MIX BUSINESS WITH PLEASURE?

Should a church or Christian ministry be a business?

Well, first of all, in the eyes of the state and federal governments, churches and Christian ministries are businesses.

Contrary to popular belief, churches pay taxes.

In most states, churches (and most 501C3 non-profit ministries) don't pay sales taxes, and they don't pay federal income taxes themselves (but they do withhold taxes from certain employee paychecks), but they do pay other taxes and assessments.

But my real question revolves around the often stated belief that churches or Christian ministries should adopt and observe "good business practices."

(For the purposes of this post, I shall hitherto forth use the term "ministry" to include churches and para church organizations operating in the name of Jesus for the purpose of filling a community or world-wide need.)

One could use Scripture to try to make that determination...you know: "count the costs," etc.

But then where does faith fit in?

The answer lies in what church members believe the ministry really is.

If the ministry is a group that sees itself as a sort of "holy club," with regular meetings about how to behave and do good things, then there is no particular reason not to act in a totally businesslike manner.

But if the ministry is a body of called out believers in a resurrected Lord with whom they have both a personal and a corporate relationship, then it dare not think of itself as a business.

Let me see whether I can create a clearer understanding of the nature of churches and Christian ministries, as compared with businesses.

A business is an entity whose purpose it is to exchange goods and services for some particular gain...monetary or otherwise.

It is a direct quid-pro-quo relationship.

I do this for you; you give me this in return.

For instance, a commercial radio station says to an advertiser, "You give me "X" amount of money and I'll produce a spot for you that will entice listeners to buy your goods and services, and that spot will air "Y" number of times per day.

A Christian radio station, on the other hand (one of those para church ministries) can, both by law and by ethical standards, only ask a business to support it and air what the FCC calls "business acknowledgements."

It is prohibited by law from issuing a "call to action" (asking the listener to do something...like "call such-and-such a number"), airing an "enticement to buy" (giving the listener some reason to purchase from that business as opposed to some other business), or using descriptive, qualitative phrases ("the best Quadrapones in Southwest Florida").

As a ministry, it should not want to do such things anyway.

A ministry is characterized by giving, not getting.

The role of the ministry, church or para church, is to give, and give, and give some more, and leave it up to God to provide.

Ministries are about reconciliation, encouraging one another in the body of Christ and building one another up in the body of Christ.

Ministries are about thinking of others as better than yourself.

That doesn't mean that ministries should not ask for or receive money...they should.

The money that comes to a ministry should be a response from those benefiting from the ministry and from those who believe in the ministry and want to see it continue.

Money (and other blessings) follows ministry.

If a ministry's constituency believes it receives a benefit from the ministry, or sees the value of the ministry as a benefit to someone believed to need the ministry, it will have the support it needs..

If a ministry is not being supported, guess what...it is not being perceived as an important ministry by its constituency.

The real answer is: A ministry (including a church) dare not think of itself as a business. As soon as it does, it risks alienating its base and going afoul of the law.

Furthermore, it risks substituting business practices for faith.

Here's the deal.

If a ministry wants to do something, and it is God's will that it be done, God will provide the way for it to get done in His power.

If a ministry wants to do something and it is NOT God's will, it will never receive the blessing from doing it that it would have if it had waited to discover God's will.

For instance, if a church wants to build a new facility but it is not God's will, the building, if it gets built at all, will never fully serve its intended purpose and may require "pulling teeth" to get it done.

If a church knows that God wants a new facility built and proceeds on faith that He will provide, stand back...there is no power on earth that can prevent it from being done.

That may not be good business, but it is excellent faith.

Faith pleases God.

Nothing else does.