Phil Pringle gave insight and guidance to being a Marketplace minister.
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| CN PHOTO: Elvis Chiu |
Senior minister of Christian City Church, Dr. Phil Pringle, kickstarted the Marketplace Ministry elective by explaining the importance of having a church ministry dedicated to influencing and leading people in the secular world to God. He said, “We need as many influencers in the church as we can, those who have sound and sane business practices.”
Challenging pastors to expand and enlarge their concept of church, he said, “Don’t be small-minded. The walls of the church need to be enlarged for these ministries to be under the covering of the church. You must release them into the world, hold them accountable for growth, and don’t oppress them.
“Make these ministries responsible for the growth of the church. I tell my ministry leaders that I’m not responsible for growth in the church, they are.”
Even though some businessmen might be too busy to attend church service regularly, Pringle explained that pastors ought to understand and help them get as much as possible out of the few times they do attend.
Every month, Pringle hosts a “Pastor’s Table” where he gathers the influencers in society—such as the businessmen, the politicians, the media people—and shares his visions, dreams and plans with them. This way, he explains, the marketplace ministry grows the church through its influence.
“Influence is based on success and integrity. It doesn’t work without one or the other.” A successful person without integrity will not be trusted to mentor, while a “truthful person who is punctual and keeps his word,” but is stagnant and unsuccessful, will not be sought after.
“The history of the Bible is based on powerful men who were kings, leaders and businesspeople. It was not written by a holy man, sitting on the top of a mountain, writing down good ideas that come into his head.” He gave examples of leaders like Abraham, Moses and Solomon who were either businessmen or very prosperous individuals.
Still, many Christians are raised in a culture that equates holiness with poverty. “The Bible is a rich man’s book!” he affirmed. “If you follow what is written in this book, it will lead you to success, not poverty.”
He encouraged the delegates to become marketplace ministers who’d take on the world and bring it to God.
“God loves to take what was in the world, sanctify it and use it against the darkness.” He concluded by explaining the four interconnected principles of leadership: vision, goals, strategy and team. “Without a vision, you can’t be a leader. You need a God-vision, not just a good vision; you need a God-idea, not just a good idea,” Pringle said. From the vision, measurable goals are created, after which a strategy can be formed. “The Bible tells us to see the end from the beginning.”
Lastly, leaders have to share their vision with their team. “If you’re a boss, then you already have a team that works for you. But some of you run a sole business. ‘I don’t have a team,’ you say. Are you married? If you are, then you have a team! You need to regularly share your vision with your team. You need to remind them. If you have a vision, and you run with it, people are going to help you on your way.”
The session had a lasting impact on Charles Chee, 29, a career consultant. “Vision is really very important. Very often, teams do not know their leader’s vision. They follow the rules and directions given, but have no idea what the vision actually is. If we can catch this and bring it back to our workplace, the results will be awesome.”
Another Marketplace Ministry elective session featured Dr. A.R. Bernard.
