The future is co-vocational

The church is rich in resources—we have all the financial, intellectual, and personnel resources to fulfill the Great Commission. Like the servants who received bags of gold in Matthew 25, we have been entrusted with unbelievable resources. Yet, like that fearful servant, our greatest resource is sitting buried in the field: our people.

About six years ago, when I was still working full-time as a software engineer, we had just planted the fourth campus of our church but had a dream to see hundreds planted. I was discouraged because I couldn’t imagine a system to raise and send enough leaders to make a material difference. I can remember praying, “Lord, send more workers.” I felt an answer in my spirit: “I’ve already given them to you—they’re in your church.”

That prompted a simple yet profound change: what if we reimagined church planting so that any follower of Jesus if dropped in a new city, could start a church? That’s how the early church did it (see Acts 8 and 11).

If someone has been sitting in church for more than a few years without a specific and focused commitment to personally make disciples, they probably don’t need another sermon. There are too many 20-,30-,40-, 50-, or 60-year-olds attending church, wondering if Jesus has a greater adventure for them than simply showing up.

This gets to the heart of co-vocational ministry. The idea is that ministry is not just a profession for a few but the responsibility of every follower of Jesus, regardless of their career.

Today, our church has professionals who have planted churches all over the province. Nurses, scientists, police officers, engineers, moms, speech-language pathologists, doctors, and many more are faithfully committed to evangelism and discipleship with the same focus, commitment, and dedication as if it were their primary vocation.

While professional jobs are valuable and being a witness for Jesus in our workplaces is certainly important, the entirety of our lives should be leveraged in a focused way for mission.

The starting point for living “sent” is normalizing the expectation that every believer takes up the mantle of disciple-making—no exceptions.

This requires a shift in how we think about our time and career as followers of Jesus. It also means changing the metrics by which we measure career success. Here are a few suggestions for career goals:

1. Maximize flexibility to leverage out-of-work time for disciple-making and evangelism. Part-time, flexible-time, and remote work are all huge potential assets.

2. Prioritize physical presence in a specific neighbourhood. Commuting is awful; being present matters.

3. Achieve financial stability so we can invest in our local church and share with others through generosity.

This isn’t a new idea. It was a dream of Martin Luther more than 500 years ago:

“A cobbler, a smith, a farmer, each has the work and office of his trade, and yet they are all alike, consecrated priests and bishops, and everyone by means of his own work or office must benefit and serve every other.” - Martin Luther

For a deeper dive on this theme, I recommend Everyone Sent or Living Sent: Part 2.

For more posts like this, please subscribe: