Avodah: Work, Worship, and Service Sacred Call to Lead
There’s a single Hebrew word used for work, worship and service in the Bible, Avodah.
In one single word, God connects what we do with our hands to how we praise with our hearts.
For years, we’ve built a false divide between the sacred and the secular. The pulpit is where “ministry” happens, and the office or job site is where “business” gets done. But that’s not the model Jesus gave us. He didn’t build His church from a stage. He built it in the streets, the boats, the tax offices, and around dinner tables. He used the marketplace as His mission field.
And I believe He still does.
The Marketplace as a Mission Field
Let’s be honest: seekers will find seeker-friendly churches. Believers will find places to be fed. But the truly lost?
They’re not walking into a church. They’re showing up to your meeting.
They’re working on your team.
They’re delivering your packages, designing your projects, or sharing a cubicle wall.
That means you may be the only reflection of Christ they ever see.
This is the sacred opportunity of marketplace leadership. And it’s not about preaching, posting scriptures, or hosting Bible studies during lunch breaks (though God can use those, too). Kingdom leadership looks like:
Living with integrity when no one’s watching.
Speaking life into someone who’s struggling at home.
Showing grace when someone fails.
Setting high standards, but offering second chances.
Seeing people not as assets or roles—but as souls.
Stewarding the People Under Your Direction
Leadership is stewardship.
If God has placed people under your direction, you’ve been entrusted with more than tasks and outcomes. You’ve been entrusted with people. Real people—with goals, dreams, trauma, and talents. People who may never hear a sermon but are watching yours every day, through your life.
The question is: are we cultivating them like the good soil they are?
When we stop seeing people as projects and start seeing them as assignments from God, everything changes. We no longer lead from pride, pressure, or performance. We lead from a place of love and responsibility, knowing that our Avodah—our work—is a form of worship when done unto the Lord.
What Kingdom Business Is Not
Let’s also be clear about what a Kingdom business is not.
It’s not just a company that writes checks to nonprofits.
It’s not a trophy for how spiritual you appear.
It’s not a business that quotes Scripture while mistreating its team.
A Kingdom business starts with caring for the people right under your nose.
Because if your team isn’t loved, seen, developed, and led well—nobody outside your four walls will care what your company is funding or posting.
This Is the Call
You don’t need a title in a church to be in full-time ministry.
If you're a manager, business owner, team lead, or executive—you’re in ministry.
God sees your Avodah. He designed it.
And your work—when done in love, integrity, and service—is as sacred as any pulpit.
Let’s live and lead like it.
Clay York
leadership made simple Kingdom Leadership | Lean Ops | Culture Builder
clay2024@myyahoo.com