Businesses

spirituality

Linking Business & Spirituality

Christian discipleship has always been an integrated 'all of life' response to Jesus Christ. Built on the Biblical foundations of Genesis and clarified by the prophets, the apostles and most clearly by Jesus himself, the Christian worldview insists that there is sacred meaning and significance in every human activity and relationship.

Unfortunately, modern Christians (even some of the most passionate evangelicals) often fail to affirm this. The common impression is that Christian thought and practice is preoccupied with theological precision and personal morality, and has little light to cast on what most of us spend most of our days doing in work, leisure, family life and hobbies.

Those involved in business enterprise, in particular, have often had an uneasy relationship to the Church; on the one hand, expectations of generous giving are high, yet their involvement with 'the mammon of this world' is seen as an intrinsically tainted occupation. This is very unfortunate, given that the cause of Christ has often taken great steps forward through the influence, networks and financial backing of merchants.

The resources and links on this page are provided for those who would like to further explore the integration of business in Christian life and mission.

Resources
Dr Robert Banks has written some excellent (& Australian!) books exploring issues for integrated Christian living over the last few decades, including:

All the Business of Life (Albatross, 1987) God the Worker (Albatross, 1992) 
Faith in Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2000) - co-editor with Kimberley Powell 

Other helpful books are:
Blamires, H. The Christian Mind - How Should a Christian Think (SPCK, 1963) 
Sine, T. WIld Hope - A Wake-up Call to the Challenges & Opportunities of the 21st Century (Monarch, 1992)

Web resources:
Articles from GO - The Quarterly Magazine of Interserve (2nd quarter, 2002):
"Why Business as Mission", p.2 ... business as an expression of cross-cultural mission. "A Time To Build", p.3-4 ... business as mission in Mongolia.