Principles of Biblical Entrepreneurship: Principles from Personal Experience
I had the honor and the privilege to work at a Christian faith-based business before I came up to Minneapolis for school. I was grateful to work under a leadership team that was emphatic about applying some vital principles of Biblical entrepreneurship in their workplace and into the development of their staff.
Today, I’d like to share some of these principles from my personal experience. This is simply a way for me to communicate to you some of the things that I have seen work in a Biblical entrepreneurship environment, and to give you access to some of the principles of Biblical entrepreneurship that I have been exposed to.
#1: Don’t Limit God
If I could just put a massively outrageous emphasis on that heading, I would. This deserves like a Godzilla-in-Tokyo-plus-fireworks kind of entrance right here. This was a huge principle that I was truly blessed to see unfold in the heart of this Christian business.
This concept is based on not setting the limits on God. Realistically, the only one that limits God is us. Again, think of Moses in the story of Exodus 3 & 4. Moses said to God, “please send someone else”, even though God knew exactly what He was doing when He called Moses. Moses explained that he’s not good at speaking, that people won’t believe him, and that he doesn’t want to be the one to go tell Pharaoh to let God’s people go (Exodus 4:1-16).
Moses set a cap on himself. By doing that, he was also setting a cap on God and what God could do through him. I think we do this all the time to ourselves. Yet, one of the most fundamental principles of Biblical entrepreneurship that we employed at this office was “Don’t Limit God” – and part of that was “don’t limit you”!
Taking the limits off God looks like this: surrendering oneself to the will of God and letting Him know with all of who you are that you want to take this thing to the next level – and you are willing to do whatever He wants to do to get [you] there. This is a bit of a leap sometimes because we often become super comfortable in just remaining where we are, but I think God is constantly calling us to “go” and to “do”. You must recognize yourself, as a Biblical entrepreneur, as someone who is still spreading the gospel in the marketplace. You are, in many senses of it, called to be in missions when you dive into the marketplace of Biblical entrepreneurship. That’s why these principles of Biblical entrepreneurship are so important! Because you’re walking into a missions field. Do you want to walk in with no limits, or do you want to walk in with your hands tied behind you & blindfolded? That’s the difference between limiting God and not limiting God. You can ponder that one in your free time.
What I saw take place at this business was remarkable. We surrendered as a staff to the will of God and agreed collectively that we wanted to press forward into the fullness of what He had for our marketplace ministry. We were ready to go, and we wanted to do this God’s way; all the way to the maximum. Volume on 11.
Long story short, we saw God pour out miraculous favor onto our office in a time when everyone else was shutting down. We saw more patients, hit higher goals, and even hired more staff during a time when most small businesses were shutting their doors and being forced to close. God’s Spirit was with us, and we recognized that. That doesn’t make us more special in God’s eyes – it was just the natural result of us surrendering our will and taking this thing up a few notches. We were ready to follow the pillar.
Faith
Tying into our unleashing the Spirit of God in our office, we really allowed our faith to latch on to some pretty big things. We believed that God wanted to establish us as a powerful statement in our city & our community. We believed that He had bigger plans for this business than we even knew (which, He has since confirmed & revealed to a magnitude we never would have expected), and we wanted in on that. We chose to say, “God, I believe you” – both as a whole office and as individuals working together in the body of Christ. This was a fundamental truth when it came to our principles of Biblical entrepreneurship as an office. We had to latch ourselves onto the promises of God (yeah, baby! By faith!) and ride that thing out into the deep water. That was a lot of fun. Kind of like windsurfing on a rough sea. (Something I’ve never done…).
#2: Establish Your Prayer Team
This concept of a prayer team was something a little newer in our arsenal as an office, but let me tell you, it made a whole world of difference. When it comes to establishing your own principles of Biblical entrepreneurship, I would greatly encourage you to get together with a prayer team. Get some people together that can & will commit to praying for you and your business daily. This isn’t like saying “Um, I think my mom prays for me every day” – this is like saying “hey, we need some real spittin’ warriors down on the field for us that are willing to get their hands dirty”. These need to be individuals that the Spirit of God leads you to in your life. I highly doubt they will be random strangers, so pray to God and ask Him to highlight who these people should be. These are spiritually mature individuals that will be directing the course of your mission. Through their prayers, you will be able to navigate clear & calm seas instead of battling wave after wave of opposition all the time.
Waves
It is important to note that even with a prayer team, waves will come; but the prayer team is your boots-on-the-ground squad that digs their heels into the trenches and battles spiritual forces on the daily basis for you. That’s a powerful position to be in! You think the devil wants you to have a successful venture in the marketplace as a Christian? No! Absolutely not. This is why a prayer team is so important: you are taking ground back from the enemy. To do that, you need warriors. So, rally the troops.
Since we implemented a prayer team at this office, we saw a lot of things straighten out. Government regulations that were being unfairly imposed on us, warfare from within the office, and external commotion being pushed into our doors were all consistently removed from our path and taken care of. We credit this to God, but also to the effectiveness of our prayer team. Therefore, this became a vital implementation for our Biblical entrepreneurs in leadership as they saw the results come firsthand.
Now, I couldn’t imagine the business being supported any other way! Though I am no longer employed there, I remain on their prayer team for daily spiritual support.
#3: It’s Not Textbook
Finally, a still-standing principle of Biblical entrepreneurship is this: it’s not textbook. There is no cut-and-clear way to do this, but there are many principles of Biblical entrepreneurship that I have personally implemented, that The Stone Table has implemented, and that other Biblical entrepreneurs around the world have also implemented.
Something we must be willing to do to succeed here is to keep a loose grip on things. We must be willing to run by some rules that God doesn’t always write down for us. There are a lot of things that we can do on the organizational front, but God doesn’t always have the same plan for us (despite us often creating an exhaustive list of things for Him to do on our behalf). It’s not textbook. Be willing to stretch, to move, and to change your angle when He says to do it. Being adaptable in the marketplace is an essential mark of any successful entrepreneur, so it should be even more so for a Biblical one.
Summary
To recap, we established a few new principles of Biblical entrepreneurship.
- Don’t Limit God
- Establish Your Prayer Team
- It’s Not Textbook
Right now, there are dozens of principles of Biblical entrepreneurship in the Bible, just waiting to be explored. There are many on this site as well. But the most important question you must ask yourself right now is this, “which one is God calling me to?”
From the bottom of my heart, I hope that this has edified, encouraged, and challenged you. Let’s be the kind of Biblical entrepreneurs that are willing to press into God’s will and follow Him wherever He leads us.
