7| When Business Loses Its Saltiness

Rediscovering the Church’s Role in Modern Entrepreneurship

This is part seven of the Boxed Wine & Bad Ideas series on how we killed a Church movement and how we can get it back.

Kingdom on Earth

“Also, work for the peace and the prosperity of the city to which I’ve carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it. For if it prospers, you too will prosper.” — Jeremiah 29:7

When God’s people found themselves exiled, he called them to work for the peace and prosperity of their land of exile. Not just the peace. And not the “prosperity” gospel. But the prosperity of society. People have to eat. People need water and housing, for starters. All of these services build up a society, and who better to build than the people who have a glimpse of what the real Kingdom looks like?

Realized Potential Requires Responsibility

When thinking and talking about church, we hold in our minds an idea that is severed from business. Some say that running a church is like running a business; and that is typically the only way that those two words find themselves working in tandem with one another.

Generally, we’ve reduced church to a Sunday gathering and business as means to financial gain that also has a philanthropical edge when at its best. I use the word reduce, because fundamentally, it is a reduction. The church is a body that we’ve dismembered over time, yet we still hold on to hope that it will function optimally.

Every believer I know would agree to this statement, ”The church is the people, not the building”. Then why does the Christian’s responsibility as a Christ ordained disciple maker seem to solely rely on how they contribute to the organization that runs the church gathering?

Every organization is perfectly designed to get the result that it’s getting.

When responsibility gets taken out of the hands of individuals and falls on an organization and it’s leaders, there’s more control to be had and that control comes with some effectiveness and tangible metrics. And most people will certainly follow the organization because it is more comfortable for them — but is it a net positive?

Ultimately when we remove responsibility, we also remove the urgency and passion that comes along with it. We throw out the bath water, the baby, and the bath tub too.

Think about it, how often do we hear people who run an organization say something along the lines of, “Nobody cares about this *fill in the blank* as much as I do.” Well of course they don’t, they didn’t build the thing with blood, sweat, tears, and all the money in their savings account. Of course they don’t care as much. They don’t have the same skin in the game. It’s not theirs, it’s yours. Human potential requires the gift of the fear of sinking. People need to know that they can actually swim without those floaties.

For example, responsibility marks the fundamental difference between a house church and a small group. In a small group, the leader is a peer and friend. Yet for the well being of the people in that living room, the responsibility falls on the staff that helped to organize that small group.

A house church can be the same size as a small group, but the difference is in the DNA. The difference is the responsibility that it is given. Social change does not fall solely on the larger church organization, but the individuals gathered. Progress toward Christ like-ness does not fall on the programs of the church organization, rather on the individuals in the small gathering. In this, people can be held to high standards within the context of their closest friends — with those they implicitly trust. The shepherding does not fall on the pastor of the large gathering, but the one leading the gathering.

This doesn’t mean the small gatherings and larger gatherings must be separate, however. They exist best when seen as different parts of the same body. Small gatherings with responsibility become “the church within the church.”

My friend Ralph Moore has started more than 2500 churches in 40 years. It all started when he stood on stage well before I was born in front of his growing congregation and said these confusing words, “I am not your pastor.”

Ralph “negligently” put the responsibility on his “Mini Church” leaders to be the ones to visit the sick and bury the dead, etc. He put the responsibility in the hands of the individuals. He eventually cut ties with the denomination he was a part because of decisions like this. He took a risk that used people’s gifting and reached people that he would have likely never been able to.

Multiplication and movement arrived for Ralph and Hope Chapel when the body of Christ was told, “I trust you” by a man they trusted.

Back to Business

What does this have to do with business? Well, generally we’ve taken disciple-making responsibility out of the hands of business owners by seeing their business building gift as separate from their “spiritual gifts”. We hold them responsible to run their business well and to do so with integrity and then to sit on boards, consult and donate money. Floaties.

Yet there is a hunger for more, for an integration of their faith and their gift.

“In what spirit do you run your business? Do you run your business in the spirit of the world or the spirit of Christ? I am afraid thousands of those who are called good Christians do not understand this question. If you act in the Spirit of Christ…you do everything in the spirit of sacrifice, giving up your will to the will of God, and continually aiming not at ease, pleasure, or riches; not at anything this short enduring world can give; but merely at the Glory of God. Now can anyone deny that this is the most excellent way of pursuing worldly business?”¹

— John Wesley

Business is church, because those with the god-given gift to run or lead in businesses are the church. They have the ability to reach people that a typical gathering never will.

Priscilla and Aquila led in their business, their house church, and other churches. People of influence like Philemon played pivotal roles in the early Church, and our friend Count Zinzendorf that was referenced in our first few articles used his unique position to house 500 Moravian refugees who went on to change the world. Joseph was apparently wealthy as he had access to a tomb and took the initiative to put Jesus in it. John Wesley even ran a profitable publishing business that funded much of his work.

