At some point, most of us who own or lead companies take time to identify our Core Business Elements (CBEs). CBEs include things like mission, core values, marketplace strategy, annual goals. One important CBE to clarify is purpose. This leads us to consider questions like these:

• Why am I in business?
• What is my business trying to achieve?
• Why should I have my own business rather than getting a job working for someone else?
• Does God have a purpose for my business? …Or do I choose my own?

It’s easy for us to be swept along by the world around us (or the temptations within us) and have answers like these:

• I’m in business to make a lot of money.
• I’m in business because working for someone else is undesirable.
• I’m in business because I like being in charge.
• I’m in business because I enjoy being respected.

How should a Christian think about this question of purpose? As I continue to learn, there are some important lessons from the book of Genesis in the Bible that apply to this question. (At this point, you may want to get out your Bible and read Genesis 1.)

In the first verses, God “works” to create the heavens, earth, and living things. (Gen 1:1-25)
Immediately after this “work”, God creates mankind “in His own image” (Gen 1:26)
Immediately after creating us “in His own image,” God commands us to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)

It seems clear to me that God intended us to use the “image-of-God” abilities He gave us to fulfil this command. We are to use the resources of the earth He made to make the world a better and better environment for human fruitfulness and thriving. It seems to me that this summarizes where business fits into God’s plan.

Christian business owners should be able to say: “My purpose in business is to engage the image-of-God abilities in my team-members and work together to contribute to human flourishing. I do so by… (fill-in-the-blank with your product/service)”

In closing, here’s a quote from Pat Lencioni, whose Christian Worldview I appreciate: “So how does an organization go about figuring out why it exists? It starts by asking this question: ‘How do we contribute to a better world?'” (The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni (Josey Bass, 2012) p. 85)