I bring the following before you for your prayerful consideration. If you feel that the suggestions made are truly the will of God, I would humbly ask that you bring these thoughts before anyone known to you who might be interested in putting this into practice. Please think seriously and prayerfully about whether you or someone known to you are in a position to form the types of listening prayer groups/meetings described here. Perhaps we could form an informal group to further this suggestion. Over to you!
Thanks.
There is a growing belief in parts of the church that Christians should take over (or at least influence) the "seven spheres" of culture; family, church, business, government, entertainment, media and education. This has been interpreted n different ways, from an uncontroversial plea for Christians to “let the Light shine” in these spheres to the more radical claim that Christians should effectively take over the spheres and impose Christian morality on society as a whole. The trouble with the latter position is that Christian morality flows outward from a mind transformed by the Holy Spirit.
What I would like to suggest involves the establishment of groups of Christians dedicated to prayer (especially contemplative listening prayer) within business situations. Ideally, these groups would involve both members of management and employees. They would meet regularly and spend much time in silence, seeking God's will for the business. Perhaps some member of the group already holds an idea which could be placed before the meeting. The meeting would then pray for clarity as to whether this idea is of God or simply a 'stray' idea. Silence would then be kept until each member of the group is convinced as to whether this is of God or not. The final conclusion is not reached until all are convinced one way or the other.
If there are no "preexisting" ideas, the group could meet with an opening prayer that God will reveal, if it is His will, anything concerning the business. Any such possible revelation is then presented to the meeting but will only be accepted as genuine if there is agreement by all members that God's will has indeed been correctly discerned.
At a deeper level, for appropriate businesses, God's will may be actively sought as to whether the business structure is truly the one that is closest to His desire. For instance, may a co-operative structure be closer to God's ideal?
At the very least, such meetings would discern how God wants Christians within the business to pray. But the group may find that it is God's will to approach the management with specific proposals (maybe such things as a particular charity to sponsor or some change to the business structure, or maybe a even a criticism of some business activity that the management is considering).
Of course, and relating to the "seven spheres" concept, "business", in the broadest sense really covers all of the "spheres" except family and church. So what is said above applies equally to these other “spheres” as well.
Thanks.
There is a growing belief in parts of the church that Christians should take over (or at least influence) the "seven spheres" of culture; family, church, business, government, entertainment, media and education. This has been interpreted n different ways, from an uncontroversial plea for Christians to “let the Light shine” in these spheres to the more radical claim that Christians should effectively take over the spheres and impose Christian morality on society as a whole. The trouble with the latter position is that Christian morality flows outward from a mind transformed by the Holy Spirit.
What I would like to suggest involves the establishment of groups of Christians dedicated to prayer (especially contemplative listening prayer) within business situations. Ideally, these groups would involve both members of management and employees. They would meet regularly and spend much time in silence, seeking God's will for the business. Perhaps some member of the group already holds an idea which could be placed before the meeting. The meeting would then pray for clarity as to whether this idea is of God or simply a 'stray' idea. Silence would then be kept until each member of the group is convinced as to whether this is of God or not. The final conclusion is not reached until all are convinced one way or the other.
If there are no "preexisting" ideas, the group could meet with an opening prayer that God will reveal, if it is His will, anything concerning the business. Any such possible revelation is then presented to the meeting but will only be accepted as genuine if there is agreement by all members that God's will has indeed been correctly discerned.
At a deeper level, for appropriate businesses, God's will may be actively sought as to whether the business structure is truly the one that is closest to His desire. For instance, may a co-operative structure be closer to God's ideal?
At the very least, such meetings would discern how God wants Christians within the business to pray. But the group may find that it is God's will to approach the management with specific proposals (maybe such things as a particular charity to sponsor or some change to the business structure, or maybe a even a criticism of some business activity that the management is considering).
Of course, and relating to the "seven spheres" concept, "business", in the broadest sense really covers all of the "spheres" except family and church. So what is said above applies equally to these other “spheres” as well.
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