Business AS Ministry

From: Ward Gasque
Email1: [103632.763@compuserve.com]
Date: 9/12/98
Time: 8:25:04 AM
Remote Name: 209.53.89.152

Comments

"Business as Ministry" - a strange topic?

Negative image of business (media, movies, academics and churchmen)

Darwinian interpretation of business: cut-throat competition, survival of the fittest, a dog-eat-dog world, etc.

An idealized and unbiblical view of 'the ministry': "Ministry' viewed as the work of the clergy.

Protestant Reformation challenged the medieval ideas re priesthood, ministry and calling: all believers are priests, all are ministers, all are called!

Yet it failed to follow through on the radical nature of this new understanding. Applied to the religious sphere - direct access to God without going through a priest, rejection of the monastic and ascetic ideals of being calling 'out of the world', but a failure to develop an adequate doctrine of the believers role in secular society (except for the people at the top).

In the past two or three decades, nearly all Christian churches have produced important statements on the ministry of the laity. It is now strongly emphasized that the ministry belongs to the whole people of God, not merely the clergy. Yet these nice statements have yet to have had a very profound impact on reshaping the lay Christians understanding of his or her role in society. (In the church, yes. There are now many opportunities for lay ministry. But in the secular sphere, laymen and women tend to be left to their own devices.)

Today, I would like to underline the fact that the Bible teaches that every follower of Christ is a minister and that the general sphere of that ministry for the majority of Christians is in the world rather than in the church.

Hence, not merely of necessity but by divine principle, most of us are called to work in business and the professions rather to serve as clergy and church workers.

What is the essence of business?

* Competition? * Accumulation of wealth?

Some years ago it dawned on me that cooperation rather than competition was the essence of the modern business enterprise. (In a NY city hotel: sick with the flu.)

The half-full vs the half-empty glass.

In his marvelous little book, Business as Calling (Free Press, 1996), Michael Novak, winner of the 1994 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, suggests that the three cardinal virtues of business are:

* Creativity * Community and * Realism

All three of these virtues can be found in the first three chapters of Genesis, the story of the creation and the fall.

The image of God ('So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them', Gen 1:26).

Mng? (1) To represent God in the world, to do his work. (2) To demonstrate is character 'in community' .

Humankind is called to stewardship and cooperation.

God is the great Artist. He made the world and saw that it was good. And he has called us to be co-creators with him, in keeping with the special gifts he has given each one of us.

God is also the great Friend. He created man/woman for fellowship, for walking and talking in the Garden in the cool of the day. We are called, therefore, to community, to cooperation, to friendship.

The most successful business people I have known have also been among the most creative people I have known. They have also been great friends.

Creativity is essential to entrepreneurship, and friendship is essential to doing business.

The story of the fall in Genesis chapter 3 lays the foundations for the third fundamental to the business enterprise, namely, realism. The only 'moral majority' that there is is 'sinners'! Thus, we do not expect the world of business, any more than the world of the church, to be made up of 'saints' who never make mistakes. Rather, we learn to deal with the world as it is, even though we may be guided by the values of a new world that is coming.

My observation is that few Christian people in business have a strong sense of their calling to the world of business. They are there by default.

Some of the most dedicated Christians in business often feel guilty for being there. They wish they could be pastors, or at least, involved in some church or parachurch ministry.

Sir John Templeton, the financier, wanted to be a missionary. He deliberately sought out the company of missionaries. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that he did not have the gifts to be a missionary, but that God had given him different gifts, gifts that have been demonstrated in the world of finance.

The Bible teaches that each of us have been given different gifts to fulfill our different callings.

The real question is: what are you gifts? what has God created you to do?

Saint Paul had a sense that he was called from his mother's womb to be a missionary to the Gentiles. The reality of this calling was demonstrated in history.

The point I would like to make is that we should recognize the sacred nature of every sphere of life and the 'high calling' of fulfilling whatever role God has intended for us.

Paul said, "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor 10:31).

If God has called us to work in business, let us not hanker after something better. Business is the calling of the majority of Christians. [Of Americans employed today, roughly 80% work in the for-profit business sector. Some 15 percent work for the government, about 5 percent work in the non-profit sector (including the church).]

The message to Christians in business is to be Christian by the way you do your job. See your job as the primary way that you serve God through serving your fellow man and woman.

The message for those of us called to the ministry of the church is to support and to encourage those called to secular ministry, to pray for them, to re-enforce their sense of calling by reminding them of their high calling as servants of Christ, and to establish ceremonies and structures in the life of the church that empowers them for effective ministry in the work-a-day world.

We have ceremonies that celebrate the calling of men and women to the ordained ministry, to mission work, and to other church ministries.

Do we have ceremonies that celebrate the calling of men and women to ministry in the world of business? Do we pray regularly for those who are serving Christ in business?

I don't know too much about your church, but in the churches that I have been a part of, there is not a lot of this going on.

Finally, what is the purpose of business?

Some would say, quickly, "To make a profit!"

Not really. Profit is a scorecard to indicate how you're doing and whether you'll be able to stay in business. If you do not create wealth, end up with a surplus, you will not be able to sustain the enterprise. The business will fold. But the purpose is not profit.

The real purpose of business is service (which is another word for ministry). The business of business is people!

In business, we are called:

(1) To serve society (by offering a product). (2) To serve workers (by providing a means of livelihood and significance). (3) To serve God (by fulfilling his creation mandate).

We serve God and our fellows by joining hands with one another in the enterprise of business, and the result is we also serve ourselves and our families.

So the next time someone asks you: "What do you do?"

Answer: "My ministry is printing...insurance....food service....real estate....manufacturing....sales...."

And above all, don't forget who your true Boss is!