Creating Spiritual Businesses

I would like to ask you a question.  Is there a difference between a ministry and a spiritual business? 

Ministry defined is: the spiritual work of presenting the gospel or service to further the message of the gospel by any Christian or a group of Christians 

Business defined as:  a person's regular occupation, profession, or trade:  the practice of making one's living by engaging in commerce.

Now just by the definitions from the dictionary, we see that they are different.  However in practice, they are both in the marketplace, presenting a product for money.  Business has a service or product to sell, but so does the gospel, or so it has turned out. 

Today everyone's ministry is a business, we market to people who have money, and we don't market to people who do not.  Christian music for example, in our community, is a typical example of this issue.  For years, as far back as I can remember, Christian radio stations have never programmed their stations as an outreach, they programmed them to be an avenue for revenue.  Now, that sounds very judgmental, but truth can sound judgmental, please get over it. It's time Christians stop giving to ministries that are stuck and are not willing to risk their reputations, or their assets to further the gospel.  The biggest criticism I have of the modern church is she is so non-combatant, because they don't want to offend anyone. Jesus threw people out of the temple because they were creating a business where ministry was suppose to happen. Ministries in the 90's decided to incorporate more business people to sit on boards and help strategise their ministries.  Now, on the surface this may not be a bad thing, however, as I have experienced, business people by nature look for a return on investment, and so ministry took on a different feel. We started marketing ministry, doing cute innovative techniques to get people to notice us and what we do. The problem was we lost the power of God in the course of all our strategy. I don't think creative techniques in ministry are bad, it's just that people in ministry now are relying on the next creative method to attract people. Several ministries that I have affiliated with over the years are strictly spiritual businesses, they provide a service for a fee. The bottom line for these spiritual businesses is, "if people don't give, it's not worth the time and energy it takes to minister to them."  Church programs, radio and TV shows, outreach programs are all evaluated by the amount of support that is generated by these ministry venues.  Now, I know that someone has to pay for the expenses of the ministry, but decisions to do or not do a ministry based upon how much of a return you can expect makes great business sense, but I am not convinced it's a good ministry model.  I don't think Jesus wants us to create a ministry bubble where we only minister to each other, and create ministry activity only so people can support it financially. The Jerusalem church in the book of Acts was filled with believing Jews, and they were creating quite a congregation.  But God isn't in the business of creating Christian bubbles where we stay connected to a group of people to sing songs, and pray for world conditions. He brought persecution against the church, and it created an explosion in the church that sent believers fleeing from the persecution and as they went they spread the message of the gospel. In Antioch, the church created a sending mechanism to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth. They didn't do this with the idea that it needed funding in order to do it, they did it because Jesus said, "go into all the world and make disciples."  I don't want to leave you with the idea I am anti-business nor am I against good business practices in ministry.  What I am against, is when you use these things as the standard for ministry and create ministries that have a calculated outcome based upon a bottom line. God wants us to be risk takers, and people who have faith and trust that God will lead us and change us as we step out in service to Him.  Read the Book of Acts with the lens of being a risk taker and see how often it is reveal through the lives of those God used in that early century.

Here is a seven minute clip of Leonard Ravenhill bringing us back to a foundation of spiritual understanding, something we are not hearing today in most our churches.  Please, please listen with your heart, and ask God to bring a conviction to you about your service and your commitment to Christ. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrFC-et2Ul0

Keeping it honest and truthful in 2012....K