The Seven Mountains – Business
By: Karla Perry
Business is the economic engine of the nation. Much is being written on this subject as ministry is expanding into the marketplace. Business, in the context of seven mountains or discipleship of nations, is not new territory for evangelism, but a forgotten territory for discipleship.
Success in business requires a certain adherence to timeless best practices deriving from the Christian worldview. The Protestant work ethic and successful enterprising of Christians led to healthy national economies and systems of banking. Christian principles of business create prosperous nations. Where these are lacking, poverty abounds.
It is interesting to note that a large portion of the best-selling business books are written by Christians. This does not mean you have to be a born-again Christian to have a good business. Nor does it mean that the highest-grossing businesses in America are Christian organizations. Instead, it means that leaders in business borrow from the Christian worldview to create lasting business legacies.
The reason it is a forgotten territory is that we have lost the theology of biblical theology applied to business which creates and sustains healthy business organizations. For the longest time, we ignored the marketplace. The only thing that mattered was Christians serving in the Church mountain. The marketplace became reduced to how one earned a paycheck in the secular world.
Today there is a resurgence of Christian interest in the marketplace. For some, this only means evangelizing people through business or at work. For others, it means that the marketplace is where the money is made to support Kingdom endeavors. We are not quite arriving at where we need to go in terms of discipling a nation.
Business matters because God cares about all areas of life. He cares about how we go about creating architecture, engineering, electricity, automobiles, the construction of roads and highways, technology, science, industry, agriculture, banking, the housing market, and so much more.
The truth of Jesus Christ does not just save our souls, but entire nations. There is no secular sacred divide. Truth matters in every way conceivable that it can be applied to everyday life here on earth. An electrician is not just important because of how much money he makes for the Kingdom, but in how well he lays the electrical lines throughout residential or city property. The electrician gives light, heat, and air to the people so they can do their important vocations which also matter to God.
The Lord’s work is done on farms, hospitals, schools, banks, retail spaces, and military bases. The list is endless. Business fuels the life of a nation.
Discipleship in business is returning to the theology that business matters for business’ sake and for the sake of the nation. A business may disciple its employees or may disciple through its industry like advertising or journalism, but the institutions themselves need discipleship.
The idea behind the business mountain in the seven-mountain template of discipling nations is that business is a mountain to be discipled and it is a mountain that disciples a nation. No longer can we afford to see it as only a financier of Kingdom work, for it is Kingdom work