Kalia Jones
Dr. Younce
CST 310
Having a Christian Worldview in the Business World
Having a Christian worldview is important in any field of study and workplace. A person
who has a Christian worldview perceives the world from a biblical stand point. George Barna
wrote in Think Like Jesus, “that having a Christian worldview means that you think like Jesus
and practice your faith in every aspect of your life.” This is how we make sense of the world,
through a Christian worldview. Having a Christian worldview is a life style. We choose to have
a Christian worldview. We choose to live a life like Jesus did and when someone lives like this it
affects everything they do. A person who has a Christian worldview in the business world
should look different than a person who does not have a Christian worldview. Their actions,
words, and attitudes will be different from each others. They will work differently. They will
treat managers and other employees differently. Ethical issues will also be treated differently.
They will see their jobs differently and the reason why they work differently. “Christian
business leaders are models of moral behavior, they are responsible to articulate and carry the
vision for the organization, they are responsible to maintain open communication, they are
responsible for team building, they are responsible to create an environment that encourages
and facilitates growth and creativity, also they must manage the functions and procedures of an
organization.” (Chewning, Eby, & Roels, 1990) A person with a Christian worldview should stick
out from the rest.
Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the
Lord, not for men.” Many people look at work as a means to an end. They see work as a place
where they can make money in order to live in this world. That may mean working to live
comfortably, working to make it all the way to CEO, or working because that is what one is told
to do with his or her life. People see working or having a job as a burden. On the other hand,
Paul the apostle says that working should not be a burden to us. We should enjoy working and
we should praise God for the work he has given us. We should praise God for the talents, gifts,
and capabilities to perform these jobs. We should not gain any glory from working but it should
all go to our Lord and Savior. We should see working as a gift from God. This is what it means
to have a Christian worldview in the workplace.
Traditionally Christians have viewed business as evil. In the book Business through the
Eyes of Faith, the authors wrote, “A certain amount of tension between business and
Christianity seems always to have existed. St. Jerome said, “A merchant can seldom if ever
please God.” St. Augustine said, “Business is in itself evil.” (Chewning, Eby, & Roels, 1990) This
is not always the truth. You can be a Christian and work in the business world. The authors of
Shaping a Christian Worldview wrote, “A Christian organization is built on and managed by a
foundation of holiness, justice, and love.” (Dockery & Thornbury, 2002) Another author wrote,
“Business is a legal structuring of work where we express our dominion over creation. It affords
us opportunities to plan, organize, lead, follow, and develop skills in a number of areas – all
mirroring Godly qualities.” (Chewning, Eby, & Roels, 1990)
Having a Christian worldview affects my major in many ways. It affects how I treat my
co-workers and how I treat the managers and supervisors above me. My major is business
management which means I have the potential to have influence over many people. If a person
does not have a Christian worldview, then they may treat their co-workers and employees
below them with little respect. They may feel like they are better than them because they have
more authority over them. Someone who has a Christian worldview will view their employees
as people who they should serve. Christians view that God is the ultimate authority and that
they make decisions based on what God reveals to them and through his Word. Christian
business people will treat their employees with respect and have a loving and serving heart
towards them. Someone with a Christian worldview and that is a manager will probably be
more encouraging to their fellow employees. He or she will try to develop team cohesiveness.
He or she will most likely train them to work together and not as an individual depending on
what type of business it is. A person who is a non-Christian manager will probably not be as
encouraging as a Christian manager. He or she may not acknowledge when an employee does
something good, only when an employee messes up will a manager notice. A manager should
always acknowledge when an employee does things right because that keeps an employee
going strong. That gives them a feeling of worth. Therefore, a manager with a Christian
worldview will be more encouraging, respectful, and acknowledging than a manager who didn’t
know Christ. There is a quote that says, “Business is, after all, an institutionalization of God’s
intention for us to work and serve each other.” (Chewning, Eby, & Roels, 1990)
A really big issue in the business department is over ethics. People have a hard time
deciding between right and wrong and some people can be easily influenced. Carl F. H. Henry
wrote, “The difficulty is that people who hold incompatible worldviews disagree not only about
what is true but also about how to determine what is true. Buddhists think one thing,
Utilitarian’s another, postmodernists something altogether different.” (Henry, Kuyper,
Schaeffer, & Yoder, 2006) People that have a Christian worldview normally know the difference
between right and wrong. They know this difference because they live according to God’s
word. God’s word contains their guidelines to life. That is where a Christian learns how to be
more like Christ. That is every Christian’s goal in this life here on earth. “If organizational
members are bound by a strong Christian ethic, they will attempt to honor God in their work
and the management of their work.” (Dockery & Thornbury, 2002) If a manager has a Christian
worldview the people are more apt to follow what that manager believes and to go along with
that manager’s code of ethics. If a manager does not have a Christian worldview he or she and
the employees beneath him are probably going to not follow the code of ethics within the
company because it is probably not being enforced. This means that many scandals could
happen within that company. One would hope that even if they are not Christians, they would
still live by some set of morals. If there is a company that has strong ethical problems then a
manager who has a Christian worldview should be able to turn that company’s morals around.
Laura Nash and Scotty McLennan wrote, “As people seek spiritual wholeness through
consistency between thought and action, they are forced to realize that social systems must be
engaged and changed in order to make such integrity possible.” (Nash & McLennan, 2001) A
person with a Christian worldview will know the difference between right and wrong and will
not have any ethical dilemmas within a business.
Neal Johnson wrote a book called Business as Mission. “Business as Mission (BAM) is
broadly defined as a for-profit commercial business venture that is Christian led, intentionally
devoted to being used as an instrument of God’s mission to the world, and is operated in a
cross cultural environment, either domestic or international.” (Johnson, 2009) They say that
there are basically two levels of ministries that managers take as Christians. “First they minister
to all of those who are directly in the business’s spheres of influence…and second engage in the
community they operate in and undertake holistic, people-impacting community-development
initiatives.” (Johnson, 2009) This is what a business should look like by a manager that has a
Christian worldview. There are many reasons that having a Christian worldview is important
when being a manager. It affects the co-workers around you, it affects the ethics of a business,
and it affects the way one views their job. A job is a blessing to have and one should thank God
daily for the gifts and talents he or she has been given to perform that job.
Works Cited
Chewning, R. C., Eby, J. W., & Roels, S. J. (1990). Business Throught the Eyes of Faith. New York City:
HarperCollins Publishers.
Dockery, D. S., & Thornbury, G. A. (2002). Shaping a Christian Worldview. Nashville: Broadman and
Holman Publishers.
Henry, C. F., Kuyper, A., Schaeffer, F., & Yoder, J. H. (2006). Evangelicals in the Public Square. Grand
Rapids: Baker Academic.
Johnson, C. N. (2009). Business As Mission A comprehensive guide to theory and practice. Downer Grove:
InterVarsity Press.
Nash, L., & McLennan, S. (2001). Church on Sunday Work on Monday. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Publisher.