Kingdom Companies – Christian Business Leaders

We all want to make a difference, leave a legacy, and know that our contributions matter. It’s the way we’re wired as human beings. As Christians, we’re exposed to an overwhelming level of lies and deception about our responsibilities and our abilities to effect change. The best many of us settle for is a compartmentalized life where we may enjoy a rich spiritual life and fellowship outside of work, but on the job we follow ‘the rules’. Alternatively, we seek out other believers within our work for fellowship, often feeling like refugees in a hostile world bolstering one another’s courage. Some of us join a faith-based organization hoping to impact the world that way, only to become frustrated when it becomes apparent that flawed and imperfect human beings are running amok here too. So what’s the point? A conclusion I’ve heard many strong believers reach is that this is just a fallen world, and there’s nothing we can do about it. We grit our teeth, do our best, and wait for eternity.

Is this really what God wants for us and our business?

I think most believers, it’s certainly true for me, tend to walk in and out of idealism when it comes to living as though we really believed what we say we believe. There are times where we’re sold out for Jesus and being of service, and helping others, and joyfully sacrificing more than we have only to realize we’re receiving abundantly, ridiculously, and irrationally more than we’ve given. And then it’s like a rubber band effect…as soon as we realize it, we start to hoard our manna, or believe that WE’RE the ones responsible for our success. “It’s my awesome leadership”, or “I’m a really clever strategist”…you get the idea. Have you ever really focused on eating or breathing and tried to figure out how you did it and then do it better? I don’t recommend it if you don’t want to feel like you’re choking for the next week or so. Some things are meant to be experienced, not managed, and I think experiencing God’s blessings is one of those things.

As believers who are also business owners, leaders, parents, and teachers, we have a fundamentally different challenge than non-believers. First, we have to choose whether we will live by the world system or by Kingdom principles, and we all know that choosing ‘b’ will immediately put us in the category of ‘naïve’, ‘wingnut’, and worse…because everyone ‘knows’ how the world is and how business operates. This is the system where resources are limited, only the strong survive, cash is king, and it’s every man for himself. This is a system where the strong oppress the weak, and where individuality, freedom, and unique contributions are suspect, if not outright forbidden. It’s a system where everyone needs to fit neatly into a box, any box, where mob rule prevails because reality is relative and truth is a matter of perception. This is a system where people increasingly need medication, drugs, alcohol, identity changes, or any other anesthesia to ‘survive’, and where ending one’s life is a viable solution to a dropping stock market or lost job. This is the system we’re told to embrace, the wheel we’re told to get on, and the game we’re told we can win…except what is winning, and what does it cost?

I ask you again; Is this what God really wants for our business? For us? For our employees?

If what we believe is really true, there really is a God. He really is good, and He really cares about every last hair on our heads. He has our best interest at heart, and he gave each of us a unique set of gifts and talents, interests and callings, that He intends us to use for His glory. He has plans to prosper us, not hurt us, but we are not the center…we are part of a much bigger plan. He has access to resources unimaginable to us, with the desire to share them abundantly. He wants us to take care of each other, and to help people who don’t know Him understand His love. He doesn’t withhold or punish us, but He will often prevent us from attaining what we want if he knows it’s going to hurt us. He dearly wants to fellowship with us and will gladly help us with our business plan if asked. He wants to share life with us and use us to make the world better.

Are we operating our business with this in mind, or are we furtively running an enterprise while checking over our shoulder to make sure ‘the boss’ isn’t watching, in case he wants to take it all away? Which servant are we?

I’d suggest your level of peace and joy when it comes to your business is the extent to which you’re letting God in versus you keeping him at arm’s length – assuming he doesn’t approve, or just doesn’t care about this aspect of your life.

Are you interested in experiencing more joy and fulfillment? Consider these questions to see if you’re operating under any limiting beliefs when it comes to your business and God:

Do I think God approves of my business?
Am I willing to present all of my business plans, strategies, and finances to God?
Is there part of me that believes God doesn’t really care or will concern himself with this aspect of my life?
Do I feel it’s ‘unspiritual’ to want to succeed in business?
Do I believe I have to compromise my integrity, or act in ungodly ways, to succeed?
Do I feel it’s possible to ‘put first the Kingdom of God’ and build a successful business?

If you’re like most of us, one or more of these questions strikes a nerve. Sometimes even considering that God wants more for us arouses unpleasant emotions – fear that we’re hoping for something that can never happen, fear that we’re going too far and becoming one of those wing nuts. I know for me, running on the hamster wheel the world offers became so awful I became wiling to do anything, even wear the ‘wingnut’ label to avoid it.

