The Early Church and the Marketplace By Femi Adebayo
There is much fanfare when a person is ordained into the ministry, but the question is can God ordain a person to impact souls and produce profits in the marketplace just as we do in ministry?
Early Christians made the marketplace the focal point of their ministry because their occupations regularly took them there. As they conducted business, it was natural for them to present the gospel to the people they encountered.
In fact, only one of the 40 extraordinary manifestations of God’s power recorded in Acts happened in a religious venue: the healing of the lame man at the temple gate called Beautiful (Acts 3:1-11). Most of these spiritual wonders were facilitated by people such as Paul, Priscilla and Aquila, who as ministry and business partners are classic examples of marketplace Christians (Acts 18:1-3).
The refusal of Jesus Christ to the request of Satan automatically ceded the world and all its affinities to Satan. Satan is ready to part with it to anyone who is ready to accede to his request by covenant or through other forms of associations.
There are groups or clubs who are fronting for Satan and many people who are ignorant of these manipulations as agents of Satan ignorantly or willingly joined such associations just to have a fair share of the worldly economic power through their readiness to pay tribute to him by any means possible.
Many Christian businesses have been ambushed and closed down because they could not succumb to the demand of the acclaimed owner of this world while greater percentage of the Christians who are ignorant of the devil’s manipulations have their faith hanging on the balance because they suddenly discovered that they have compromised their faith for morsel of bread.
Jesus, a recognized craftsman, found the marketplace to be familiar territory (Mark 6:3). He recruited His disciples there, not in the Temple. None of the Twelve was a member of the professional clergy or a leader in the synagogue. Paul, who joined the group later was a rabbi (Acts 9:1-6) and was not a stranger to the marketplace. In fact, he ran a profitable business large enough to provide for him, his team and even the needy (Acts 20:33-35). For example, Dorcas, Lydia and Cornelius. Due to their prominence in their cities, they, in turn, produced salvation movements (Acts 9:36-43, 10:1).
It is about time that people who are called to serve in the marketplace be validated as full-fledged ministers because the last revival predicted by Joel (Joel 2:28-32) and quoted by Peter (Acts 2:17-21), will happen all over the city, not just inside a building. It will be an outpouring of the Spirit of God upon all flesh.
Pastor Femi Adebayo, an apostle of godly character and spiritual development is the President of Club Abraham International (a nondenominational fellowship of developing man value, character and godliness). Phone/WhatsApp: 08033137585
