Worship Works

18Nov 2021 by worship

People will know you are a disciple of Jesus

teaching

This is our second part of a series on growing as a disciple in the marketplace. If you have not yet read it, here's part 1, Abide in the Word. Part 2 – Be my disciple If you love one another 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” (John 13:6-8) In part one we saw in humility Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. In verse 6 we see the reaction of Peter – "you will never…

26Oct 2021 by Francesca Gan

Discovering work as worship

#workisworship, career, In practice

For some people, the idea of building their career for the next 40 odd years seems like a really exciting prospect, but if you were me after graduating university, it was a prospect that filled me with anxiety at worst and apathy at best. I have a distinct memory of walking to church with a friend in our final year of university, both of us decrying the idea of the same old 9-5, day in and day out, until we retire. It made us shudder. Does that seem like a familiar feeling to you? For lots of people, work is a way to make money and to live, especially when the excitement and novelty of the job wears off, and we’re left with “Let’s just make it till Friday then…

26Oct 2021 by worship

Resign or reshuffle? How to change your job with purpose

#workisworship, career, teaching

I’ve been hearing a lot among friends in business, and in the business press, about "The Great Resignation", as millions of people resign from their jobs. But I recently read a piece about an interview with LinkedIn CEO, Ryan Roslansky, in which he says that what’s really happening is a “Great Reshuffle”, as people search for more meaningful work. "You have employees globally who are rethinking not just how they work, but why they work and what they most want to do with their careers and lives", says Roslansky. In essence, the point Roslansky is making - backed with millions of datapoints from LinkedIn profiles - is that we’re in a period of transition, and people are thinking, “what do I really want to be doing?” LinkedIn looked at their…

26Oct 2021 by worship

You are more than a demographic profile

In practice

This short post started as a side-note to a piece on career changes, while mentioning "Gen-Z" (also known as "Zoomers"), the demographic group defined by social scientists and the media as those people born between the mid-to-late 1990s and the early 2010s. When I mentioned research that classified people in their careers according to their demographic cohort by generation - such as Generation Alpha; Generation Z (Gen-Z, or Zoomers); Millennials; Generation X; Baby Boomers... I felt I needed to add a health warning. In my view, it’s not always helpful to place ourselves into a bracket such as “Gen-Z” and allow the demographers and social scientists to define what we are like. We are all unique individuals, with millions of things shaping our experience. There are times when it may…

13Aug 2021 by Mark Lawrence

Abide in the word to grow as a disciple

teaching

Over the next three months we will be looking at some of the characteristics of how to grow as a disciple in the marketplace. We are starting with the word of God. Abiding in the word John 8:31 (ESV) 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples" In the gospel of John, we have the first mention of “disciple” in Chapter 8. Here Jesus is clearly speaking to believers, those who have trusted in Jesus for their salvation. Now He wants to challenge them in how to have that closer fellowship with Him, how to continue in their belief. Firstly they had to believe, the first step in faith and obedience to Jesus; now He gives…

28Jul 2021 by Mark Lawrence

What does being a disciple for Christ mean?

teaching

Is there a difference between just believing in Jesus and living totally for Him? Where do you think you are in your journey as a Spirit-filled believer? What can you do to receive all of what Christ has for you? Jesus sets out a challenge in the Gospel of John. “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honour him.” John 12:25-26 (ESV) In the previous verse, Jesus has just spoken about His upcoming death; that He will give up His life so that sin can be overcome, and spiritual fruit can flourish. …

30Apr 2021 by worship

What Kind Of Clay Will You And I Be?

ekklesia, teaching

I was encouraged recently to receive this message from David Foster, who is Senior Pastor at Manor Park Christian Centre and Chaplain to the Metropolitan Police in Newham, London. It is reproduced below with Pastor David's permission: As we continue to navigate the days ahead, the most important thing we can do is to keep our eyes focused upon Jesus. Many Christian leaders are in agreement that the Lord’s desire over the past 13 months of the Covid-19 pandemic has been to continue to change His Church into what He wants us to be. This means that the Church as we have known it in the past will be changed to look and to be something different in the days ahead. He wants “to make her [His Church—believers in Christ]…

17Apr 2020 by Mary Kangley

The Word of our God endures forever

In practice, teaching

The importance of being rooted in God’s Word as a Marketplace Minister “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”Isaiah 40:8 This verse has enchanted me ever since I was young. The grass and flowers: part of God’s awesome Creation, things that we appreciate for their beauty but equally we take for granted, even they fail. But, we can choose to root ourselves in something that is everlasting, that which will challenge us, grow us and never fail us: God’s Word. In my role as a Marketplace Minister, all I do begins with my foundation in scripture. It has to be, because what I am called to do, I cannot do with my own strength and understanding. For transformation that begins in the…

10Mar 2019 by worship

Get the App: Transform Our World

teaching

There is a world-changer inside of everyone that needs to be activated. This app will equip and empower you on your journey to operate as the Ekklesia - God's vehicle to transform the world through the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. You will receive daily devotions, weekly podcasts and powerful video testimonies that illustrate what it looks like. Find out more or download the app here. Then once you have installed the app, click the 'Join the Community' option to receive premium updates.

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…