Sanctity of Human Life

Ministry or Business or BOTH?

by Brent Lambert

Many times over the past several years I have had conversations with other pregnancy help center directors regarding particular problems they are having inside their ministry. Far too many times these conversations are about the conflict between directors and their boards. We all know that conflict in any organization can be very harmful, if not devastating.

God has never called any Christian ministry to be "successful," but He has called them all to be faithful.

All too often differing ideas initiate the conflict. Some feel the PRC ministry should be ran like a business, others might believe you can run a business like a ministry. On the surface these two philosophies seem to approach issues from two totally different ends of the spectrum, and there is no middle ground. In reality these two philosophies need to meet, date, court and marry if we desire God's blessing in ministry.

Having been in the business world as well as servving on a church staff for several years before getting involved full-time in PRC ministry, I believe that there is a common thread that runs through this maze of uncertainty. That thread is biblical principle.

We must realize that not all business ideas can be applied to ministry. This is not because we don't want to be accountable, but because the ideas are not all biblical. For the most part, businesses will look at the impossible and say that it can't be done. If we take that approach then we will never see beyond the walls of Jericho or taste the grapes of the Promised Land.

If we, like businesses, measure success in terms of finances, then we lose the chance to have the heart of Agur in Proverbs 30:7-9. If we overlook the needs of our volunteers because of the goals to be achieved, then we are no better than the Egyptian taskmasters, and our workers will someday engage in an exodus. The bottom line is that in every area where we leave out Christ, we leave out His blessing.

Every good business principle is good not necessarily because it works, but because it was first a biblical principle. That means that it is truth; and not just truth, but God's truth. The issue is not the 'method' of running a ministry or running a business, but rather the motivation. The answer may be that we don't operate our ministries as businesses or ministry, but on the clear principles that are laid out in scripture--with a heart's desire for God to be glorified in our ministries and our lives.