I feel strongly that if these questions stir something in you, then you should listen. As people we often feel compelled to create change, any change, in response to conflict. I feel like today someone needs to hear that it’s okay just to feel the stirring. If this is you, maybe all you need to do today is become willing to become willing to hear what God has to say. He’s not asking you to change everything today, maybe just to let your guard down and start to talk to Him about your business and His ideas for you.

How do you act on those ideas? You’ll have to wait for the next article!!

I’m writing today with a specific agenda in mind, which is to reach out to and connect with business owners and managers who are seeking to breathe life into their organizations and see tangible ‘fruits of the spirit’ emerge in their companies and in the lives of everyone who works for them. I know this won’t appeal to everyone, and I’m aware that some will read this and feel defensive and possibly excluded. I hope if that’s you, that you’ll read this anyway, because I’ll be discussing what just may be the MOST inclusive leadership and management paradigm I’ve ever encountered.

To give you some context, I recently had the honor of working with a dedicated senior management team to create leadership training and guidelines. We wanted to provide some structure around the expectations of leaders, and some behavioral examples. Here are some of the aspects we discussed and formalized:

We will work to include everyone into the ‘inner circle’ so that no one feels excluded.
We believe everyone has unique value they bring to the table, and it’s more important to learn what that is and place the person in a role where they’re contributing that value than it is to have a tidy organizational chart.
We will give, and receive, honest feedback so that we can all continuously improve.
We will withhold judgment and remain open to other points of view.
We will be rigorously honest, even when it doesn’t appear to be in our own best interests, because that’s the right thing to do.
When we’re upset or offended by something, or when someone makes a mistake (even a big one), we will extend them the benefit of the doubt, assume their intentions are good, and use this as an opportunity to learn and improve.
We will give people the opportunity to take on more responsibilities by training and trusting them, and holding our own egos in check as they grow into new roles.
We will look for opportunities to truly listen, and seek to understand, when communicating with others.

It may (or may not) surprise you to know that the owner of the company is committed to practicing his Christian faith, which includes all of the above points, in his business, and that he also incorporates prayer into his own personal decision-making regarding his business.

If you’re like twenty-years-ago me, this may sound good but make you very nervous. You may be waiting for the other shoe of bigotry, hatred, and judgment to come into play, where people who don’t ascribe to the owner’s faith are blackballed, or proselytized to, and where intolerance is lurking beneath the surface. Twenty-years-ago me, raised in a very progressive country with progressive views towards religion (meaning I would condone your right to practice your beliefs as long as you weren’t too obnoxious about it or didn’t try to tell me what was right or wrong), a company that even acknowledged spirituality was a disaster waiting to happen.

My personal experience was much different. I accepted an assignment to work for a company with the above values as an atheist – one with a chip on my shoulder, I might add, about hypocritical so-called Christians. What I found instead was a group of people who treated me far more respectfully than I’ve been treated in other companies. I was provided opportunity, and when I blew it, I was given another chance. I witnessed a team that agreed to work through dissension and maintain relationship with one another. I saw senior leadership go out of their way to seek diversity and inclusion. The only word that comes to mind when I describe my experience with this company is transformational. I was not coerced into bible studies, or kept back from promotional opportunities due to my atheism, and I was never made to feel less than or unwelcomed. I was shown grace, love, and forgiveness in a tangible way that ultimately showed me God’s love the only way I would ever have been able to understand and receive.

My response was to become fascinated with what made these people tick, and learn more about their faith. Because I’m a scientific type, I researched more than just Christianity, and certainly kept my skepticism intact as long as I could, but ultimately heeded the call. Many of my colleagues who came from a similar background as me were also transformed by the experience and went on to become powerful and effective leaders using the principles of servant leadership. Not all found the faith I did, but they did find a way of managing and leading from the heart that is not only more effective, but also more satisfying and fulfilling. Nobody was left behind, and even though our brokenness made us difficult to work with at times, and at times made us significant liabilities.

As I said, I wrote this article with an agenda, and that’s to ignite excitement amongst business leaders to intentionally bring these principles into practice to transform lives and our businesses. Many of you are already doing this – I’d love to hear your stories. Many of you have been aware that something is somehow missing…this might be it…I would like to connect and establish a community to support and encourage each other to create light in an increasingly dark and cynical world.

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Tag: Kingdom Companies

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