Phillip, one of our readers, wrote me about a difficulty he was having with the title of our teleconference study: “Transforming the Marketplace.” “I grew up in Africa,” he wrote, “so a marketplace is a crazy wild noisy mess of people hawking stuff and people wanting to buy the stuff; a lot of loud haggling, various animals running around and strong smells everywhere.”

Now I understand how he brings something else to the picture than those of us who have not shared his experiences in an African marketplace, although we can imagine since he has painted it so well. But I think, in an almost humorous way, he is onto something without realizing it, because he has explained, quite well, in fact, how many people react to the marketplace in this country.

So this would be a good opportunity to try and explain what we mean when we use the term “marketplace.” In its broadest sense the marketplace means the world. It’s the culture we live in. It’s where people live, work and play – where ideas are exchanged and business is transacted. Some Christians might call it the secular world, though I do not believe the term is accurate since God is most definitely in this world redeeming a people for Himself. Secular implies something devoid of God, which this world is not.

In another sense, however, for those who are hoping to create a safe environment to live and raise a family, the marketplace is the world outside of one’s comfort zone – outside of how they would like to define things. Of course we would rather have a safer world where the mess of the marketplace doesn’t encroach upon our sensitivities and our values all the time. It is in this manner that Phillip has done us a service, because his definition of an African marketplace really does translate to how lots of people view this world as “a crazy wild noisy mess of people… a lot of loud haggling, various animals running around and strong smells everywhere.” It’s perfect.

Yes, it is exactly into that noisy, messy world with strong smells and various “animals” running around (that would be anybody we don’t agree with) that we follow Christ. It is precisely to that world that He came, and it is that world that is full of people He loves so much that He would die to bring them eternal life. And it is into that world that He asks us to come alongside people and walk with them through the messy marketplace – as captured in our picture above – and it is through our study that we will learn how to do that.

So thank you, Phillip. You nailed it!

Our telephone conference Bible study will begin tomorrow night (Wednesday, January 11) at 7 pm PST and 10 pm EST. You can access the conference by calling 218-237-3840 and entering the access code #124393. To get the most out of this hour together, email Marti at [email protected] to obtain a download of our study guide ahead of time. We are looking forward to meeting you!