Every weekend, you sit in church and listen to your pastor preach the Bible and call you to live for the Kingdom of God. And you want to say “yes.”
You want your life to honor the Lord. You want your business to make money, but you really want more than that. You care about your employees and how the work environment impacts their lives. You value your customers because you see them as human beings, not simply means to an end. You want to do more than give back. You want to live for the kingdom.
The question, however, is how do you turn your business plan into a kingdom impact plan? Is it possible to build a successful business that also makes a real difference in your community and advances the kingdom of God?
Not only is it possible, it is God’s will for your business to be a kingdom-driven business—one that seeks Jesus’ rule on earth as it is in heaven. One that prospers so that other people can live a little more whole. One that helps others taste God’s goodness so that they can experience God’s redeeming grace. One that turns your business into a missionary.
If that’s your hope, consider these four kingdom decisions for the marketplace leader:
Make the glory of God your greatest aim.
This may seem obvious on the one hand or a little nebulous on the other, but this decision drives every other one.
The apostle Paul said,
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17
When the aim of your business is the glory of God, you adopt best practices, build a healthy organizational culture, and measure the right things. As a business owner and leader, you inspire your employees to greater things and serve your customers in ways that reflects the goodness of God.
Integrate faith and work throughout the organization.
At creation, the Lord God told Adam to tend and cultivate the soil because in our work we reflect the Imago Dei—the image of God. When God created the sun, moon, and stars, for example, he gave us light, heat, and sustenance. As so, when men and women created by God work, we add value to others, and in part, fulfill our purpose on earth.
When a realtor helps a client find a house, the client actually finds a home. When an auto mechanic repairs a car, he’s not just fixing a car. He’s ministering to a father who wants to provide safe transportation for his daughter. Your work reminds the people you serve they are valuable, and demonstrates the kindness and mercy of God.
Good work is always soul care.
Even people who are not motivated by faith reflect the goodness of their Creator when they do a good job. Their work adds value and demonstrates care for their neighbors.
So help your employees understand the significance of their work. Show them how the menial task serves the inner life of co-workers, vendors, customers, and members of the community.
Elevate employee development over employee productivity.
You hire people to do work that needs to be done. Productivity is essential. But what a person does always grows from who a person is. Train for tasks, and train well. Give your employees every tool they need to be successful, but the greatest thing you can do for your employees is to treat them as human.
Every employee walks into the workplace with motivations that are bigger than your business goals, with burdens unrelated to your business plan, and with fears and insecurities that are often only exaggerated by your business model.
So providing a culture of community—togetherness—is a good start. If we’ve learned anything in the last two years, it’s that isolation is devastating to our emotional health. Create habits of a fun-loving community. Offer resources for counseling and care to move your employees toward health. Create emotional and physical margin by providing generous paid time off and development opportunities to inspire and empower your employees to live well.
These practices, and others like them, promote an environment that not only helps your employees, but moves your business plan forward.
Leverage your business as a force for community good.
The Lord is our provider, and he has given us everything necessary to accomplish his will. Not inconsequentially, that provision often comes through the marketplace.
People pay businesses for goods and services that add value. That income is invested back into the business in order to generate more goods and services. Employees are paid, families are fed, and the local economy prospers.
Every community, however, has gaps—pockets of vulnerability. Chronic brokenness, family dysfunction, or bad decisions limit people’s access to opportunities. Just as economic prosperity can trickle down, so can social, emotional, financial, and spiritual darkness.
But as a kingdom-minded marketplace leader, you can make a difference. Your expertise and the expertise of your employees, your relational network, your knowledge base, and your financial capacity give you the opportunity to help your neighbors discover sustainable solutions and build a better life.
As you discover the effects of brokenness in your own community, you can then build a business plan that includes community transformation. Not only can you give a charitable contributions to a local nonprofit, but you can mobilize your employees to personally serve, connect, and give. You can partner with nonprofits in order to hire individuals that you’re serving. You can adopt a neighborhood, a local people group, or serve in a specific pocket of vulnerability such as addiction, foster care, or poverty.
This work then multiplies the impact of your business, prepares the next generation to live whole and become meaningful contributors, and joins the Lord’s mission to make disciples of Jesus and ignite spiritual transformation in your community.
Let’s Do Great Things Together!
If you’re ready to leverage your business for community impact, please visit Everyone's Wilson today. We would be honored to help you build a community impact plan.