The authors, both rooted in the same faith but representing different professional spheres, met informally for nine months to examine issues relating to church and business. In the following article, they share conclusions from their journey together.

In today’s complex world, business and the church need each other more than ever. Like the young players in the country, both need to work together and watch each other’s backs.

We approach this discussion from our respective areas of training and experience. Jim is a partner in The Bird-in-Hand Corporation, a restaurant and hospitality business in Bird-in-Hand, PA. Beryl is associate pastor of the Akron Mennonite Church, Akron, PA, where Jim is also a member. Both of us have received graduate degrees in our own fields. Both of us have grown to appreciate the common threads of truth that have come out of our informal discussions on the church/business relationship.

We believe strongly that church and business are necessary partners, but in our tradition they have often seemed at odds. It seems both parties share the blame for a breakdown of trust and cooperation. In some cases, friction has grown out of misconceptions and/or misrepresentations of each other’s respective roles.

Misconception one: The church holds a monopoly on truth
Business and the church need to agree that knowledge has many sources. The church does not hold a monopoly on truth. The Holy Spirit does not come to one institution or tradition or cultural grouping, but to individuals. And as these individuals pursue their various work disciplines, truth will come to the church from their respective areas of training and experience.

The church has sometimes been arrogant about its understanding of truth. The church has often forgotten that it does not own truth but is, rather, a recipient of truth, a broker, a watershed where all areas of knowledge can be brought together as part of the discerning process. Theology and biblical interpretation are not immune to human error; they need the help of other disciplines to understand the mind of God in our day.

This doesn’t mean giving up our conviction that Jesus Christ is the full and final revelation God has given to his people. Jesus Christ works through people and experiences to bring this revelation to light. But as we work at faithful living and discipleship, we must listen to and respect wisdom from other sources.

Misconception two: Church leaders always know best
Scripture and the 16th century reformers assert that we are all to be priests. 1 Peter 2:5-9 says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood...." Our historic view of the "priesthood of all believers" elevates all believers to the task of ministry, not just in doing the work but also in deciding how it is to be done.

Today’s churches, however, are more likely to see their pastor or denominational leader as a visionary who not only initiates but also implements the church’s mission. Too many congregations put this load on the pastor and too many pastors accept it.

Scripture certainly speaks of leadership (1Cor. 12 & 1 Tim. 3), but not the conventional CEO model that many churches have adopted. The preferred leader is not one who wields power from the top, but rather one who works with and for the faithful. Vision and decisions must come from the soul of the corporate body, be that body a church, family, or business.

Many companies have learned recently that employees "down the line" are often most in tune with the needs and wants of customers. Could it be that in the church our parishioners are more in touch with the pulse of our communities and ways to effectively meet their needs? The church needs to hear from and harness all its "ministers" to carry out the work of the kingdom.

A new business model?
Jesus worked outside the formal religious circles of his day. His illustrations were taken from the business world of the times. He fashioned his message to connect with the merchant, the farmer, the fisherman, and the financial executives of Judea and Galilee. Unlike the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus received the Gentiles, elevated the status of women, identified with the poor, and welcomed the sinner. He challenged the structures that oppressed. He was feared because he called for change, for inclusion, for breaking down barriers.

The new business model is also feared because it calls for change, for inclusion, for breaking down barriers. Much has been written about new ways to organize and lead. As we evolve towards flatter management structures with power in the team rather than the individual, it is getting increasingly difficult to distinguish the boss from the subordinate.

And yet many of us in church and business are still trapped in outdated methods based on scientific management, which arrogantly places people at the disposal of techniques and technology, and which sees people, in essence, as robots on the proverbial assembly line. In this approach, responsibility shifts from the worker to the manager, student to the teacher, lay person to the preacher. This is the mind set of many organizations today.

