Starting a Workplace Coalition in Your City

Os Hillman

In the last few years the Sentinel Group, a ministry in Lynnwood, Washington has produced video documentaries that profile communities that have been transformed by the power of God. What I mean by transformation is that the community had no Christian witness, experienced major sociological problems with little Christian influence in the city. This transformation impacted the spiritual and physical aspect of the community.

One of the discoveries of the Sentinel Group is that it is the presence of God which is manifested in these communities that leads to transformation. The presence of God is attracted to holiness, humility and unity.

Dr. Peter Wagner, theologian and church growth expert has watched various efforts being made toward city transformation over the years. Yet, despite all of the tremendous efforts being made, we have not seen one city in America transformed by the power of Christ like the cities we are now seeing in other parts of the world which are highlighted in the Transformation video series. Why is this? Dr. Wagner explains: “We have attempted to transform our cities for years without success. I now believe the reason is because pastors and church leaders do not have the authority to do so. That authority lies within those leaders in the workplace. When we recognize and affirm the apostles in the marketplace we will begin to see the transformation of cities.”

Why Local Coalitions are Important

As director of the International Coalition of Workplace Ministries (ICWM) we believe one of the core ingredients to mobilizing believers in the workplace is through an intentional process of forming localized coalitions in cities which, in turn, begin to equip and engage workplace believers in that city. The mission of ICWM is to ignite leaders for workplace transformation by modeling Jesus Christ. This mission has some important ingredients required to see real transformation. They include holiness, humility and unity among those in the workplace, especially workplace leaders in a city.

We have heard much about unity in the past.  Jesus spoke of unity in John 17 when he said these words: “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved Me.” (John 17:22-23 emphasis mine). Notice that the way God plans to reveal Himself to mankind is dependent on the unity he finds among believers. The level of unity among His body determines the level of responsiveness among non-believers.

Twin Cities Workplace Ministries

One of the first cities to form a local workplace coalition is in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. Jeff Hagen, Area Director of Search Ministries and President of the Twin Cities Workplace Ministries (TCWM). He was one of several leaders of workplace ministries which began meeting informally in 2001. By 2003 they decided to get more formalized and formed TCWM. I asked Jeff to share how the Twin Cities Coalition came into being.

“I have ministered in the marketplace for 28 years. Our focus has been to bring the good news of Christ to the marketplace. In doing this it became increasingly clear that there is a great hunger for the things of the spirit in our culture but the task is very great. I felt like I had a peashooter trying to stop a battleship!

There are times in history where God’s Spirit stirs ‘the eternity’ that he has been placed in our hearts! It became my conviction that we needed something much more. In reading the scriptures, John 17, the high priestly prayer of our risen Lord kept speaking to my heart, ‘that we would be one as He is one so that the world would know they are loved by God and that the truth of God would be known.’

In the Old Testament it says, ‘One can put a thousand to flight, two can put ten thousand to flight!’ I started talking to other ministries and businessmen in the marketplace who were  focused in marketplace ministry. Each one said, ‘We need to work together, now is the time, this is what God is saying.’ John 10 says, ‘My sheep hear my voice and follow me.’ Conviction began to build among us that God was leading us!

Next Steps

We formed an umbrella organization -- Twin Cities Workplace Ministries (TCWM)), that covers all the separate 501 © 3 organizations focused in the workplace associated with us. We are committed to fulfilling the unity prayer of our Lord! We fellowship and meet twice a month to seek the Lord and His directions for us and our workplace mission! This has led to a few initiatives that we have put on together.

·         We hold quarterly luncheons in the downtown workplace. We utilize these to cast vision, train and encourage Christians in the workplace. In March a breakfast was held that featured the Governor of Minnesota and 450 attended.

·         Last fall we held a conference on workplace ministry jointly with Wooddale Church, one of the largest and most progressive evangelical churches here.

·         We have co-hosted a conference with Ed Silvoso. All of the ministries shared their mailing list to promote the event. More than 300 were in attendance.

·         This next fall we will host the ICWM Conference in October. Next spring the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association will co-host a conference with us on ministry in the workplace.

·         We’ve just started a radio series that airs short devotional thoughts about faith at work that is sponsored by the TCWM and aired over local Christian radio stations.

·         We have also seen other faith at work initiatives develop at the University of Minnesota. Several of our members are on the faculty for this initiative.

·         The city of Elk River is located about 45 minutes away and is a city of about 20,000. God has begun to move in that city in powerful ways with most of the city leadership being born again Christians. It could be the first city transformed for Jesus Christ in America.

·         Finally, each of the separate non-profit or profit organizations that come under the umbrella of TCWM helps bear whatever financial expenses we incur.

The coalition allows us to accomplish more together than what we could individually. Impacting the workplace for Christ is a monumental job. No one organization can do the job. We have learned that we must meet together regularly, prayer with one another and avoid a spirit of competition in order to see the Kingdom of God manifested in our city.”

In 2003 The Atlanta Coalition of Workplace Ministries (ACWM) began. It began by identifying all of the workplace ministries operating in the Atlanta area by pulling information from the online International Faith and Work Directory which is on the ICWM website. Contact was made with all the ministries with invitations to sent to come together to discuss forming a coalition. During the formulation stage discussions were going on with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association about supporting a BGEA His Presence in the Workplace conference in Atlanta.

BGEA was trying to decide which city to hold their first regional workplace conference. One of the reasons Atlanta was chosen was because of the support they would receive by the Atlanta Coalition of Workplace Ministries. Even though the coalition was still in its formulation stage, the Atlanta-based workplace ministries rallied behind the conference that was held in March of 2004. More than 650 were in attendance, which marks one of the larger workplace conferences held to date. The coalition is now starting to meet formally and develop a strategy to impact the city of Atlanta.

There are three formalized coalitions now operating that we know about. They are the Twin Cities Workplace Coalition, the Atlanta Coalition of Workplace Ministries and the Marketplace Leadership Group in Raleigh, NC. You can learn more about these coalitions by visiting their websites at:

http://www.icwm.net/pages.asp?pageid=988

God is moving in the workplace today. The next progression of this movement is the formation of local coalitions in cities in order to impact our cities for Christ. Transformation can only take place when the Spirit of God moves among leaders to serve one another in the bond of love. Jesus said,

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35). This will be a major key to attracting the presence of God in our cities. This will be the key to transformation in our cities.

Os Hillman is Director of the International Coalition of Workplace Ministries. His email is os@icwm.net.   www.icwm.net