The story is told in Judges 20:16 about the 700 Gibeonites, described as “choice men” who, with their left hand, could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

I’ve been intrigued by this story. Why left-handed? Why were they so accurate? Why organize a company around such a strange precondition? Were they better fighters than right-handers?

I’ve been told that southpaws are only valued when it comes to pitching baseball. It seems that statistically, their life-expectancy is shorter, sometimes explained by different neurological wiring, or perhaps the stress of a society tilted in favor of right-handers. Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II and pastor emeritus of St James United Methodist Church offers a different explanation. He says that these men were left-handed because as prisoners of war in earlier battles, their right arms had been chopped off, ensuring that they would never fight again. Yet surprisingly, they “retooled” for battle despite their deficiency.

I’ve wondered whether or not we, as “professional” Christians, have sliced off much of the potential of lay people to conduct ministry in settings outside of the institutional church. There is an implicit hierarchy that features missionaries, pastors, evangelists and those receiving the official ordination imprimatur of the denomination as the real “ministers.” All else are support cast. Indeed, we professionals fly the world in executive class, while all others ride in the economy class. Or so it seems!

Martin Luther spoke of the “priesthood of all believers,” yet we function in two different worlds. One group of Christians sees the Church as their context of ministry, while others spend the majority of their lives outside of the Church in the workaday world. Ministry in Church is sacred, all else is secular. Sunday is sacred, while Monday through Saturday is treated as less spiritual.

Perhaps we have forgotten that most heroes of the Bible were not professionally stamped as religious leaders---Abraham, Joseph, Daniel, Nehemiah, Esther, Mark, Luke, Priscilla and Aquila. Most parables center around contexts other than the synagogue. Yet God used them to further His Kingdom in incredibly creative ways.

There are two aspects of Church, the Church “gathered” and the Church “scattered.” The Church gathered is what happens on Sunday mornings and features events usually within the church building or under the institutional church program. These are essential and involve celebration, the public witness of Christian community, the nurturing of Christians and the preparation of Christians to serve effectively in the Church “scattered,” as transformational agents in their workaday worlds.

It is through this lens that I watched intently the themes of the M11 Conference. The plenary speakers, all of them outstanding, addressed for the most part, the Church “gathered,” seeking revival, challenging us to be a witness to the world outside through the “Power of One.” Ironically, one of the effective speakers, Dan Bohi, is a lay evangelist reaching deeply into the heart of the Church, calling it and its leadership to renewal.

But it was in the workshop sessions that I heard the call for the Church to be the Church “scattered,” entering into the hell of people’s lives where they work, suffer, and play. From seminars speaking about “Following Jesus into the Marketplace,” “Overcome Evil with Good: Gospel Power at Work in Your Community,” “Building Bridges to our Muslim Neighbors,” “Turning Your Ministry Inside Out,” “Love Wins: LGBT How to Share Christ’s Love with Your Gay Neighbor,” “Ministry to Bikers: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” “English as a Second Language---Reaching New People,” I see the lay people leading new initiatives in ministry, because frequently they are more “dead shots” in the world outside of the Church, having honed their skills and passions there despite their “left-handedness”.

Indeed, in a course that I teach repeatedly at Nazarene Theological Seminary and around the world, I am discovering lay business people, government officials, NGO leaders, who have primed their calling to ministry not so much with the organizational Church but out in the world where they are transforming businesses, commerce, entrepreneurial ventures into Christian principles that, ironically, teach the Church a new realism about the call of Christ. Businesses such as Chick-fil-A, Hobby Lobby, In and Out Burger, are finding not only economic success but also leveraging their witness in re-creating a culture of ethics and best business practice. Sadly, many of these leaders do not find the conventional Church able to address the complexities of their context of ministry, nor do they find that their gifting and calling is truly appreciated by those in the Church gathered. Indeed, while we lay hands on our church leadership at the beginning of the Church year, why do we not lay hands on our “missionaries,” who feel the strong urge of their calling into the marketplace? They go, not just to hold Bible studies and invite people to Church, but also to transform their institutions into accountability before God, and to motivate those institutions to be change agents within their communities. As one well-known restaurateur told me, “Sundays are the saddest day of the week for me, because I hang out with fellow Christians.” Monday is when I get excited to bear witness to Christ to my clients, my employees, and my suppliers.”

Nazarene Seminary and the Bresee Institute have both received substantial grant funds for various forms of “Theology of Work.” This fall, NTS will produce an online version of the course with substantial scholarship funding for those registered. A Bresee Institute version for certificate only will be given, fully scholarshipped with a $25 registration fee to any interested person. In the summer, a week-long intensive on Ethics and Best Business Practice will be offered by both NTS and Bresee under the same scholarship arrangements. Versions of these courses are being offered internationally for those wanting to take a week out to study in India, Africa, and South America.

For more information, please contact the Bresee Institute at 816-268-5496 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

In the meantime, let’s mobilize the wonderful lay contingency of our churches, visit them in their workplaces, strategize with them the influence of their presence and witness in their worlds, and preach those wonderful sermons that feature lay people of the Bible and throughout history who transform their worlds. There is no difference in ministerial calling. The function may be different, but the calling to ministry, to “hit the hair,” is one and the same.