Often brothers and sisters in the Marketplace face two different challenges. Either there is a split between the secular and sacred which results in faith being left out of the marketplace, or alternatively, a deep desire to bring faith in the marketplace. However, bringing faith into the workplace can be burdensome. Many feel unsupported and lonely. God’s desire is that no one should walk a journey apart from His, trying to fight battles as lone rangers without support.
Unity of the Body of Christ
Through Homecoming, God is calling His children to gather together. Through the unity of the corporate body, authority can be restored. Through this restoration, it is no longer just the vision and breakthrough of an individual, but the vision and breakthrough of the corporate body. The individual and the corporate are both important, aligning with and edifying each other.
Like those of us in the marketplace, each is assigned a different post to serve in specific ways. We must assume the correct posts and recognize our own parts in the corporate body. Taking the correct post is vital in God’s Kingdom, otherwise the outcome can be detrimental, much like the heart incorrectly assuming the post of the brain. Assuming the correct posts in the marketplace will affect the functioning of the corporate body as a whole, as each is called differently by God to function in specific ways.
Everyone is important regardless of the post. One lives not just for his own, but in alignment with the corporate body of Christ. Therefore it is important to not be against God’s will by assuming the wrong posts in our witnessing.
To be “undercover” through our relationships
Spiritual authority is released when there is corporate unity, providing “cover and protection” to individual (family) members. Whilst we may be more used to operating and “warring” individually in the marketplace, in the “homecoming journey” we learn and practice to walk together with spiritual parents, spiritual children, and spiritual brothers and sisters. Through each relationship, God will reveal more of His character, to mold us to be more like Him. Learning to be one heart one way, does not mean that we do the same thing and live the same way, but rather, that we treasure the family relationships given by God, to walk together corporately in living out the Great commandment and Great commission.
In the marketplace, we often emphasize functions rather than relations, going after high returns and efficiencies. We must learn to walk together and synchronize as a corporate body of Christ, to bring back a culture that treasures relationships into the marketplace, revealing the love of Jesus Christ.
No longer operating and warring as individuals
Many in the marketplace may not feel supported by the church, or their vision and calling in the marketplace may not be understood by their pastors. When you realize that you are part of the corporate body of Christ, you are no longer on your own. You should not feel condemned by the enemy, but know that you are covered by your family with the spiritual authority of the corporate body.
When we are called by God to the marketplace, we are like children heading off to school. Even though the children cannot see their family while in school, they know that their family is still protecting and covering them. This understanding is critical and allows us to battle with restored identities.
Functional and Relational
As one of life’s most important issues – relationship, similar to farming, requires patience, persistence, and the right climate to bear fruits. Allowing different people to excel in what they’re good at, while operating together in unity, is a delicate art. It takes much time and care to foster relationships, which is different from the emphasis on efficiency and convenience in the marketplace.
Through the Homecoming journey, we understand how much God treasures our relationships with Him, as well as our relationships with one another. Christ’s corporate body must emphasize on both functional and relational issues
Live as who you are
With most management style in the marketplace, people usually cannot act as who they really are, but would hide their own views. Executive Coaching is becoming more popular these days, which helps leaders discover more about themselves regarding their unique characters and potentials. This enables the leaders to make improvement in their leadership skills to help other members in a corporate setting. Is Executive Coaching only helpful to leaders then? It shouldn’t be. In fact, each individual created by God has the right to live as who they are, to express their unique characters and to help others. In the book of Romans it says: ”For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” We indeed need one another, and each person should live exercising the unique gifting and calling by God.
Jesus taught that one must become a servant in order to be a leader. The characters of a servant leader such as patience and kindness are indeed the fruits of the Spirit. As a matter of fact, if we don’t act as such, things cannot be effective in the marketplace anyway, and we function in a relationship much similar to that between “Pharaoh and the slaves”. Looking at the Homecoming Journey through the marketplace perspective, one realizes that the core values are the same as the above. Through the last 10+ years of Homecoming Journey, God has called servant leaders to take up different posts, to serve one another, and to exercise their unique giftings to serve Him. The key point of the journey is trust between family members. Each member is to live authentically, as who he/she really is. Each is to become part of the corporate body of Christ with other family members, no longer walking or operating individually to fulfill God’s assignment. We enter God’s Kingdom together through the relationship of having “One Heart and One Way”, thereby living out our God’s given characters both from the Kingdom perspective and from the Marketplace perspective.