Cultures as Different, Not Better Than

I enjoyed a special treat this morning at a breakfast hosted by friends Joyce and Greg Millikan of Working Faith. They invited C. Peter Wagner to speak on the workplace.

I found particularly helpful his distinction between the church gathered and the church scattered as the two contexts where the people of God live out their discipleship. These two contexts have two distinct cultures with their own "rules" of operation. Christian leaders in the church scattered know both cultures and their respective rules and function in either. Christian leaders in the church gathered know only the one culture, and consider it the "right" one, and the other "wrong" (e.g. the world, worldly, secular, etc.)
That has helped me see why most church leaders don't understand what I'm doing as anything more than trying to start my own business. (And that over professional pastoral ministry. Imagine.)

The main books he referenced if you're a reader:
The Church in the Workplace: How God's People Can Transform Society by C. Peter Wagner
Church on Sunday, Work on Monday: The Challenge of Fusing Christian Values with Business Life by Laura Nash and Scotty McLennan