Over the last couple of years we have been running regular stories of how God has been at work in the business and work lives of Christians around Sussex. We know from feedback what a great encouragement they have been to believers in the marketplace.
We caught up recently with Roger Greene, who started the Ignite business breakfast, initially with friends from his own church. Since writing for HEART OF SUSSEX he has seen many more come to the breakfast, with some regularly travelling 30 miles to meet on a Saturday.
God is so clearly at work in the sphere of business today. I first realised the Lord was really interested in my work back in 1989, but there was no teaching, nor any books, or Christian workplace ministries that I knew of.
The landscape has now changed dramatically – workplace and business books, conferences and para-church organisations have been springing up all over the UK in the last 20 years or so, with a real acceleration in their growth in the last five years. As readers know, my company Tricordant is owned and run by Christians and the Lord has got us on an incredible journey of faith.
At the Ignite breakfasts we encourage each other with stories about the miracles God has worked, and we pray for each other’s business issues, the bids for work, the difficult clients, the cash flow issues and all the practical things that can make or break a business.
Back in the January meeting, however, hardly anyone was bouncing with thanksgiving or telling a great story. As we shared our stories and the issues we were all facing, it became so clear that virtually everyone was experiencing major opposition. The revelation God gave was that we were now fighting over ‘contested ground’.
The sphere of business, in its role at the heart of our society, is so much on God’s heart that the enemy is defending it with increasing violence and deception.
In the ‘Seven Mountain Prophecy’, Jonny Enlow writes of the economy as one of the seven major spheres of influence the Lord wants to take back from the enemy for his Kingdom. Jonny identifies the principality ruling the mountain of the economy as Mammon, or greed.
As long as our eyes are on serving God and seeking first his kingdom, and not on gaining money as the sole objective of our business purposes, we believers in business are no longer just a nuisance but an increasing threat to the enemy’s rule of the economy. So we need to get serious – we are in a spiritual war and we have to step up in prayer.
The Ignite breakfasts are all about encouraging one another and building relationships – we’re now moving into a new phase and have started a monthly prayer meeting as the first real step into the spiritual battlefield. It’s time to put on the full armour of God for the battle for the marketplace!”
If you would like to join us, please contact either Roger Greene, roger@tricordant.com or Susan Frank, susanlongridge@gmail.com