Worship Works

29Jan 2019 by worship

Books to inspire your Ekklesia journey

teaching

Ed Silvoso’s book, Ekklesia, is the core textbook for term two of our marketplace ministry training curriculum. Silvoso opens with a statement that when Jesus announced the Church, he described it not in religious terms but as his ekklesia - a secular term used by the Greeks and Romans to describe an institution operating in the marketplace in a governmental capacity. The implications are immense, as the author explains: “The Temple and the synagogue were static institutions that functioned in buildings that members had to go to on specified occasions, whereas the Ekklesia was a building-less mobile people movement designed to operate 24/7 in the marketplace for the purpose of having an impact on everybody and everything.” The book provides a glimpse of what God is doing in this generation…

18Nov 2018 by worship

Praying with watchfulness: Korea

chronicles, In practice

We have recently been learning and applying principles for co-creating with God, and praying with watchfulness. We have seen how God, who made us in His image, gave us the ability to create - to envision something and to produce it. And we do this best when we do it not independently of Him, but co-working with Him. We see that this can shape how we pray, too. I believe that in one sense God is waiting for us to agree with Him in prayer so that He will act. In our workplace ministry setting, we apply the model that Jesus taught his disciples in Luke 10, to enter a house and first say: “Peace to this house”. Then where the disciple was welcomed, to stay there, eat with their…

14Nov 2018 by worship

Prayer changes things: addiction

In practice

In Maidstone, Kent, a quarterly prayer walk takes place in the town centre where believers from across the town gather to pray over the community. When not prayer walking, many of the group meet weekly at the start of each week to listen to the Lord speak as He puts issues on their hearts and then pray with watchfulness and thankfulness. During the town-centre prayer walks, we noticed the prevalence of betting shops in Maidstone, which led us to pray for those addicted to gambling in the community. Christians in Maidstone pray regularly through the town centre (this photo from 2014) Then just two weeks ago when UK Sports Minister Tracy Crouch resigned in protest at the government's delaying of a new law to curb the lure of fixed odds betting terminals, it…

24Oct 2018 by worship

Working with Jesus

chronicles, In practice

It was 1997, and the Internet was coming. In fact it was already here, in the UK, but few people or companies seemed to realise what a difference it was about to make. I had spent the first six years of my career since leaving school working with computers in various ways, learning to program and developing technology for managing data and business processes. The company I now worked with was a start-up in print management. The founder had previously led a larger company where I had worked as a programmer, and when he left to form a new business he invited me to join his team. It was a perfect environment for me to learn fast, and after three years we had a powerful technology platform up and running…

17Aug 2018 by worship

The Ekklesia at work: reflections from a marketplace minister

In practice

After the completion of a recent course following Ed Silvoso's book Ekklesia, Adam, a marketplace minister and research analyst, wrote this reflection on his personal application of Ed's teaching. Read on to discover how understanding Jesus' Ekklesia as the vehicle for transforming nations affects our whole life as his followers. Jesus did things differently, so should I. When Jesus set out the heart and purpose of His ministry vehicle, the Ekklesia, it deeply challenged the social norm. The Ekklesia challenged the traditional religious structure of the synagogue as the place or worship, sacrifice and teaching by taking a familiar concept and turning it on its head. Jesus demonstrated throughout his earthly ministry that he would constantly challenge mind-sets in order to bring people back to the Father’s heart. In his…

12Feb 2018 by worship

Transforming nations, one client at a time

In practice

The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household. (2 Sam 6:11) As marketplace ministers, how do we align our vision to transform nations through our work with the individual needs and goals of our commercial customers? This is a great question inspired by conversations I’ve been having with my team. To be more specific, if a client’s goal is simply to sell more products and make better profits, is it possible for us as marketplace ministers to align that with our goal to help the client make a positive difference in their community? One of the paradigms we have for marketplace ministry is that of Prayer Evangelism, which follows Jesus’ instructions to his disciples…

09Jun 2017 by worship

Prayer Map

In practice

This Prayer Map is a visual guide as our team of marketplace ministers pray together each day. It's covered in sticky notes, colour coded by theme: Blue: Nations and communities As we sense a nation on our hearts, we pray for it - we might pray for its government and systems, for peace over that nation, for its relationships with other nations. Through our work and research we look to discover what the key and emerging issues are for that nation, so that we can pray more effectively for it. If we have colleagues or clients in that nation, we learn from them how to pray for it. Sometimes as we have been led to pray for a nation, the Lord has opened up new business (aka ministry) opportunities in that…

09Jun 2017 by worship

My work is worship

#workisworship, podcast

Listen to this post as a podcast: [audioplayer file="https://worship.works/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/My_Work_is_Worship.mp3" animation=no width=400 loader=FFAC00 lefticon=FFAC00 righticon=FFAC00 titles="My Work is Worship" artists="Daniel Ghinn" buffer=1] Where do you worship? Have you ever been asked, "Where do you worship?" How would you answer the question? The question was asked of Jesus, too - the Samaritan woman at the well asked him about it: "Our Fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you Jews say that we must worship in Jerusalem…" (John 4). She was thinking that worshipping God was about a particular place. But Jesus pointed out that worship didn't have much to do with a particular venue, but that "a time is coming, and has now come, when the true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to…

07Jun 2017 by worship

Pray-up

In practice

The daily pray-up is a 30-minute time to pray and reflect each morning for one of the teams we work with. All team members are welcome to join, and the session is loosely divided into 5-minute slots with a focus aligned with the company's mission and vision. A poster reminds the team about each of the key areas to pray into:

07Jun 2017 by worship

#WORKISWORSHIP, June 29th 2017

#workisworship, Events

#WORKISWORSHIP An evening of vision, testimonies and opportunities to join a team of marketplace ministers. Date: June 29th, 2017 Time: 7:30pm Location: Maidstone, UK (international via WebEx) Discover how your work is worship In this generation, a growing number of Jesus’ followers are seeing that for the Church to be effective it must be active every day outside of the four walls of traditional church buildings. Join us for #workisworship and hear principles for worshipping through your work, with practical examples from people like you who see every work assignment as a ministry opportunity. You will hear how the Church (aka Ekklesia) is at work every day through the lives of “marketplace ministers”, and you will gain practical tools to help you activate your faith in the workplace and start to…