church as a business

So I am sure most of us have either worked in the business world or known those who do. Everything is about margins, the profit to loss margin, what is our bottom line looking like and so on. You look at stocks, stock market, your target market and competitors and see how you are doing. Many presidents, vice-presidents, board of directors and CEO's of large companies crunch numbers 24/7 all year round. They look for patterns of gain and loss, try to cut out the things that aren't needed and move on. In their minds they are saving a business, but really without realizing it they are putting others first. They are fighting for the prosperity of the company and there are sometimes thousands of employees that depend on their decisions. It's called a business, and it is all about investments.
In church, there are investments, but unfortunately some churches still look at it from a business standpoint. Do not get me wrong, I view the business end of it like paying bills, payroll and offerings as extremely important. But, there is a far greater investment to be made. Sometimes in the business world you have to spend money to make money. You have to invest in new machinery, new employees and such to provide for making more money. The church is the same, sometimes you have to invest in things like vans, buses, new buildings, renovations and such to provide for your future growth. There is no profit to loss formula for the net gain of spending money on something that will assist in leading a lost person to Christ or discipling someone who was formerly unchurched. THere is no way to do it.
Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Phil 2:4).
Here Paul tells us how to look at things. I believe in asking myself when I do things what part of this is helping me reach the kingdom for Christ. Eating lunch at a school, going to basketball games and wrestling matches, visiting the sick in the hospital, making house visits, typing a blog, preaching on Sunday morning. I can honestly say that there is not one of those things I do because it is part of my job, or my pay, but because it opens the doors for reaching the lost. If we can spend money on making something nicer that will attract someone who is unsaved into our flock, I am all for it. If we can take more teenagers on a trip because of an investment, if it is feasible then by all means lets do it.
The interest of others we should look at as a church is the lost, the unchurched and the outstretched arms of CHrist. That is our interest, what is this program, investment, expense going to do to help Freedom Baptist CHurch reach this community for Christ? That is our bottom line, if it can save a soul, then by all means let's go for it.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!