In today’s world we sometimes find that religious leaders have little interaction with unbelievers and even less so with the prominent ones. A harsh reality is that The Church does not command the attention or respect of the marketplace. In fact, quite often it is considered irrelevant and seen as some sort of social parasite. To compound this misconception, Church members who do have relevance in the city on account of their position in the marketplace tend to disqualify themselves from leadership in spiritual matters. The most common self-inflicted put-down is “I am not a pastor-I am just a layperson.” This is all part of a clever satanic scheme to neutralize apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers along with the entire army of disciples, already positioned in the marketplace.

God calls some people to serve inside the Church, and this is a precious call. Pastors and full-time ministers are the modern equivalent of the Old Testament priests who ministered in the Temple. They clearly play a vital role in the spiritual leadership, since they are the ones who, through their examples and Bible-centered teachings, equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Their God-given role cannot be overemphasized and it is crucial. We would not be the Church without them.

With this in mind, we need to gain insight and understanding that there are others who are anointed to minister in the marketplace, like the kings, officials and other functionaries who were the contemporaries of the Old Testament priests. The call to serve in the marketplace and call to serve in traditional religious settings are both valid and interdependent, since they involve ministers who respond to the same divine calling. Whether people are priests in the Temple or kings in society, God has called each one of them. Unfortunately we have seen a pattern emerge whereby the former has been exalted to the detriment of the latter. In this time on earth that we are in it is vital that people who are called to serve in the marketplace be validated as full-fledged ministers because the last revival, the one predicted by Joel and quoted by Peter (see Acts 2:17-21), will happen all over the cities, not just inside a building. It will be an outpouring of the Spirit of God upon all flesh.

Erick Bouwmeester