Building Spiritual Enterprises: Bringing the Kingdom of Heaven through Business

Building Spiritual Enterprises

Bringing the Kingdom of Heaven through business

Wayne Back

Copyright 2012 Wayne Back

Smashwords Edition

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

The details

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part one - You are a spiritual enterprise

Chapter 1 - What is a spiritual enterprise?

Chapter 2 - What is a successful spiritual enterprise?

Chapter 3 - Faith, hope and doubt in enterprise building

Chapter 4 - How to build faith for your enterprise

Chapter 5 - An enterprise builder’s relationship with God

Chapter 6 - Specific spiritual leadings for enterprise building

Chapter 7 - How to become less driven by your mind and emotions

Part two - You in a spiritual enterprise

Chapter 8 - Operating in the anointing in enterprise building

Chapter 9 - Using your gifts in spiritual enterprises

Chapter 10 - Understanding God’s vision

Chapter 11 - The spiritual structure of your enterprise

Chapter 12 - Adding excellence to your faith

Part three - Others in your spiritual enterprise

Chapter 13 - Values that drive your vision

Chapter 14 - Spiritual culture

Chapter 15 - Spiritual strategy and competition

Chapter 16 - Spiritual planning and goal setting

Chapter 17 - Doubling your enterprise

Chapter 18 - Transitions in spiritual enterprises

Epilogue

About the author

The details

All rights reserved. Except for the fair dealing exceptions of the Copyright Act, e.g. for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible, Copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Phil Hopkins

Photographs for the cover by Nicole Back

All inquiries about this book should be made to answers@wayneback.com

Information about keynote speaking, business workshops and other resources from Wayne Back, go to www.wayneback.com

Acknowledgements

During the writing of this book, I have constantly thought of the many business people that have helped, supported, encouraged and inspired me in my journey of spiritual enterprise building in churches and in business. As a pastor, my closest friends were in business. I enjoyed their can do attitude and they normally didn’t sweat the small stuff. I have always felt privileged to be allowed into their lives. Thank you for all those in business who have journeyed with me and also for the resources that you have abundantly supplied to all the endeavours to which I have been called.

This book contains many stories about people who are building an enterprise. All their stories exemplify specific aspects of spiritual enterprise building. I want to thank those who agreed to have their story told in this book. There are also countless other people who have contributed to this book through their friendship, prayer, advice and example but I want to especially thank a few.

Wayne and Denise Lucerne were one of the two other couples that helped my wife Hilary and I plant our first church. We spent a number of years working hard together to establish a viable church. Every week Wayne complimented me on how great my Sunday and mid-week messages were. Wayne’s encouragement helped a young introverted church planter and preacher believe that he had something to offer. His continual focus on bringing the message of Christ through his business is inspirational!

Peter and Lynne Klomp joined our first church in its first few years. Their example of doing a prophetic business for the past 20 years will hopefully be a forerunner to a more widespread attitude of spiritual enterprise building. More of their story appears later in the book. Their friendship, prophetic example and generous contribution to our church helped to build a platform for me personally and for our fledgling churches.

I also want to thank the four wonderful people who edited this book for me - Stephen Keil, Hilary Back, Zoe Hayes and Jane Keil. Thanks guys for all your efforts in helping me find the write words to make this book far easier to understanding. (Without them this is the way many sentences would read!)

Introduction

This book is written for all those who want to build their lives, businesses, churches and ministries according to the vision and call of God. It is written to encourage and help business people realise their high calling. It is also written to pastors to help them to build their churches and also in ministering to their business people.

Even though it is a book about business, some of those who have read the early drafts are not in business and have found it very helpful in building their lives of faith. All of the chapters have relevance for building personal spiritual foundations.

Building spiritual enterprises is certainly not a new concept. It has existed in various forms from building churches to tent-making endeavours.

In the earliest history of the Christian mission the saving news of Christ was often carried to new places by those who were seeking to do business. Harry Goodhew, Retired Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Australia

Spiritual enterprises are different from other enterprises in two key ways. Firstly, a spiritual enterprise has foundations based in the will of God. The reason the enterprise exists is in response to God’s specific direction. Secondly, every function of a spiritual enterprise is influenced by the Spirit of God. This book is written with the understanding that in all things He may have the pre-eminence. (Colossians 1:18). He desires pre-eminence in the church, in the home, in our businesses and in every aspect of society.

