaders, and we do Business Training.
With Bible Colleges and Seminaries, we offer courses at a certificate, diploma, BA or MA level in such areas as:
- Church-based Business as Mission
- Integrity and Finance
- Development and Social Change
Go deeper into our work with Bible Colleges and Seminaries:
With Pastors and Church Leaders, we partner to create a workplace ministry that is similar to what a church might be doing with a youth ministry, a women’s ministry, or a men’s ministry.
Our goal is to teach pastors and church leaders the biblical and theological foundation for workplace ministry by spending time together in the Old and New Testament to better understand the God of Business.
We also provide sermon outlines to pastors (if needed), daily devotions to church members and more.
Go deeper into our work with Pastors and Church Leaders:
And our Business Training offers micro-business training; 12-week sessions for small- and medium-size entrepreneurs that result in a roadmap-to-success business plan; courses for leaders in the workplace that lead to a personal ministry statement for how work can be an act of worship; and a three-month program for young entrepreneurs, teaching them valuable skills in business, interviewing and more, while also helping them launch a small business.
Our training is interactive, giving people who generally have not participated in formal business training a way to gain practical and applicable business skills that are grounded in a faith-filled joy and passion for the work they have been called to do.
Go deeper into our Business Training: