To begin, Mark Greene highlights two strategies for church missions. The first is “recruiting people to use their leisure time to join the missionary initiatives of church-paid workers.” He says this is the model that nearly all churches follow.

The second model he presents is “equipping the people of God for fruitful mission in all of their lives.” Though this is the model Mark affirms, he charges that 98% of non-church workers are unequipped to serve in the church mission as this model supposes. He states that, accordingly, the failure of the church to address the workplace challenge is a symptom of a much deeper problem that affects every area of the church’s mission.

When churches encourage model one, they paint the picture that their parishioners live in a bubble set apart from the world and occasionally venture out into the world only to return to the bubble. Mark says the reality is that church parishioners are scattered around unbelievers for a majority of their time at work.

He says the sacred versus secular divide is one of the biggest issues that has caused this crisis in discipleship for daily life. Mark mourns the fact that too many Christians have not caught the vision of the importance of their presence in the workplace and the work that they do. He calls churches to action and proper discipleship to turn this trend around.