Christian entrepreneur as a person is a gift of God’s grace in and for the church. He/she uses God’s resources (wealth) to produce utility to satisfy human want and divine purpose. The creation of utility necessitates profit to accumulate capital to make a business productive to provide jobs, meet other needs and also to extend God’s Kingdom. The Christian entrepreneur, as a gift of God engaged in the vocation of creating utility with God’s resources, uses the ethical insights of the Christian faith and body of believers to be a more faithful disciple as an entrepreneur. In that process the Christian entrepreneur faces three critical problems: 1) how much to re-invest in the business to make the business larger and more productive, 2) how much to spend on self and family, and 3) how much to give to the extension of God work?
What kind of gifts do the Christian entrepreneurs bring to the body of Christ? First of all, they bring the same gifts that all other believers bring, namely, our persons as children of God. Each believer is gifted by God for ministry in the body of Christ. Therefore, every believer who is an entrepreneur has a gift or many gifts that are graces of God which may or may not have anything to do with entrepreneurship. These gifts must be discerned and exercised in the body of believers. Secondly, by virtue of training and experience the Christian entrepreneur does bring some unique gifts such as:-
- The entrepreneur has the gift of expansive vision. The Christian entrepreneur is a person who has broken open the boundaries of the 160 acre farm and has a vision for whole countries, whole cities, even for the world, they are broader in perspective and very visionary.
- The Christian entrepreneur brings to the church the gift of good management and administration. The entrepreneur is concerned with efficiency of operation and space utilization and with order in relationships and decision-making.
- The entrepreneur has the gift of money, the gift of liberality in giving to support the work of the Kingdom of God as expressed first in the local church, then in the denomination, and finally in the many causes of Christ in the world. These are rich gifts the Christian entrepreneur brings to the church. God knows the church needs all these gifts, and more, if it is to be his body and witness in the world.
So we need these kind of people in the Body of Christ