Thinking like an entrepreneur
In Christian church history, there have been periods when the church has really created a strict dividing line between clergy and laity; that is, between professional priests, pastors and ministers versus all of the “ordinary” members who are not called to a particular church office. I hope that we lose that because every Christian is a servant, a minister.
Some people are called to lead the church in a vocational capacity, but all of us are called to expand God’s kingdom together and all of us are ministers in the workplace.
God has put people in all kinds of positions of influence within society. In fact, he positions each and every one of us where we are to impact other people. He didn’t ask any of us to be an island unto ourselves, or to not have influence, or to not affect the world or the culture around us. I don’t believe he called us to isolate and withdraw and live life behind a wall and barricade ourselves off from the non-Christian world around us.
I also believe, however, that entrepreneurship is essentially a matter of being creative, and we can reflect the glory of God when we get creative.
Pastors need to ask themselves entrepreneurial questions, like:
- Am I thinking outside of my comfort zone and what’s familiar?
- Am I willing to venture into new territory, take risks, try new things, get creative?
- Am I willing to adapt my communication styles to the culture around me?
I also believe that Christian entrepreneurs who are not working in the “church” space should think more ministerially. If you’re successful in business, if you lead people, if you start things, if you earn money, if you influence your community or your culture in the business world, then you ought to be seeking ways to serve other people and to share your faith with people in loving ways.
In the New Testament, we see Paul talking about being a tentmaker—being bi-vocational. Today, we think of bi-vocational as a necessary evil—something some pastors have to do because their churches are too small to pay them a full-time salary. Certainly, there are those cases, and thank God for the men and women willing to serve in that role!
However, I think we should begin to make room for a kind of bi-vocational where we encourage pastors and church leaders to be entrepreneurial and to filter into the marketplace alongside everyone else in creative ways, while still faithfully remaining committed to church leadership as a primary calling.
This matters because society’s foundations tend to rest on seven major pillars, and the church is only one of them. Like dominos, if you can move these seven pillars of society, then you can move society in a new direction.
The idea is that if we can influence several of those pillars—government, media, arts, business, education, religion and family—then we can tip all of society in a certain direction.
We think about ministry as taking place within the church, but that’s just one pillar, and it leaves the other six out. We need to be thinking about ministry as being spread across all areas of life.
The kingdom of God operates on different principles than the kingdoms of the world around us. The kingdom of God operates in the principle of purposeful, willing servitude toward other people. The subversive kingdom is the idea that God’s kingdom does not come in and dominate people, or culture, or any of those seven pillars of society. Rather, the kingdom of God subversively springs up here and there within those different realms.
We need Christians to step into a leadership role—not a domineering leadership role, but instead as servants who contribute to the flourishing of humanity.
Photo source: istock
More on Innovation and Change
- What can Christian leaders learn from a 20-something YouTuber? Quite a lot… (by Zac McGowen)
- 4 ways to successfully navigate change (by Charles Stone)
- Keys to business partnership success: strategies for long-term collaboration (by Christian Muntean)
- Location blindness (why the church needs to overcome it) (by Mark MacDonald)
