The Church Business
I've been accused of being in the "church business" before. Of course, this was from someone who thought that we were simply using Christianity to take money from the susceptible. As if pastors and church leaders were simply exploiting the underlying fears people have concerning death and final judgment so as to acquire donations from them. From this perspective, the church is nothing but a business with a specific business model. We, of course, do not want this stigma. We try to avoid looking like we are merely in the church business for the profit.
From the Christian perspective, there is a necessary suspicion about using business language or principles with anything connected to the church. Business is after all inherently corrupt and unethical. The way God calls Christians to live together in faith is antithetical to the way business must necessarily operate. But for a business that is connected to the church, there remain these questions: Is there a way for church-related businesses to use business practice? Or are we simply joining in with the rest of the world if we do?
I can say that I have wrestled with these questions many times over the last four years as I came to work more and more in the business office at ILT. In one sense, ILT is about serving the church. But in another, it is a business with all the regular business concerns any business has. The overarching concern is that ILT will become so business minded that it will no longer be church minded. That is, it will become so concerned with the bottom line that it will abandon its responsibility to serve others as Christ has served us. The assumption being business is always self-serving, while Christian is called to serve the other.
At the heart of this conflict is the belief that ILT cannot be both. Any business like ILT that has certain business practices it must employ is a contradiction if it is established to serve the church. At best, we can say there is constant and necessary underlying tension between being a business and being Christian. I am not convinced this is true. Conversations about this end up in a catch 22. If we focus on the business, we are no longer serving the students. But if the business fails, then we can no longer serve anyone.
Do church and business need to be antithetical? Is business inherently antichristian? There are some things within the regular business practice in the secular world that are antithetical to the church. Not everything done in business is done ethically and the root of many businesses is greed. This, of course, we can denounce immediately. ILT was not created to make anyone rich and safeguards are in place to protect not only the way we spend donor money but also tuition revenue.
Business practice does, however, give many practical tactics that can be used to create sustainability for any business, even one that is connected to the church. One of the concerns of accreditation and part of the reason it exists is to create a reasonable assumption of sustainability within schools for the sake of the students. Students take a risk when they begin a program at a school. Will it exist in the future? Will the degree be worth anything? How do I know I am getting my monies worth?
I am beginning to believe that there is a bias against business practice within Christianity that is not reasonable. Business practice makes tools available to help avoid disaster and to promote success. These tools can be used to exploit people. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. But that is not the way the must be used. They can also be used to take the resources God has given be used to serve others. They can be used to safeguard against those who would use the business for their own gains. They can be used to create a system from which many can be served for the sake of the mission of the church from one generation to the next.
I have become accustomed to using some business language in my daily work life. I think some find this unsettling as they sense the conflict between business and the church. At the end of the day, however, ILT is not the church, but it is a business that serves that church. And the congregation is not a business. It should not be run like one. The business language and principles we use do not detract from this. This is true for every Christian businessman. Business principles can be used in a Christian way. Not for the sake of the business, but for the sake of those that business serves.
From the Christian perspective, there is a necessary suspicion about using business language or principles with anything connected to the church. Business is after all inherently corrupt and unethical. The way God calls Christians to live together in faith is antithetical to the way business must necessarily operate. But for a business that is connected to the church, there remain these questions: Is there a way for church-related businesses to use business practice? Or are we simply joining in with the rest of the world if we do?
I can say that I have wrestled with these questions many times over the last four years as I came to work more and more in the business office at ILT. In one sense, ILT is about serving the church. But in another, it is a business with all the regular business concerns any business has. The overarching concern is that ILT will become so business minded that it will no longer be church minded. That is, it will become so concerned with the bottom line that it will abandon its responsibility to serve others as Christ has served us. The assumption being business is always self-serving, while Christian is called to serve the other.
At the heart of this conflict is the belief that ILT cannot be both. Any business like ILT that has certain business practices it must employ is a contradiction if it is established to serve the church. At best, we can say there is constant and necessary underlying tension between being a business and being Christian. I am not convinced this is true. Conversations about this end up in a catch 22. If we focus on the business, we are no longer serving the students. But if the business fails, then we can no longer serve anyone.
Do church and business need to be antithetical? Is business inherently antichristian? There are some things within the regular business practice in the secular world that are antithetical to the church. Not everything done in business is done ethically and the root of many businesses is greed. This, of course, we can denounce immediately. ILT was not created to make anyone rich and safeguards are in place to protect not only the way we spend donor money but also tuition revenue.
Business practice does, however, give many practical tactics that can be used to create sustainability for any business, even one that is connected to the church. One of the concerns of accreditation and part of the reason it exists is to create a reasonable assumption of sustainability within schools for the sake of the students. Students take a risk when they begin a program at a school. Will it exist in the future? Will the degree be worth anything? How do I know I am getting my monies worth?
I am beginning to believe that there is a bias against business practice within Christianity that is not reasonable. Business practice makes tools available to help avoid disaster and to promote success. These tools can be used to exploit people. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. But that is not the way the must be used. They can also be used to take the resources God has given be used to serve others. They can be used to safeguard against those who would use the business for their own gains. They can be used to create a system from which many can be served for the sake of the mission of the church from one generation to the next.
I have become accustomed to using some business language in my daily work life. I think some find this unsettling as they sense the conflict between business and the church. At the end of the day, however, ILT is not the church, but it is a business that serves that church. And the congregation is not a business. It should not be run like one. The business language and principles we use do not detract from this. This is true for every Christian businessman. Business principles can be used in a Christian way. Not for the sake of the business, but for the sake of those that business serves.
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