Sounds like an ad for some kind of relaxation app, but it's actually a role Jesus taught the disciples about. A person of peace is someone who opens relationship doors for others. In Jesus' model, they were the people who made a place and offered hospitality so that the disciples could share Jesus' stories in a new community.
Living it out in Chicago
I saw this recently through the work of an entrepreneur that we met in Chicago. This leader is an entrepreneur who works with a local Chamber of Commerce and has her own client base of aspiring authors. But she's done something else - she's helping her pastor build a bridge into the lives of entrepreneurs both inside the church and in the community.
Enter the bridge people
She, like some other entrepreneurs, are bridge people. They don't just build bridges for relationships; they become the bridge themselves. The gospel and discipleship always travel across relational bridges.
Because discipleship is transmitted from person to person, a bridge is always required.
Why we need to build a bridge to entrepreneurs
Persons of peace are even needed to bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and the church community - even when the entrepreneurs and business owners already attend the church.
Entrepreneurs have been largely alienated from the church because the life of being wired for "go" is a poor fit for the content and culture of the shepherding program of most churches. Entrepreneurs show up with what seem like wild ideas and are mostly met with "get with the program" kind of responses. That's not anything new, but it's been the rule not the exception with the hundreds of entrepreneurs that we've interviewed.
So even inside the church, the entrepreneur shuts down their most basic gifting - to get things done. They instead bring only a small part of themselves to the work of the kingdom.
The entrepreneurs in the church, in the margins (think family and friends) and those in the community don't see the church as a place where "stuff gets done"; instead, they relegate it to a kind of social community with devotional benefits.
As a result, their missional instincts, the drive to move things forward and take the mission to new people and places, stay dormant.
It becomes an inception style chicken-and-egg self-fulfilling prophecy (how's that for a mixed metaphor?). The people that the church needs to move the mission forward are sidelined because they are too mission-centric for the church. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! We need bridge people who will re-open these relationships so that the power of the entrepreneurial spirit is unleashed in the church and the marketplace.
Entrepreneurs become these bridge people - persons of peace - when they stand alongside a pastor or church leader and help open the relationship doors. When they catalyze relationships with other entrepreneurs, they are opening the door to something that has real multiplication potential. One entrepreneur helping make the connection
It's an act of generosity
It's easy to be selfish with your network, or even to build a network for personal business purposes. Bridge-building is an act of generosity. It is opening your relationships to others so that something bigger can happen. It means standing by a church leader who wants to mend the ministry-marketplace divide and help other entrepreneurs like you discover that they are seen, valued, and needed. It doesn't mean that the pastor will own all the relationships, or that you will always stay at the center of the discussion. It opens the door for relationships to take their course, and for God to unlock the passion and gifts hidden in the lives of those that you know.
If you're an entrepreneur, you could build a bridge that changes everything for your church and your community. You can get started with some resources here.