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[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/doku.php/jn_de_2009_09_09|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]]
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======Business and Faith III - Small Business.======


Wednesday, Sept 9, 2009. We are talking about the relation between
Christian faith and business. Today we think about being a businessman, 
or a woman who runs some business. What role is faith playing here?

Different people have quite different ideas about what it means to 
run a business. I am thinking about a small business currently, i.e. where
someone provides some service or manufactures some product on his own
or together with some employees. In a small business things are different
from the situation for large enterprises. Here everyone knows everyone, 
the human factor plays an important role. Faith can play an important
role for small businesses.

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Let's take the risk first. An entrepreneur usually carries the full risk
of his business. If things go wrong, he pays. If he prepares things for
a customer, but the customer turns and offer down or does not pay, he needs
to pay. He might earn money, but he might also loose money. For his 
employees the risk is usually much less. They get their monthly salary
and they do not bear any risk. They know exactly what they gain, but the
entrepreneur does not know. Being in a situation where the future is
unclear brings us closer to faith usually. We might want to pray to God
to help us with our business, and we should. We are in his hands, and he
can do a lot in our life. But still God loves everyone and he is 
definitely not a machine to let our wishes come true. Often people try
to use God as a magic helper to reach their personal goals - but that
does not work. He wants to be the Lord and Father, who guides our life,
who fills our mind and leads us to truth, love and peace in the middle
of a busy day.  

A Christian will always pray for the people around him, for God's spirit
in their life, for his presence and help for them. As entrepreneur we
should do this for our suppliers and for our customers. We should also
pray for all the people we employ. Every day we need to ask God to be
with them as he is with us. Every day we need to ask him to let his 
kingdom grow in our business - even if we do not completely know what this
means in practice. He can lead us on, he can teach us, he can show us
much more step by step. 

Being a Christian entrepreneur means that I will be as reliable as possible
to care for the people I employ. Of course I have limits. I can only spend
money that I have, I cannot employ someone if there is no work for him. But
I can be fair. I can share the resources in a reasonable way, giving everyone
a share in the earnings. The earnings should be proportional to a mixture
of work load, dedication, quality and risk. Good work should get a good
salary, bad work should get less. But the principles of mercy and care should
also be active all the time. We are all equal before God, we will all stand
before his thrown and he will be the Lord of everything and everyone. He
has given everyone many talents and he values and loves ever person deeply. 
We should keep that in mind when we do our daily business. 
[R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]

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