A Real-Life Story — Building a Sunday-to-Monday Connect Bridge

In Mason, Ohio, kingdom-minded and business-oriented pastor Jeff Greer leads a congregation at Grace Chapel church that believes every member has a significant role in advancing the Kingdom of God. He has created an entrepreneurial culture at Grace Chapel, which celebrates and empowers lay leaders to create, what he calls, Biznistries. They are for-profit, self-sustaining enterprises commissioned for a kingdom purpose, operating according to biblical principles, integrating ministry at every level, and releasing a flow of funds for further ministry advances.

Greer believes many people have saved what is necessary for their future and are not motivated by money, but they are inspired by a challenge and want to help the defenseless and lost people in the world. Pete is one of those people. Pete retired early from Proctor & Gamble to become the director of SSE. He would say he often works harder now than before he retired. Ibrahim, a chemist, and inventor, originally from Nigeria, has also joined the team and is making an impact through his innovative technology. “We have heard story after story,” Greer says, “of people coming alive that were once only marginally engaged in the body of Christ. There are former CFOs, CEOs, attorneys, marketing directors, scientists, and salespeople ready to invest their lives in a Spirit-driven cause.

Embedding the Church in the Market Place

“Instead of just starting businesses (what we call biznistries) in developing countries we started them at home as well,” says Greer. Grace Chapel started an Angel Fund to help generate capital for their start-ups. Some of the Biznistries that the church has launched include the ORCA Center (a co-working space) and CrossFit Superfly (a gym) located on the church’s campus. ORCA involves a business accelerator, an incubator, as well as business seminars, training, and team building. There is office space within the ORCA Center for local entrepreneurs with the same heart and passion. A sister venture capital organization, Self-Sustaining Enterprises (SSE), is also hosted on the campus. SSE provides training, coaching, and start-up capital to entrepreneurs launching new Biznistries.

This Ohio church is building a global community of Christ-followers awakening imagination, igniting passion and unleashing purpose. For whether believers are at work, at school or at home, God can use everyone’s gifts, talents, and abilities to impact the world.

Reflection

It is common to understand that we are called to pastor the people in a city, not a building in that city. Seeing our call as pastoring the whole city and its marketplace and not just whoever chooses to come on Sunday morning to our property is crucial to thriving communities. It compels us to build Sunday-to-Monday connect bridges and integration on-ramps because pastoring a city does not just mean addressing the believers in our churches to the neglect of addressing the private and public ills of our communities. Pastoring a city is to care for the entire life of the entire marketplace God has positioned us to impact by creating spiritual, social, and economic value.

Grace Chapel’s story both inspires and challenges us to discover new ways through which our churches can practice effective marketplace integration. It is imperative for the future of the church, and the world, for believers to bridge the Sunday-to-Monday worship-to-work gap in order to recover a place of social influence in culture.

How can your church become an institution sought for its generosity, loving nature, wisdom, problem-solving, respect, soul care, and spiritual advancement of the people in your city?

An Excerpt from the book, “Church for Monday” by Dr. Svetlana Papazov.

Svetlana Papazov is Lead Pastor and Founder of Real Life Church, President/Founder of Real Life Center for Entrepreneurial and Leadership Excellence, a first of its kind model of church and business incubator that educates in entrepreneurship, leadership and faith praxis.