The new business model sweeps away this outdated approach along with its fear, domination, unilateral decision-making and heavy-handed manipulation. Instead age-old values such as community, love, power-sharing, trust, and servanthood are given prominence. To Christians this new business model appears strikingly familiar, so familiar in fact that you might think it has New Testament roots.

The ultimate paradox of the new business model may be that it is not so new after all.

Stewardship and Love
Perhaps the new conception of leadership is best expressed as stewardship: leadership as a trust which is exercised for the benefit of all, where the leader serves the followers, guided by the higher purposes of the organization. The new leader, caring and respectful towards people, is willing to share power. Fear and domination are replaced by love.

Peter Senge, in his book The Fifth Discipline, suggests that "love is, of course, a difficult word to use in the context of business and management." He goes on to talk about the need for "agape" love in the workplace in developing a commitment to serve one another. The best definition of love, he says, is the "full and unconditional commitment to another’s completions."

"Love in organizations," claims author Margaret Wheatley, "is the most potent source of power we have available."

According to Jesus, the greatest example of love is to lay down one’s life for a stranger. Whether literal or metaphorical, this is a strong challenge to look beyond our own needs and rights to the needs and rights of someone else, maybe someone we do not even know.

Community
"For maximum productivity as well as maximum job satisfaction, full participation by all in the corporation as a learning community is essential," says Robert Bellah in The Good Society.

"We hunger for community in the workplace and are a great deal more productive when we find it," says Marvin Weisbrod in Productive Workplaces. "To feed this hunger in ways that preserve democratic values of individual dignity, opportunity for all, and mutual support is to harness energy and productivity beyond imagining."

"So how about this for a new management bumper sticker: If you’re not creating community, you’re not managing" (James Autry, Love and Profit) .

Behind the term "community" is interdependence. This means being available to give and being willing to receive. The industrialized nations of the west have long been accused of being less community minded and more individualistic. We delegate our needs and the needs of others to specialized institutions that society has set up to deal with our problems. As our agents, these institutions relieve us of the responsibilities once borne face to face by the community.

We find that the more value we place on our high-tech informationalized society, the more we need the flesh and blood interaction of caring individuals to convey love, acceptance and empathy. David wrote in Psalm 20:7, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God." Horses and chariots were the high-tech resources of David’s day. They represented power. But David knew that all the power in the world, if enacted outside of the faith community, was empty and futile. We are social beings created by a sociable God who desired companionship.

Today the business world is discovering this reality in the form of a paradox. To maximize productivity in our complex, highly technical world, we need to create the community of the first century church. The irony is that while our churches are moving away from the New Testament model of community, our organizations are embracing it. "Business is already evidencing so much more interest in community than the church," claims M. Scott Peck in his book A World Waiting to be Born. "Business will adopt community as a standard mode of operation for the sole reason that community is cost-effective."

Sharing Power
"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely," declares Lord Acton’s famous maxim.

"In every sphere, ‘centers’ are being discredited - from the decline of the superpowers to mistrust of national governments to attacks on non-value-adding corporate headquarters," says author Rosabeth Moss-Kantor.

Jesus made it abundantly clear to His disciples that His concern was not to centralize power around Himself, but rather to empower others, to distribute authority and ownership to those who understood His message. The Great Commission is a prime example.

It is human nature to hold on to authority and to centralize control. The divine model, however, empowers the powerless and involves others in the task of kingdom building.

The new model calls for sharing power. Max De Pree observes that information is power, "but it is pointless power if hoarded. Power must be shared for an organization or a relationship to work."

Central to power-sharing is respect for the value of each person as well as a pragmatic sense of future business survival. "When we–you, me, everybody–genuinely approve of ourselves and are well-informed, we can afford to be responsive to the needs and wants of others," says Carl Sewell, an author and businessman. People who feel powerless, or who don’t think they are valued, don’t care much about the problems of others. In today’s highly competitive service-oriented economy, this type of attitude is a prescription for disaster.

Trust
Trust is risky business. It implies that persons deserve a chance to prove themselves.

