WHY PASTORS DON’T TEACH BUSINESS IN THEIR CHURCHES? By Dr. Josimar Salum

WHY PASTORS DON’T TEACH BUSINESS IN THEIR CHURCHES? By Dr. Josimar Salum

This question was sent from a beloved disciple in Africa. It is very meaningful and answering it well would require much more of what I can say here. But let me offer some thoughts about the Kingdom mindset from the Bible that will start our discussion about this matter.

Nobody can give what they don’t have, in other words, they don’t teach what they don’t know. 

What I can say is that generally pastors make a wrong distinction about things that are “spiritual” from things that are “worldly.” 

Many think that what it is solely spiritual is singing, preaching the Bible, praying, serving in the “church”, meaning the building. Solely spiritual is the worship services and becoming church workers and serving only “in the altar.” All those things are sacred for them and all other things of life are mundane or profane. 

They have what we call the “church mindset” and not the Kingdom mindset. But in most cases this is exactly what happens to most of the believers around the world. 

The first sophism that many need to be free of is the dualism view of life. This is holy, this is not holy. This is pure, this is impure. This of God’s, this is not God’s. 

I am not saying that there are not unholy, impure, and things in the world that are not from God. I am saying that those things are sinful because they are sinful in nature. But not work, not sports, not schools, not entertainment, etc. These are not themselves impure, unholy or they are not from God. 

I hope your understand what I am saying. 

“To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.” Titus‬ ‭1:15‬ ‭NIV‬

I can point to many truths in the Bible to show the inconsistency of the church mindset and how it is in opposition to what the Bible teaches. If this mindset is changed in church leaders they will begin to equip their brothers and sisters to do good in life in general, and not exclusively towards what they call “ministry”. 

The main mindset that needs to be changed in the church leaders and in all believers is that all of us are called to full-time ministry.

All of us are called to full-time ministry. This is the most basic concept that must be understood in order for transformation. Even after many years this concept still hasn’t been perceived in our studies of Scripture.

A majority of the time, if not all the time when the New Testament uses the term “minister” it is referring to all saved people, in the same way that the term “disciple” is used. 

This religious division between “clergy and lay people” doesn’t exist biblically, it is heretical. 

All saved persons are priests and ministers of God. 

The carpenter, the teacher, the student, the housewife, the doctor, the cleaner, and the engineer alike … They are all priests and they are all ministers of God, if born again. They are just as anointed as the “pastor.”

The transformation effect of the Gospel occurs in the workplace and not in the “church”.

The second concept that must be understood and practiced by each of us as ministers of Christ, meaning each saved person, is that transformation doesn’t occur in “church”, but in the workplace.

The Church is the gathering together of the saved, of the transformed. In fact, it is a redundancy to speak of the church and of the gathering of the saved, because it is the same thing. Only the saved ones gather together are the Church. They don’t gather in the church, they are the Church as they are together.

It is in daily life that every every believer will proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom through his or her life testimony and his or her words. Every believer is going to pray for the sick, expel demons, exercise his gifts and develop his or her talents and gifts for the Glory of God where they are, where they live.

Every believer is an ambassador of God, of the Kingdom of God, in every sphere of society where he or she works and lives, whether it is in politics, education, religion, business, media, and the arts or in the family.

More than 95% or what we call Jesus’ ministry was developed in the streets, houses, town centers, and in the workplace. Jesus performed all His miracles and cures in the workplaces and houses.

More than 95% of what we recognize as the apostles ministry went on in the work place.

Even today all of Jesus’ disciples live more than 95% of their lives in the work place and so it is in the workplace that they are the Kingdom’s transformation agents. The other 5% of the time is reserved for when they meet together as the church.

The third concept that needs to be understood is that God’s plan for each of His children is that they invest in His Kingdom through the generation and transfer of wealth produced by their business and activities in the workplace.

The generation and transfer of wealth through work is the way in which God expands His Kingdom.

"The wealth of the ungodly will be given to the just" (Proverbs 13:22). But it won’t fall from heaven, it is not about taking the wealth from the ungodly, nor will it be received by magically reciting “evangelical mantras” nor by declarations, proclamations, decrees but by the force of the work of all who are saved, through intelligence and through wisdom.

Work is adoration and worship as much as the singing of hymns in the Assembly of God’s holy people. 

From the construction of the tabernacle going on to the construction of the Temple of Solomon and to the reconstruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in  the times of Ezra and Nehemiah and up unto the New Testament, God’s model for financing His work has been through the workplace.

And it is Jesus’ disciples that understand this Truth that will disciple the most people into the Kingdom, since God partners with them much more effectively than with those that are considered “priests”. Why? Simply because disciples have more contact with people than “pastors” have, well, the saints work and and live with them daily. 

In this way and throughout the whole world a “new church model” is coming about in the workplace, in schools and universities, in the cities and rural areas alike and in all spheres of society. It is what many called the Revolution of the Saints. 

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,” Ephesians‬ ‭4:11-12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The work of ministry is not performed by apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers. The work of ministry is performed by the SAINTS. 

That is how a transformation is taking place in the structures of society and in nations throughout the Earth until God “sends the Christ, who has been appointed for you – even Jesus - He must remain in Heaven until the times come for God to restore everything as He promised long ago through His holy prophets”. (Acts 3:20-22)

#ASONE