| Business is Sacred at North Point Church :: Durwood Snead |
 We have 17,000 ministers at North Point Ministries. Most of them are businesspeople. They are chosen by God, doing the work that God called them to do, and ministering around people outside the faith every day. As a paid church staff member, I need to look for opportunities to interact with outsiders. Our businesspeople do it as a course of living every day. Many of them are hosting lunch meetings, showing DVDs of helpful messages, and then just discussing life with their co-workers. Their work is their ministry.
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| Praying for a Business at Church? :: Justin Forman |
 David Miller in his book God at Work says, "When speaking to clergy gatherings of a variety of denominations around the country, I often ask this question: Who here prays for and commissions your teenagers as they go off on a mission trip? Invariably, all hands go up. Then I ask: Who here prays for and commissions your Sunday school teachers each September as the new church year starts? Most of the hands go up again. Finally, I ask: Who here prays for all the certified public accountants in your congregation around April 15, and who here prays for all the salespeople and those working on commission at the end of the month and end of the year, when quotas are due? Silence. Eyes drop to the ground. Usually, not a single hand is raised."
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| Marketplace Christianity :: Robert Fraser |
 I was hooked before the plane took off. By the time we landed I had filled the margins of the page with comments and my mind was racing with next steps. At a friend's recommendation I read Markeplace Christianity by Robert Fraser. It's easily fits in the Top 25 books on business as mission. Here's an excerpt of the foreword: The vast majority of the Church is comprised of marketplace people. They lead full, busy lives with 40 plus hours of work per week
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| Setting the Stage :: How can we Life a Segmented Life if... |
 It said "research shows that each day the average business man spends... 10.5 hours serving your company, making your boss, co-workers and company happy. 3.5 hours serving your family, making your wife, kids, parents and even grandparents happy 1.5 hours serving your community, making your neighbors, church members and associations happy 8.5 hours per day sleeping and eating, which isn't enough but you do so you can do the things above..."
How can we afford to separate our work and our faith? We can't afford to keep things segmented.
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| Barriers to Kingdom Business in the Church :: Ken Eldred |
 Many Christians hold views that represent significant barriers to the idea of Kingdom business being a viable missions tool. One barrier, as already mentioned, is the notion that only pastors or full-time Christian workers are engaged in God's work. I fell for that misconception myself. As I discussed in chapter 1, it took me a while to discover that the passions and talents God had given me were best used in the business world, and that is where He wanted me to serve Him. It also became clear to me that the most spiritual calling for each individual is that to which God calls and equips him or her. There is no highest calling, not even that of working in the ministry. My ministry was to serve people and bring them the gospel through business.
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The Call of the Entrepreneur |
 "A merchant banker. A failing dairy farmer. A refugee from Communist China. One risked his savings. One risked his farm. One risked his life. Why do their stories matter? Because how we view entrepreneurs-as greedy or altruistic, as virtuous or vicious-shapes the destinies of individuals and nations." That was enough. It was enough to move the DVD of The Call of the Entreprenuer from my desk to my DVD player in the late hours of the night.
After watching the trailer I was impressed. It was encouraging to see something that was high in both quality and content. It struck a chord on the role of entreprenuers and continued to break down the divide between faith and business, perception and reality.
Read on ... |
| Unlocking the Business Brain :: Tom Sudyk |
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 It is not unusual for people to ask what more they can do for God. When this question is asked by business people, the answer (or at least the clear expectation) is often a new, direct role in their church. Some serve as deacons or elders, "supervising" pastors. Others enter directly into ministry as pastors, youth ministers or other ministry leaders. Based on stories and personal observations, such transitions are rarely successful.
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| Portland Church that Started Hotel Business Featured on American Bible Society |
 A couple of times we've highlighted an innovative church in Portland that has adopted a unique and innovative business as mission strategy. Pastor Eric Bahme and the team at Eastside Foursquare Church decided to get into the hotel business as a way for their church to find a self sustaining way to live on mission (Click here to visit the hotel's website).
Because of this unique innovation and the ability to think outside of the traditional forms of ministry they been recognized in various different circles. Most recently, the American Bible Society re-told their story in a video interview. Click here to watch the story. | |
