Hearing God's call to the workplace mission field
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Growing up, I always wanted to be a businesswoman. I loved numbers and would daydream about walking into an accounting office in a tailored blue suit. But I was never sure if my passion for business was actually something God wanted me to do. Sure, I was gifted in it, but no one in the church ever talked about business being a God-given calling; it was never endorsed from the pulpit as such.
Then, when I was 13, I felt strongly like God's purpose for me was to go into full-time Christian ministry. It's not that my passion for business ever left, just that I couldn't figure out how to connect those two callings on my life into one. I wanted to serve the Lord, and I wanted to be in business, but no one could connect those dots for me.
After Jim and I got married, we decided the next logical step was to enroll in seminary. Although we both had graduated college with business degrees, we had also committed our lives to full-time ministry and believed that seminary was the obvious right thing to do. But God had different ideas. He stepped in the way of that seminary education and set us off on the path to realizing that business and ministry are connected, that they are both callings from God.
It took until I was nearly 40 to realize that God truly had called me to both business and ministry, that He had called me to be a full-time minister inside the world of business. My giftings in administration and organization, my love for people, God, and business are all beautifully intertwined in my specific calling. And it is the Holy Spirit who empowers me to live out a life of ministry inside a life of work.
So, what about you? Have you heard God's voice calling you to full-time Christian ministry? Have you also felt a call towards the marketplace, government or education, health care or the arts?
It's okay! It's way better than okay,it's great!
God has gifted you uniquely to carry out the calling He has for your life. It's time for us to flip the switch; to recognize that God's will can include both full-time ministry and a role in the workplace.
Your workplace isyour mission field, a place of full-time ministry. Celebrate it! Tell everyone around you that you are called to work, and your work is from God.
 | Martha Brangenberg is a gifted developer and communicator, who has worked alongside her husband, Jim, in various entrepreneurial ventures over their 35+ years of marriage. In 2013, God called them to begin the iWork4Him Talk Show, where they have had the privilege of challenging thousands across the globe with the simple message that your workplace is your mission field. In addition, she and Jim have co-authored a series of collaborative books, iWork4Him, sheWorks4Him, and iRetire4Him. Learn More » |
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