In late 2013, my
friend Jimmy Graham, former Navy SEAL, and I were having multiple monthly
hourly talks about the subject of business, but our talks came to a head in
early January 2014. I asked myself: “If we’re having difficulty talking about
business, let alone our faith, where have been the discussions or sermons about
faith and business inside the church?” I’ve been a Christian since I was 14
years old, but had never heard a sermon about faith and work, let alone faith
and business, i.e. marketplace ministries. Most businesses I talk with report
the same issues, although discussions and sermons around faith and work today
are getting some minor traction, the chasm is still very wide.
My research (The Life
and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Edersheim) showed that Jesus apprenticed from
age 12 until 20 and then successfully ran, without sin, a “general contracting”
business until age 30, or He had about 18 years of business experience. Jesus
is our businessperson’s model. So here are three dos and three don’ts on how
the Church can better partner with businesses and their flock for the
marketplace ministries.
Do see business and
church as a true partnership. Christ is the Head, the Church is the Body, both
your church and business need to work together, not one over the other. Sunday
is a day of rest to listen to God for guidance, but Monday through Saturday is
to grind out God’s guidance and shine His love and light in the secular
marketplace. Pastors may spend a few hours a week with it’s members, but CEOs
and business owners spend up to 40 or more hours a week interacting with their
workers, vendors, and customers. Pastors need monthly roundtables with their
members who are business owners (John 21:17b, He said to him the third time,
“Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that
I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.”).
Don’t see business
profits as the church’s ATM. Too often various church programs and ministries
look to businesses for funds and support both inside and outside the church.
It’s not a matter of creating and having programs that increases one’s faith,
but how to apply one’s faith. As the saying from Sister
Irene Kraus goes, “No margin, no mission.” This is especially
true when Christian charities (501(c)3 non profits) kills commerce and the
incentive to work and earn a living from one’s God-given talents (See the
documentary Poverty, Inc. ). Same goes for stingy Christian customers dealing
with Christian businesses: Discounted prices, discounted missions. If you’re
not disciplined or ethical in money matters in business or church, both of
God’s missions suffer.
Do ensure you equip
saints for their work of service in business. Paul writes in Eph 4:11-12 that
pastors/teachers are “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service,
to the building up of the body of Christ.” Ask any businessperson if they’d
visit their pastor if they’re having trouble with their business, most would
say, “NO!” The word “equip” in Greek has
two denotations, that the Church is to prepare and fully equip them
for their Godly assignments, but the root of the word has a deeper meaning, to
first repair and heal new and old believers because of their “frontline” time
fighting. An entry level believer needs to be healed and then equipped for
their faith and work, but the next level is faith and business.
Don’t miss the purpose
of business is to have “a faith that works” in the marketplace. Since nearly
everyone works, this needs emphasis. As the book of James says, “faith without
works is dead.” Learning about how to grow one’s faith on Sunday also means
applying one’s God-giving talents, skills, and faith in your own “full time
ministry” of life and in the marketplace mission field Monday through Saturday.
The free enterprise system is based on God’s commandment to “love your neighbor
as yourself” and requires each of us, startup entrepreneur, business owner,
vendor, or customer, to treat each other like we’d like to be treated (Exod
20:15, “You shall not steal” and Exod 20:17, “You shall not covet…anything of
your neighbor”, Lev 25:14 “If you make a sale, moreover, to your friend or buy
from your friend’s hand, you shall not wrong one another.”).
Do realize businesses
lead more people to Christ than clergy. By a factor of 48:1 BAM businesses
(Business As Mission) lead more people to Christ than those in full time
ministry (See “Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be
Done…In Business Biblical Foundations for Business as Mission”).
That means the Church needs to realize there is a two pronged focus for each
business owner and worker in the marketplace: To serve others for Christ in the
marketplace and to witness to the lost when the evangelism doors become open.
But it is primarily business interactions, i.e. honesty, integrity, and how you
“love your neighbor AS yourself,” is what unbelievers see. Your words, “I’m
blessed and highly favored” or displays of your Christ-labeled bling or
adornments are gum ball words and trinkets compared with your ethical dealings
or transactions in the marketplace.
Don’t overemphasize
the spiritual at the expense of the physical. We each have many more God-given
talents that we were born with than spiritual gifts we were given at the moment
of our salvation. That fleshly opera-like singing voice God gave you at your
physical birth is the same at your spiritual birth, coming to faith means
changing your allegiance from the world to the Word. But we’re not to become
“so heavenly bound we’re no earthly good.” That child born with a cleft palate,
a homeless woman angrily telling a college student she wants the dignity of a
job (The Empowerment Plan) and not a coat that turns into a sleeping bag, or
turning trash of an empty one liter plastic water bottle into treasure of a
functional 50 watt solar light bulb (Liter of Light) are all examples of
bringing one’s spiritual life down to the physical and empowering prosperity
for all.
To me, one of the
sleeper movies of 2017 is The Man Who Invented Christmas, chronicling Charles
Dickens writing the novella “A Christmas Carol” in 1843. Not only did the movie
show the craft of writing and all it’s foibles, but also the business of
writing, you need to make a profit from your product. But the character Scrooge
before Christmas seems like how most Christians may see Christian business
owners, when in reality most Christians business owners would love to act like
Scrooge on Christmas day, willing to help and support the church.
Winston Churchill’s
quote gives multiple attitudes of how a church might see a Christian
enterprise:
“Some
regard private enterprise as if it were a predatory tiger to be shot. Others
look upon it as a cow that they can milk. Only a handful see it for what it
really is—the strong horse that pulls the whole cart.”
Only when the
partnership between the church and business is strong will the kingdom of God
prevail in the marketplace ministry.
Kevin Cullis is owner
of Startups On Main Street, LLC and the author of “HWJDB How Would Jesus Do
Business?” and “How to Start a Business: Mac Version.” You can read more of his
writings at HWJDB.com and StartupsOnMainStreet.com or attend one of his
Bible-based Fish Tank Startups Workshops designed for individuals looking to
start and grow Christ-centered businesses.
No comments:
Post a Comment