What Copernicus Can Teach Us About Business
What does a water hose have to do with business, faith, and the marketplace? More than you might think.
In this video, we trace the surprising history of the garden hose—from its invention in 1673 by Dutch innovator Jan van der Heyden, to its modern-day uses in our backyards—and show how it actually points to a deeper truth about God’s design for work and business. Just like a hose was created to carry life-giving water from the source to where it’s needed, business was designed to channel God’s blessing into the world.
Unfortunately, much like a kinked hose, sin twisted that original design. Business became associated with greed, exploitation, and self-interest rather than flourishing, service, and worship. For many, the marketplace feels like a battlefield of thorns and thistles rather than the garden God intended. But what if business was never meant to be a “necessary evil”? What if it was part of God’s good creation all along?
By looking at the grand narrative of Scripture—Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration—we can reframe how we see work, economics, and everyday business. From Genesis 1 and 2, where humanity is called to cultivate and care for the earth, to Genesis 3, where sin fractures work, all the way to Isaiah 65 and Revelation 21, where restored creation includes culture, commerce, and community—we discover that business is not excluded from God’s story. It’s central to it.
This video challenges us to have our own “Copernican revolution” in how we think about work. Instead of putting ourselves at the center of the marketplace—focused only on profit, power, or personal gain—we’re invited to step into God’s greater story. In His story, business becomes sacred again: a way to worship, to serve, to create, and to bless others.
When we run businesses with integrity, when we treat employees with dignity, when we serve customers with excellence, and when we use our skills to create beauty and value, we offer a foretaste of the coming kingdom. Business doesn’t belong to Wall Street, capitalism, or any human system—it belongs to God.
So here’s the big idea: Business is not dirty. It’s not secular. It’s sacred. And in gospel-shaped hands, it can once again be a channel of life, like the hose was always meant to be.
Erik Cooper
Erik began his career in the business world before spending twelve years in full-time ministry, serving on staff at a large suburban church and later as a church planter in downtown Indianapolis. Today, he serves as the President of a family of business-oriented nonprofit organizations that work together to mobilize the marketplace to make Jesus known in the world. He leads The Stone Table, which equips marketplace believers and invests in global mission initiatives, and Community Reinvestment Foundation, a nonprofit real estate company providing high-quality affordable housing in Indiana and directing its profits to missions through The Stone Table.
