From left, Dave Ping of Equipping Ministries International and Chuck Proudfit of At Work on Purpose. (Oak Tree Communications Photo)
“We have been working on ‘AWOP in a Box’ for three years,” says Proudfit. “This is the year we begin establishing a formal network of city-wide marketplace ministry practitioners across the country.
(PRWEB) March 03, 2015
At Work on Purpose (AWOP) has received a four-year, $200,000 grant to teach city leaders nationwide how to replicate the Cincinnati marketplace ministry’s success formula in their hometowns.
The donor has requested to remain anonymous.
AWOP of Cincinnati, Ohio has 6,500 members and is the nation’s largest, city-wide, marketplace ministry. The nonprofit, which relies primarily on donations, volunteer help and fees from business roundtable groups, empowers working Christians to live out their faith lives at work, transforming jobs into platforms for ministry.
Chuck Proudfit, AWOP founder and president, says the Citywide Marketplace Ministry in a Box contains the nuts and bolts to customize a marketplace ministry in any city.
“We have been working on ‘AWOP in a Box’ for three years,” says Proudfit. “This is the year we begin establishing a formal network of city-wide marketplace ministry practitioners across the country. Our kit helps cities create cultural impact through Christian influence in the marketplace; will accelerate more active roles by Christian marketplace leaders; and will aid in collaboration across multiple ministries in multiple geographies that will create organic opportunities to serve.”
Tools include a step-by-step, video-assisted guidebook that teaches leaders how to develop a strategy unique to each city on how to build a financial engine to support the ministry; how to assemble leadership and volunteer teams; and how to create and promote citywide events.
Other tools are the Mission2Monday DVD, a six-session video training series hosted by Proudfit, and a Marketplace Collaboratory Guide, which outlines strategies and tactics on how to build life-changing monthly curriculum for leading business owners, executives, professionals and nonprofit leaders.
Dave Ping, director of Equipping Ministries International in Cincinnati, is helping Proudfit create the AWOP kit. Equipping Ministries helps individuals, congregations, and Christian mission organizations live out the Great Commandment (to love their neighbors) and to fulfill the Great Commission (to go into the whole world and make disciples).
AWOP was founded in 2003 and is now beginning to serve other cities across the world as part of the broader marketplace ministry movement.
City-wide AWOP programs have already begun in Dallas and Dayton, Ohio.
The nonprofit sponsors its 13th annual “Marketplace Mobilization” event on Saturday, March 14 from 8 a.m.to noon at Christ’s Church, 5165 Western Row in Mason, Ohio.
Admission is free, with free parking and live worship music. Light food and beverages will be provided.
Stephen Grabill, Ph.D., best-selling author of the equipping series For the Life of the World, will be the keynote speaker.
Grabill is director of programs at the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich. He is also a senior research scholar in theology, and an adjunct professor of theological ethics at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary.
Andy Crouch, executive editor of Christianity Today magazine, has called Grabill’s work “the best treatment of faith and culture ever put on a screen. Just outstanding.”
This year’s Marketplace Mobilization theme highlights success strategies for experiencing the blessings of faith where people work.
Many Christians work in secularized environments that are indifferent and sometimes even hostile to expressing faith values at work, said Proudfit.
“We’ll have live worship music, real stories from real working Christians, breakout groups with targeted topics matching working Christians’ interests, and dozens of exhibitors whose organizations glorify God in the marketplace,’ said Proudfit. “Everyone will leave with a lot of ‘how to’ insights.”
About 500 people from across the country and overseas usually attend the event.
Reservations to attend Marketplace Mobilization are required to gauge food and beverage quantities.
To register online, go to http://www.atworkonpurpose.org and click on the Marketplace Mobilization icon, or call (800) 513-9580.
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Contact:
Laura Jackson
Phone: (513) 477-2652
About At Work on Purpose:
At Work on Purpose is the nation's largest, city-wide, marketplace ministry. Based in Cincinnati, the nonprofit organization helps working Christians mobilize the work world for Christ by offering inspiring and proactive ways to help them integrate faith into their work, transforming their jobs into platforms for ministry.