Jesus showed an enormous amount of trust in His disciples. Peter, Thomas, Judas Iscariot – these handpicked men all disappointed Jesus at some point, yet we get a clear picture that He was ready and eager to trust again if they would but acknowledge their error and start over.

All relationships are built on trust. And sound relationships are at the heart of business success. "Lack of trust at all levels curtails innovation and market opportunities," claims Douglas McGregor. De Pree adds that, "Long-lived and productive relationships spring up from a soil rich in covenants and trust."

It seems ironic that so much business training today still focuses on so-called "hard" issues of balance sheets and bottom lines, when what we desperately need is increased emphasis on the "softer" issues of communication, developing shared vision and creating trust. The reality today is that the leader will not always lead from the front; in times of uncertainty, a significant part of a leader’s role is finding ways of "releasing the sleeping genius" in others.

Servanthood
"The greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves" (Luke 22:26).

"I believe bosses like you are, at your best, servants to the people who do the real work." (T. George Harris, editor of the Harvard Business Review).

The towel and basin symbolize Jesus’ ministry. No task was beneath him. But neither was there any doubt as to who was in charge. Voluntary servanthood demonstrates a strength of character which is contrary to conventional wisdom, but which connects with the common person like nothing else. Jesus exuded this quality and it attracted a loyal following. The servant model leads by example, and invites others to share in a vision which includes all and conveys a commitment to quality relationships.

During times of tumult many leaders look around for people to blame. Exasperated managers complain, "If I could just get my people problems worked out, things would be much better." A big challenge for leaders is to acknowledge that change begins with them. The problem most often lies within, not out there.

In an age where power and manipulation are seen as tools for getting ahead, it is interesting to note the repeated and fervent cries for servant leadership emanating from the new business model.

"Servant-leaders are healers in the sense of making whole by helping others to larger and nobler vision and purpose than they would be likely to attain for themselves," says Robert Greenleaf.

"We need to develop and lead organizations that enhance life, taking the role of the nurturing servants," writes Robert McNight.

In our attempts to produce lasting change in our workplaces and churches, we must keep in mind that nothing very worthwhile was ever accomplished by fanatics and moralists. Instead, it is the leader as servant who gently helps individuals to discover their own uniqueness, and to find ways of attaching it to some endeavors above and beyond themselves.

Conclusion
The gap between business and the church is being bridged, though perhaps slowly. What are some lessons we can learn from each other?

1. The convergence of New Testament truths and the new business model is striking, and the paradox seems clear. We cannot run 21st century organizations on 19th century thinking. We must run them on 1st century truths.

2. If the New Testament can provide relevance for Sunday and Monday mornings, pastors should have the confidence that what they say in the pulpit on Sunday morning is not out of touch with what lay people experience on Monday morning. The Bible is just as relevant for the business world as the latest Tom Peters best-seller.

3. Establishing our workplaces as communities of personal growth is profitable. However, there is clearly a higher human destiny than selling our souls to organizations. Here is where the church can provide a context to create people-building institutions based on faith. Without our faith, the ideas of the new business model can merely become a fad, something to yet again enhance the bottom line until something better comes along.

4. Business has much knowledge to share with the church, especially in the area of responding to stakeholders. Due to market demands, business must keep reinventing itself or die. Our church organizations, on the other hand, historically have not felt the same urgency.

5. The church and business should help each other to once and for all put an end to the Sunday-Monday dichotomy. Certainly each of us has our specific roles for "building up the body," but we must all understand that our most important calling is to be believers in a fallen world.

6. We need to be tolerant of each other. Both business and church are caught in a riddle: we realize that the old institutions and ways are working badly, but the momentum is so powerful that it inhibits our quest for a new model that would more effectively deal with our current realities.

Written by Jim Smucker and Beryl Jantzi.   Content distributed by WorkLife.org > used for non-profit teaching purposes only.