The Business of the Church

Several years ago, when I was working on a management degree, an instructor asked our class “What business are you in?” At first I thought that his question didn’t really apply to me, because I was a pastor. I took these management courses to help me lead the church better, but I wasn’t really in business. But the teacher continued by saying, “By business I mean this: at the core, in simplest terms, what is your business all about? Why are your doors open? Why have you hung out a sign?” Then he went around the room asking each person. What in the world was I going to say? Most of the others were in the automobile business, so they were answering things like, making cars, providing safe transportation, or making cars more efficient, or more fun, something like that. I didn’t really listen very well because I was trying to figure out what I could say when he finally got to me. Finally it came to me, one important word—relationships. The business of the church is relationships. Jesus was asked a similar question once. When someone asked which of God’s commandments is the greatest, he was actually asking Jesus what all his teaching was really about. Remember what Jesus answered? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Therefore, what we Christ’s followers are to be about is spreading love by building relationships. In the church we endeavor to:

1. Bring people to a relationship with the Lord through faith in His Son in which they find love, forgiveness, and new life.
2. Bring people into a fellowship relationship with God’s family, the Church.

It is not enough to think of the church as a place where we simply sing songs of praise, preach and teach. What we are to be doing is encouraging full-fledged relationships between people and God and between God’s people. We can’t be just a sign post that tells about God or even a lighthouse that warns of danger. We must be a loving family: a family that loves the Father; loves our brothers and sisters; and constantly encourages more brothers and sisters to join us.

So church, how’s business these days?