Can there be a biblical spirituality for the financial marketplace? The Centre for Marketplace Theology shows how.
The Centre for Marketplace Theology is a new teaching resource, think-tank and fellowship/advocacy group established last year to support Christians working in the City of London financial marketplace.
It has just published its first paper: 'The ministry of work'. Written by the director, the Rev. David Prior, it is an exposition of Paul's Letter to the Ephesians and the first of a series entitled 'Faith at Work', designed to equip City Christians to live as authentic disciples of Christ in their demanding environment.
CMT grew out of the vision of several individuals associated with the annual City prayer breakfast. It aims to bring systematic and practical biblical thinking to bear on the life, work and practices of the London financial market, backed by an informed understanding of how that market operates. As well as supporting Christians working in the City, CMT will be a practical resource for City organisations and institutions in both the public and private sectors. It is a registered charity, managed by a council with four trustees.
Wealth creation
CMT chairman Malcolm Matson, himself an entrepreneur and founder of Colt Telecommunications, explains the background: 'Thousands of Christians work in the London financial marketplace - the 'City'. They know that God remains fully engaged with their workplace through the lives of those who are serious about him. But wealth creation is often viewed negatively by Christian commentators. Also, in our experience, City Christians sometimes feel that they need special support over and above that experienced in their local fellowships.' He adds: 'CMT's market (rather than mission) approach maybe somewhat uncommon in the Christian world. But this why CMT has so quickly gathered widespread support from within the City, including from churches that have an existing City ministry.'
As well as being CMT director, David Prior is priest-in-charge of St. Botolph-without-Aldersgate in the City of London, a post to which he was appointed by the Bishop of London specifically to fulfil CMT's vision. Notwithstanding the Anglican connection, CMT is interdenominational. It seeks to serve and resource any City Christian who shares its biblical principles and desires to stand firm on them. 'I want to stand alongside people with an open Bible,' explains David Prior. 'Applying the Christian faith to the marketplace has always been fundamental to my ordained ministry.' He believes passionately that the split between 'daily work' and 'Christian ministry' is totally unbiblical and can diminish and marginalise those who spend most of their waking lives in the workplace.
'On-the-run'
CMT's programme includes papers, seminars, mentoring and the development of what David Prior calls a 'workplace spirituality'. He says: 'The papers will take two forms - one series helping to equip Christians to live as disciples of Christ day-by-day, the other addressing directly City issues of common concern to all from a biblical standpoint. What I am also hearing loud and clear is the need for resources to enable City Christians to draw strength from the presence of God at work. So I am working on a rule of life, based on the Psalms, which individuals can use both on their own and as a catalyst for personal encouragement with other Christians - an 'on-the-run' spirituality. The mentoring initiative involves identifying and training potential mentors for young Christians finding their way in the marketplace.'
The introduction to its first paper, 'The ministry of work', is in effect a manifesto for CMT. David Prior states that one of the paper's goals is to stimulate a fresh reading of Scripture (in this case Ephesians) that is rooted in people's working lives. This, he argues, is the most valid and effective way of developing a biblical theology of work. It is an antidote to the approach which studies 'work' as a concept in the Bible, which David Prior sees as an exercise that 'tends to be a passion of the few and off the agenda of the many, especially the actual workers'.
Laus Deo in London
Overall, says Malcolm Matson, CMT aims to give Christians courage and confidence to work and witness with integrity. But he, the director and the council have a wider vision for the financial markets as a whole. This is to put God and God's perspectives back firmly on the financial agenda. They believe that the City's future survival, success and reputation depend upon it. The City is still the most important global financial centre in the world, they point out. But they argue that differentiation in a global arena will only come by it being the most reliable market in which to deal, and the most civilised and compassionate one in which to live and work.
As Malcolm Matson explains: 'Obedience to God makes good business sense. The forebears of today's blue-chip financial institutions knew this, for preceding all else, the words Laus Deo in London appear in the first ever entry in the first cash book of the Bank of England. That was back in 1694. Today, the deletion of God from the top of the City's agenda affects our personal life, the corporate life of the institutions for which we work, and the life of the wider marketplace.'
Copies of 'The ministry of work' can be obtained, price £5.00, from CMT Administration, 37 Elm Road, New Malden, Surrey KT3 3HB.