Most of the business stories I have used in this book have been from business people pursuing the building of spiritual enterprises for at least two decades. They are fore-runners in God’s plan to elevate the role of business in bringing His kingdom to Earth. None of these businesses would claim to be model spiritual enterprises but they have graciously allowed me to tell that part of their story that can help others in their journey of becoming a spiritual enterprise. Each of these enterprises is owned or managed by people who are genuinely attempting to honour God through their business. They are gifted differently and their spiritual lives look different, but all put Jesus Christ as the central focus of their lives.

This book is not primarily about business practices. It is not a book about selling, financial reporting, marketing, project planning or other of the various aspects of gaining business acumen. It is a book about laying the spiritual and organisational foundations that establish a spiritual and effective organisation.

I feel that God has positioned me to write this book. My experiences in church planting and church building, combined with my experiences in training and organisational development in many organisations as well as my connection to hundreds of business people attempting to build spiritual enterprises have collectively given me a multi-faceted foundation for this book.

Part one - You are a spiritual enterprise

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ......But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. The Apostle Peter (1 Peter 2:4-5... 9-10)

Chapter 1 - What is a spiritual enterprise?

Matthew 6:10 "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

The context of the Bible is not primarily the church or the temple. The Bible addresses marketplace issues more than it addresses church issues. Over ninety percent of Jesus’ public appearances were in the marketplace. Over eighty five percent of the parables Jesus told had a workplace context. Over ninety five percent of the divine interventions recorded in the book of Acts were in the marketplace. Fifty four percent of Jesus’ reported teaching ministry arose out of issues posed by others in the scope of daily life experience. Jesus spent His adult life as a carpenter until the age of thirty before He went into a preaching ministry in the workplace for three years. Jesus called twelve workplace individuals, not clergy, to build His church. So we shouldn’t be surprised that business enterprises have a key role to play in bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth.

Work and spirituality

Work is spiritual. The Hebrew word Avodah is the root word from which we get both of the words work and worship. Work in its different forms is mentioned more than eight hundred times in the Bible, more than all the words used to express worship, music, praise, and singing combined. Work was always part of God’s plan for man. Work is not a result of the fall of man as Adam and Eve worked the garden before the fall.

For years, I thought my involvement in business was a second class endeavour -- necessary to put bread on the table, but somehow less noble than the more sacred pursuits, like being a minister or a missionary. The clear impression was that to truly serve God, one must leave business and go into 'full-time Christian service.' I have met countless other businesspeople who feel the same way. Rich Marshall, God@Work

Many centuries ago the church developed a distinction between the sacred and the secular that has never quite left us. Saint Jerome said A merchant can seldom if ever please God. Saint Augustine said Business is in itself evil. The spiritual was separated and elevated at the expense of the secular. This led to the term full time Christian service used for people who were missionaries or pastors. This term has reinforced this sacred - secular division. The reality is that God has never separated the sacred from the secular or the clergy from the laity. Every Christian is in full time service to God.

Along came Martin Luther who attempted to remove the sacred-secular distinction. He said Ploughboy at his plough is as pleasing to God as the priest at his prayers. He also said that there were only three professions that were illegitimate - usurer, prostitute and monk. Unfortunately Martin Luther did not solve the problem. Another problem was born. The spiritual wasn’t elevated above the secular, but it was separated from the secular. The result was that there were spiritual pursuits that were quite separate from secular pursuits. The effect on us today is that many Christians operate their church and spiritual life quite different to their work life.

One of the greatest hindrances to the Christian's internal peace is the common habit of dividing our lives into two areas - the sacred and the secular. But this state of affairs is wholly unnecessary. The sacred-secular antithesis has no foundation in the New Testament. A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

Many Christians today see missionaries and ministers as the most spiritual people and the most obedient to God. They would rank spirituality of the following professions in the order they are listed next - missionary, priest, care worker, business person and lawyer. They see their ministry as different to their work. They feel that their work is almost a necessary evil. They are not like Olympic runner Eric Liddell who said When I run, I feel the pleasure of God. He certainly felt like God was supporting him in his work. It is God’s intention for us to live an integrated life where there is no distinction between work and ministry, where we understand our call from God and outwork that call in the environment we are called into. Whether we are called to be a plumber, care worker, parent, judge, priest, lawyer, waitress or whatever else, we ought to do so only because we are called by God to do it. And we ought to do it empowered by God. We need to know that our call is as honourable as any other vocation to which others are called.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done

Most people know what is called the Lord’s prayer, which probably should be called the disciples prayer as Jesus was instructing the disciples how to pray. It contains the key aspects of how to relate to God and the world around us. It is the big picture of God’s will. It tells us that it is His plan to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth.

Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

He wants the earth to function as Heaven functions. He wants love, worship, prosperity and wholeness. He wants people to be emotionally, mentally and spiritually well. This progressively happens, of course, as people come into communion with God through Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit lives with them and begins to transform their worlds to be mini-Heavens on earth. Well, that’s the plan anyway.

What is a church?

Churches are a big part of God’s plan to bring Heaven to earth. Jesus has promised to build His church. The apostles went about establishing churches. Paul, Peter and others helped to grow the churches through their personal contact and their letters. These churches were God’s called out ones and met in houses and other places. The question is What makes a group of people into a church? How do we know if God sees this group of people as a church? What needs to be in place for it to be a church? There are many different expressions of gatherings that call themselves churches. There are churches that handle snakes, churches that hate certain races, churches that don’t believe in the Holy Spirit, churches that put down the role of women, churches that don’t believe the Word of God and even churches that meet in the nude. Are they all churches in God sight? If they aren’t churches in God’s sight, how could we tell?

I have been a full time worker in churches for over 20 years, mostly as a Senior Minister (the person in ultimate authority in that local church). I have spent most of my life building local churches. I would have to say with much dismay that it is my observation that the church at large has not been that good in participating with God to bring Heaven to earth. I am fortunate to have been involved with groups that focus on a person’s relationship with God and the power of the Holy Spirit. So my observation is not so much about people close to me but the church at large. Just because an organisation has the word church in their name, it does not mean that they get more favour from God than other community groups. A church is not necessarily a spiritual enterprise. There are two important passages of Scripture that help us understand what a real church actually is. The first is:

Genesis 28:12-13...16-17 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to Heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.... Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven!

Jacob called that place the house of God because there was angelic visitation and God spoke to him directly there. It was the spiritual activity at that place that caused Jacob to call it the house of God. The second key passage about the nature of a church is from the New Testament.

Ephesians 2:19-22 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

This Ephesians passage says that the household of God is the place where the Spirit of God dwells. There would be organisations with church in their name that are less of a church in God’s eyes than other business organisations. If a business is founded in obedience to God, makes decisions according to how He leads them, who pray and do missions, then they are more likely to be a place where the Spirit dwells than some churches. In the Old Testament, we read an account of God filling the tabernacle that Moses made.

Exodus 40:34-35 Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Why did God fill the tabernacle? Here are three possible reasons

1. It was His plan for the tabernacle to be built so He would fill it and people would have a place to encounter the presence of God. In the New Testament, we know that He intends to fill all things – including your enterprise.

2. It was made according to the plan that Moses was shown. God fills what He wills, so if your enterprise is the will of God, then you can be confident that He wants to fill it.

3. They asked Him to fill it. We can do the same with our enterprises.

Like the tabernacle, we can build a business that is a spiritual enterprise if we are sure that our business is His will, we build it according to His plan and we ask Him to fill it.

Nel and Jacques Dekker were in their retirement after a lifetime of work and raising a family. They had also been foster parents for 76 children over ten years, many of them either handicapped or abused. They then became the permanent carers of twin girls. Jacques had retired a few days before 9/11 (2001) and the subsequent impact on the economy meant their retirement would be more financially constrained than they had hoped for. This frustrated the Dekker’s as they hated not being able to give as much money into the kingdom of God as they wanted. Their daughter is a quilt, bag and display doll designer and her success had meant that she needed help to do all the work. In 2003, Nel gave her time at no cost to help with organising duties including doing the invoicing and making patterns. Jacques came on board to promote the patterns. The business grew and one of Nel’s daughter’s friends, also a designer, needed Nel and Jacques help as well. Nel and Jacques formalised their work arrangement with the two designers in May 2004 and called their business Creative Abundance (www.creativeabundance.com.au). A business was born out of a mother’s desire to help her daughter.

Creative Abundance now (2010) distributes the patterns and design books of 12 of Australia’s leading designers. They employ 12 people, 6 in a full time and 6 in a part-time or contract basis. Jacques and Nel seek God’s will over who they should distribute for and have both refused many offers from other designers and prayed for specific designers they felt the Lord wanted Creative Abundance to distribute. Nel and Jacques declare that Creative Abundance is the Lord’s business and