The Integrated life

What if we could resolve the exhausting struggle between work, family, and spiritual life? What if we recognized a dep connection between faith and business? What if we could see our everyday work as ministry that has spiritual value? and What if God were even involved as an everyday partner in our work?

Experience the Integrated Life...

Ken Eldred, in his new book

The Integrated Life

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Kingdom business is purpose-driven business

Kingdom business is purpose-driven business. It is business pursued with a goal of achieving spiritual, economic and social transformation in individuals and nations.


Dr. David Yonggi Cho, from the forward of God is at Work, by Ken Eldridge

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Top Three Business as Mission Documents

I.
God is at Work by Ken Eldred

This is a book about kingdom business, the effort to promote Christian faith and commerce through profitable business. It recognizes and describes the fundamental connection between spiritual transformation and economic transformation. By mobilizing its business people, the church has a unique opportunity to make an impact in developing nations. While secular development efforts focus solely on economic objectives, kingdom business recognizes that successful commerce, which improves a nation, requires a biblical moral-cultural foundation.

-Regent Center for Entrepreneurship

II.
Luassane Occasional Paper 59, Business as Mission

This document clarifies what Business as Mission is, and what it is not, This is a must read, as it was a set of standards set up by a working group of passionate Practitioners in 2005.

III.
Business as Mission: The Power of Business in the Kingdom of God  by  Michale R. Baer

If God has called us into business, our goal is to discover why and act on that purpose. As we do so, God's creation will be blessed, and He will be glorified." - Michael Baer

This book is a great read! According to this book, there are four characteristics of a kingdom business:

1. A kingdom business is vocational; something that God has called us to do.
Col. 1:16-20, Eph 4:1, Rom 12:1-2

2. A kingdom business is intentional; God has a very specific purpose for each business.
Eph 2:10

3. A kingdom business is relational; we are exposed to a vast network through business and God wants these relationships to be valued.
Mark 12:30-31

4. A kingdom business is operational; operations must honors and reflect God.
1 Cor. 10:31

Baer suggests establishing a kingdom business by doing the following:

1. Create a kingdom foundation
Write out what you believe about: profit, people, growth, service or quality, productivity and innovation. Examples:
- We will always seek mutually beneficial outcomes in all that we do.
- We will operate in a fiscally responsible manner.
- We will maintain the priorities of family and friendship.
- We will endeavor to find the maximum enjoyment in whatever we do.
- We will seek continual learning and improvement so that what is done is done well and with full commitment.
- We will live lives that invite inquiry.

2. Articulate a kingdom direction
Vision: broad, expansive statement of the general direction in which company is headed.
Mission: a narrower definition of your vision - or your vision with metrics.
Purpose: the expression of what you believe God has as his specific will for your company.

3. Identify kingdom targets and objectives
Target: a three year goal for your business.
Objective: a one year goal.
For example: revenues, expansion, staffing, profitability, ministry and missions.

4. Focus on a few pivotal strategies
For example: execute marketing/business plan, etc.

5. Draft and assign quarterly action items
Break down your plan into a list of 10 or fewer action items

6. Schedule regular accountability

-Review on Amazon

Related topics but not the same as Kingdom Business are:

-Tentmaking
-Church Planting with a partially supporting business
-Business activity built around a ministry.
-A church or parachurch ministry that survives primaily through ongoing donations.
-Social Entrepreneurs
-Ethical Enterprise


-Great Commision Companies are one type, a subset of Kingdom Businesses

There  are about 2 dozen books out there, but these three guys get it.









LeeRoyal

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What Roles do Business as Mission ( BAM ) Leaders Play?

• Justin Forman has just written an excerpt Ken Eldred's God is at Work book in the Business as Mission Network Newsletter. If you are just now exploring BAM, It takes us to the next level:
  
  Now that I get Business as Mission, who is doing it, what roles do they play, and where are they serving?

He identifies nine roles:

• Founder or manager of a Kingdom business. Those with entrepreneurial or managerial skills are building and leading successful businesses in developing nations.
• Lender to the poor. Christians are extending microloans to those considered unbankable. They are also providing business and spiritual instruction to loan recipients who typically establish simple cottage industry ventures.
• Mentor and financier of Kingdom businesses. Christian business professionals are providing the necessary funding, advising and mentoring to local Christians who are establishing or operating businesses in the developing world.
• Trainer in Kingdom business. Some are training local managers in the basic skills and principles of business. These training courses typically include instruction in biblical values and principles that lead to successful business.
• Short-term consultant to Kingdom businesses. Christian professionals are engaging in short-term missions work that seek to bless business owners in developing nations.
• Expert advisor to Kingdom businesses. Western Christians with relevant business experience are using their knowledge, expertise and contact network to assist Kingdom businesses in the developing world.
• Sales partner to Kingdom businesses. Kingdom business professionals and organizations located in the First World are seeking to promote Kingdom business companies in developing nations by marketing products or establishing sales channel partnerships.
• Investor in Kingdom businesses. God has blessed some people with the financial resources to be major investors in Kingdom businesses around the world.
• Manager of Kingdom business funds. Though this role is still emerging, Kingdom business professionals can also act as private equity fund managers. Working within existing laws governing the establishment and management of investment funds, they can serve entrepreneurs, managers and investors by assisting and funding Kingdom businesses.

Get the rest of this great article in the Business as Mission Network Newsletter, and God is at Work

Ken Eldred is currently CEO of Living Stones Foundation and Chairman of the Board of Advisors of Parakletos @ Ventures. For over 20 years, Ken served as CEO of Inmac, a public company he founded. He has assisted in the founding of several other successful companies, including Ariba Technologies. Ken is involved in ventures in the US, China, Europe and India, and he advises various Kingdom business ventures and ministries. He has an MBA from Stanford and was a Visiting Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution.

Ken is the co editor of On Kingdom Business, winner of a 2004 Christianity Today Book Award. Ken and his wife, Roberta, have three sons and spend their time in Northern California and Colorado.

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