People of ingenuity and influence coupled with radical surrender to Jesus are a driving force within the Kingdom of God for much more than their coin.

An Example: Cornish Miners and Methodism

In the former mining districts of Cornwall and West Devon, there was a hard working community that needed the encouragement and love of Christ. The Methodists came and found them.

“Methodism spoke to the Cornish people in a language they could understand and helped them to make sense of a rapidly changing world.”²

This was a massive industry full of leaders. They were leading for profit, but the church showed up on their door step and lived in their context and taught them how to lead for Christ. Profit became a byproduct of life transformation.

“Methodism was very much a community of faith; meetings were held in cottages and barns which made services easily accessible and ideally suited to the close-knit societies that were formed around Cornish metal mining.”²

Many of the mine captains who gave their lives to Christ became preachers. They didn’t only manage teams at work, they had a gift to lead, so they led in the Spirit.

Methodism was so impactful in this group that the Cornish Mining World Heritage website has an entire section on religion that talks about the impact of Methodism’s help to the people with its “messages of self-improvement and salvation…”

Jesus met rabbis in the synagogues, he met tax collectors in their booths, he met fishermen on their boats, and he met lepers, prostitutes, and outcasts on the streets and outskirts of town.

He met people where they were.

That’s the beauty of business. It gives people a reason to come together before they know Jesus. They may not want your Bible, but they need their oil changed. They may not want to hear about your story of life change, but that coffee addiction brings them into your shop every day the doors are open. They may not yet care one bit about our Creator but they want to come and learn Jiu Jitsu. They may not gather in a church building, but they gather together at their place of business.

This was a part of the magic of the early Methodist approach to meeting people. Sure, some people came to Methodist “Society” meetings because they heard about the teachings and community, but mostly and initially, people were being met and mobilized right where they were.

I’ve heard it said, “You can help a thousand, but you can’t carry three on your back.” It’s true. As leaders we spend so much time trying to drag people around that don’t have the ability or capacity or desire to perform the task that we want to see them perform. Wesley had a knack for identifying gifts in people. And finding those who can lead aren’t that difficult to identify. Just look behind them.

The Gift of Business

Business has a handful of key features that extend the church body beyond its current capacity.

1. The Employees. They have access to business owners and management teams on a daily basis and have a massive opportunity to be ministered to and taught to minister. We’re watching business leaders lead their teams like small, missional churches.
2. The Customers. They are coming in with what they think they want, and it’s a perfect opportunity to intentionally build relationships. One friend of ours who runs a pressure washing business gives free services to all widows in the Nashville area and has the opportunity to share why they do this — because Jesus said to.
3. The Locality. The understanding of the local scene and the unique needs that the community has, not to mention the know-how with navigating legalities and real estate development, etc.
4. The Experience. For example, there are mission projects all over the world run, not by large organizations, but by local missionaries who know the people who live there and care enough to give their lives to the cause of serving the poor. Business owners understand aspects of sustainability and progress. They are partnering with local and global missionaries to serve more people and to serve the better.
5. The Resources. Some businesses provide gathering space for church meetings. Others provide funding for specific projects and missionaries for entrepreneurial causes close to their heart. Some provide opportunity for ministry leaders to provide for their families.

The business leader is gifted; they don’t just exist to write checks and sit on a board. They have gifts of grit, determination, and leadership. They have connections and know-how. But somehow over time the church leaders thought it was smart to take these disruptive people and give them a little golden sandbox to play in while they’re left to lead their business on their own.

That’s negligent.

Declining Glory — A Word To The Business Leader

“Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.” — Exodus 12:35–36

Ever wonder where exiled slaves got all that gold to make the golden calf that they worshipped? My friend Seth Buechley pointed out to me that Israel made their famous golden calf out of the very gold that God allowed them to plunder from the Egyptians. We have a nasty habit abusing the gifts we’ve been given by God.

As we build our projects and businesses there is a temptation to take the glory for ourselves.

In the desert, Jesus was tempted by Satan with changing elements; specifically a stone to bread. He was tempted to throw himself down and be lifted up to prove who he was. He was tempted with power and prestige and to be lifted up above the rest. He tactfully declined.

Eventually, though, he would do all of these things:

He would change water to wine and multiply food. On the cross he “threw himself down” and was lifted back up by God and shown who he really was. And ultimately, he was given absolute authority and power over everyone else which he declared in Matthew 28.

He had the ability to do everything that Satan tempted him with in the wilderness. The difference was, he didn’t do it simply because he could.

Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” — John 5:19

The use of Jesus’ abilities were declined when it was going to be used simply to feed his belly or his ego. His gift was reserved for the sake of sacrifice for those he loved.

When the business leader willingly hands their abilities back to their Father, the gift multiplies and the Body brings a little more of His Kingdom to earth.

[1] The More Excellent Way Sermon

[2] (How God Makes The World a Better Place)