[This blog is written by guest writer, Dr. Emeline Nde, board member and trainer for DML.]
“Do not accuse my government of being corrupt, because the people who make up my government sit in your pews every single Sunday.”
In 2012, the President of Uganda made that striking statement at Uganda Christian University.
Last month, as we stood before the top leadership of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC)—invited by the General Secretary of CEPCA (Council of Protestant Churches of Cameroon)—those words echoed in my heart with fresh urgency.
Cameroon is over 50% Christian, yet our communities continue to struggle with lawlessness, broken trust, and high-level corruption. Doing business here can be a nightmare—not because we lack rules, but because the rules are routinely ignored by the very people filling our churches on Sunday morning.
Last month, Discipling Marketplace Leaders (DML) partnered with the Council of Protestant Churches of Cameroon (CPCC) to host a two-day strategic seminar for senior administrators, department heads, and commercial managers of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC). Gathering under the theme “Commissioned to Lead: Transforming Society and Nations Through Kingdom Witness,” we stood before the “cream of leadership”—seasoned theologians and institutional decision-makers—to explore what it truly means to transform a nation through marketplace discipleship.
To say our theology and patience were tested during this seminar would be an understatement. We were ministering to seasoned theologians, bishops, and department heads—the “cream of leadership,” as the Moderator called them. Men and women who know the Scriptures inside and out.
“Are We Supposed to Take Microphones into the Market?”
When we opened the workshop by asking participants why they had come, several leaders expressed skepticism. They wondered if the Synod Clerk wanted them to literally carry microphones into open-air markets to street-preach.
We smiled and reassured them: No, you don’t need to stand in the market square with a microphone. Your calling is to equip the men and women who spend forty hours a week in those markets to live out the Gospel as their daily act of worship.
Even then, the pushback on day one was sharp: “We are not called to go out and measure the spirituality of our members in their workplaces. How can we be held responsible for what happens in society?”
Reconnecting Labor and Liturgy
That tension opened the door for a breakthrough. We pointed them to the vision their own Moderator, Rt. Rev. Miki Hans Abia, had recently shared across church media—a call to equip every believer, from high-level corporate directors to classroom teachers, tomato sellers, and everyday Okada (motorcycle-taxi) drivers, to see their work as a divine mission.
As we wrestled together over the Scriptures and drew from resources like Matthew Kaemingk and Cory B. Wilson’s Work and Worship, lightbulbs began to turn on across the room. These leaders began to move from seeing faith as a Sunday routine to understanding the true priesthood of all believers.
The Presbyterian liturgy already contains beautiful prayers for stewardship and daily work. But too often, those words become routine religion—prayers recited without a conscious connection to Monday morning.
A Door of Hope for Cameroon
Despite the steep challenges we face as a nation, there is immense hope on the horizon.
Consider this: In Cameroon, after the national government, faith-based institutions represent the largest employment sector—led by the Roman Catholic Church, the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC), and the PCC. The PCC’s workforce rivals top corporate employers in the nation across its schools, hospitals, commercial units, and administrative networks. Just think about the sheer reach of that reality! If we can equip the men and women already working within the PCC’s vast employment and marketplace network—teaching them to see their daily labor as Kingdom service—the ripple effect across Cameroonian society will be staggering.
There is hope, but hope requires action, training, and resources.
The door has been thrown wide open. Under the leadership of Joy Alima, our DML Cameroon Leader and the Director for HUTSEED Cameroon, we are preparing to step through it. Joy is already actively laying the groundwork to roll out these marketplace leadership trainings across the church. With the support and permission of the Council of Protestant Churches in Cameroon and the Moderator’s office, we have an extraordinary opportunity in front of us.
From Sunday Pews to Monday Flourishing
Our prayer and desire for this incredible body of leaders is that these truths move from the head to the heart, transforming the way they shepherd their congregations.
It is not the clergy who will transform the marketplace—it is the saints already stationed in government offices, farms, classrooms, and market stalls. As Joy and the team prepare to deliver these crucial trainings, our prayer is for open doors, wisdom, and the financial resources needed to execute this vision fully.
We must take advantage of this open door. When the church rises up to equip its people for everyday work, true national transformation is not just a dream—it becomes inevitable for the glory of God.