I believe that a Christian has a better chance of owning and running a Christianity-based business if it is a small business. I will give you some of my reasons for thinking this way a little farther down the page. But first, let's ask ourselves, "What is a small business?" The U.S. government loosely defines a business as a small business if it has 500 or fewer employees. I believe they say this because they are comparing these businesses to large corporations, many of them with production facilities and/or professional or marketing offices in many countries. It is not uncommon for those corporations to have thousands of employees.
It's possible to have a rather large operation, especially in agriculture, with fewer than 500 employees, but, once again, these large farming operations are small compared to multinational corporations. Businesses that I really like would be considered real small by today's standards. These include businesses such as local restaurants, bakeries, deli's, auto repair shops, specialty book stores, bicycle shops, gift shops, farmers markets and small grocery chains.
I have worked for and consulted with small and large companies. In general, I know how they think and operate. Factors that I believe are important in running a successful small Christian business are personal contact with a lot of people in neighborhoods and communities, having an offering of goods or services that are in good demand on a local basis, having customers who appreciate top quality goods and services, being located in an area that is stable or growing and knowing a lot about the local competition and the industry.
These are the factors that will enable a Christian businessperson to have more influence on a local basis than some small businesses would have that have very little contact with the public. Even many chain restaurants operate as local businesses within the umbrella company, because they hire local managers, hire local workers and sometimes alter menus, etc., to suit local demands. I've been in places before long enough to get to know some chain restaurant managers, and they usually offered me a free cup of coffee when I would go in for breakfast and seemed to enjoy talking a little about what is going on in town or the area.
Large companies (most of them large corporations), in general, are much more impersonal when it comes to contact with the general public. Even people like desk clerks for car rental agencies and airlines have little opportunity to really connect with people even though they come in contact with hundreds or thousands of people each month. Also, most employees of large companies are forced to play politics within the company to keep a job or get ahead, and it is not uncommon for a large company to be ruthless in its policies and procedures in order to stay in business and grow. Does this sound like a good environment for a Christian who wants to help a lot of people?
"They" say that there are always exceptions, and that there are some good large companies out there. I say they are few and far between and do not serve the cause of millions of people around the world who would like to work for a Christian business.
I will be writing more of my thoughts on large and small businesses as we go along in this project. Meanwhile, please think about the things I have just written and ask yourself, "Is the company I work for being operated as a Christian business? Am I doing as much as I can within the opportunities I am given to connect with people and make them know that they are loved? Is this where I want to work for the next 10 or 20 years, or should I be looking for something else that will fit better with my new priorities? If so, how can I find out which businesses are really Christian businesses?"
A lot to think about. Thank you for your time and consideration. I would love to hear from you, and may God bless you.
thetan3n1project@gmail.com
tags: God the Father Jesus Christ the Son Holy Ghost Holy Spirit christian christianity Holy Bible old testament new testament free will satan the devil angels sin redemption forgiveness heaven hell lake of fire globalization multinational corporations global trade small business one world government wealth treasures control power politics religion babylon the great the global money system
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