Mission and Marketplace
“Perhaps the single largest lesson I’ve learned is that the more I rely on the lessons in my Christian faith the more my teams flourish.”
We were encouraged by our partners at Transforming the Bay with Christ (TBC) who had Ron Johnson speak on Mission and Marketplace. This topic is essential for city movements to see faith throughout the work force for our cities to flourish. Johnson is currently the CEO of Enjoy, a tech-delivery start up company. His 40 plus years of experience in the workplace has led to his wisdom of mission in the marketplace.
“God intends for each of us to flourish. In fact I believe he designed us to flourish. In life flourishing means you experience joy. A deep seated feeling that your life, work, and you matter.”
5 Lessons from the Marketplace
1. The Beauty of the Garden
- As followers of Christ, we were all assigned a piece of the garden. “Each and every garden is an opportunity to love.”
- Choose to approach leadership as gardeners and not managers. A gardener attends to all of their plants and helps them grow. Partner with your team to see the garden flourish.
- “With a team it is truly unlimited in what you can accomplish. I witnessed my team accomplish every goal because we tended to the garden.”
- When we tend to the beauty of the garden it produces the best work of the teams life and they experience joy.
2. The Power of Your Imagination
- Genesis tells the story of God creating. On the sixth day, the Creator, creates us in his image.
- The greatest gift we could receive was being able to create and we need to use our imagination to do this.
- We must look inside ourselves because God’s plans for our work lies in the imagination of creation.
- We use our imagination as a “humble desire to uplift spirits [with] the knowledge that God created us to create and use our imagination to create a better world”
3. Love Made Visual
- Sum up the Bible in four words and you get: love, others, as, yourself
- In the marketplace, we need to apply loving others as yourself to our customers.
- For example, create a store based on love. You love your customers through the design of the store.
- Another example is, employees do not make commission because we want them to not look into the pockets of the customer, but ultimately the customers heart and how they can love and serve them that day.
- Not only does love work in the home and the church, it works in the marketplace.
5. Pool of tears
- “We all have a pool of tears that sit besides us. Those tears are either going to nourish us or drown us, we have to make that choice. Rather than swimming in those tears, [turn] them over to God.”
- John 16:20 says, “Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.”
- If you make God the center of your life. This verse will become a reality. “With God at the center, your sense of self will be dependent on God, not others.”
- We are under a life long project to be the best God created us to be because out of his love He designed us to flourish.
- In Ron’s pool of tears, he learned to truly love others even when it was hard to like them because God loves them.
5. Work and Faith
- When you are blessed you need to be a blessing to others by sharing what you have learned and your stories.
- If we apply God’s values to work we can change the marketplace.
- To incorporate mission and marketplace we must build a company on the foundation of love.
- Allow God to be the chairman of your board.
- God will help tend the garden, use your imagination and make love visual.
- Remember that there is a love that will help you flourish just as God planned, when He created you.
TBC is a city movement that focuses on catalyzing a holistic gospel in the Bay Area. They work to unify, amplify and multiply leaders in the area to make a Kingdom impact. If you want to learn more you can visit their website here and find more resources about their transformational city gospel movement.
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