What Makes a Business a Kingdom Business?
“First and foremost, pursue God’s Kingdom and His ways of being and doing, then everything else will be provided abundantly.”
-Jesus Christ
If you love Jesus and have a passion for your business, you will want to read this article carefully because I'm going to provide some much-needed clarity on how your business fits into the purpose of God's Kingdom and what makes your Kingdom Business a “Kingdom Company”.
But first, why is this important?
Earlier this year, God began to reveal to me a declaration of His favor over His people in business. He described that This Declaration would release an undeniable demonstration of His superior wisdom and power in a way which will cause the rest of the world to make one of two choices: humble repentance or prideful rebellion.
This is amazing! To be clear, the declaration is for His purposes not our own. And right now, from our limited perspective, there appears to be very little distinguishable difference between what makes our businesses ours and what makes a business His business—a Kingdom Business.
As Jesus’ Body, we know what it means to give our lives to God—right? We know what it means to give our marriage to God, dedicate our children to God, and give our money to God too.
“But what does it mean to give a business to God?”
I've studied biblical business, faith in business, heaven in business, kingdom business, and all kinds of phrases others have used for over twelve years. That study began with Biblical Entrepreneurship by Patrice Tsaguee in 2012 and has expanded over the last 10 years. I've taught the courses, read the books, and attended the conferences all about integrating our faith in business.
That said, you may be able to imagine my surprise in December 2021 when I sensed God saying, "David, I want you to use Public Benefit Corporation legislation (PBC or B-Corp) to legally give Growthpoint Coaching Company to My Kingdom." He wasn't asking me to do it privately; He was asking me to do it publicly through a process other business owners could follow.
That request from God and my willingness to say “Yes” became a year-long process which challenged my integrity, my beliefs, and everything I thought about business, best practices, and God's Kingdom purpose in business which belongs to Him.
There is no way I can download everything I've learned in a simple blog post, so in today's article I just want to provide Three Simple Takeaways:
1. One clear distinction on what a Kingdom Company is NOT,
2. Three core principles to guide business on a path to become Kingdom Companies,
3. The best way to get more information on what a Public Benefit Corporation is and how to use it to give your business to God to advance His Kingdom.
Ready? Let's go!
1. One Clear Distinction: What A Kingdom Company is NOT
To be clear, when I describe a Kingdom Company, I am NOT talking about businesses which contribute money to churches, ministries, or missionaries. What I'm describing is far more costly.
While living in Dayton, Ohio, I invested close to four years helping pastors of churches engage and equip the founders, entrepreneurs, and business leaders of my city to see their businesses as important work in God's Kingdom. The business community was desperately hungry for this transformation. But, most pastors I spoke with could not or would not see it. One pastor told me the businessmen in his church help its ministry with "budget planning and financial stewardship projects."
Please hear me—if you have a love for Jesus and a passion for business, your business is not some sort of "religious money-laundering operation" where it’s your job to sit on a barrier between the world and the Kingdom to turn evil money over to holy hands for doing ministry. Not at all!
What “your business is now” can become a partnership with God to advance His Kingdom in personal, practical, life-transforming ways, not just a financial transaction to the non-profit institutions we call “church”.
After all—is it really God’s plan to “send money around the world to proclaim the gospel” when your own team doesn't know about God's Kingdom or the Love of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Business is one of THE methods all kingdoms have used over the centuries to advance both their agendas and territories. Jesus has a unique purpose and role for your business in His Kingdom.
If you're still with me, let's explore Three Core Principles I have discovered that move your business into the category of a Kingdom Company.
2. Three Core Principles
First, A Kingdom Company is Led by The King
The MOST Important Distinction between every other business and a Kingdom Company is found in The Company's Leadership. It’s a transaction of Control (hint: that likely involves you 😁).
A Kingdom Company is lead from intentional commitment to spend time with King Jesus: to hear from the King… to be led by the King… and to operate in submission to the King.
Giving controlling company ownership to King Jesus MUST start with an investment of time spent with Him. Your investment must be large enough for you to come to the end of your agenda and begin to receive His agenda in, around, for, and through your partnership in His business.
I call this The Work of Rest which deserves an entire book on its own. For me, the work of rest looks like spending the first 10% of my day seeking to hear from and receive from Jesus (yes, that's 10% of 24 or 2.4 hours). Worship, prayer, scripture, meditation, journaling, and deep thought are all aspects of this time, but the goal is always to come to the end of myself and my agenda, so I can receive Him, His agenda, and His resources.
Second, A Kingdom Company Has Made The Kingdom Its Priority Pursuit
The list of pursuits and purposes surrounding our businesses can be overwhelming: profitability, productivity, innovation, growth, excellence, taxes, leadership, marketing, market share, wallet share, mind share, customer experience, etc. Choosing FIRST PRIORITY is wise.
Kingdom Companies are different—Their one clear blatantly obvious PRIORITY is The Kingdom.
Jesus could have told His followers to pursue anything, but He gave only two: First, seek God’s Kingdom and His way of being and doing. In fact, the ONLY time this word (seek) pursue was used to instruct us is in this command.
If you want to give your company to Jesus, His Kingdom must be the first, foremost, and highest priority in the company which is His and which He partners with you to lead.
Third, A Kingdom Company Cultivates the Culture of the Kingdom
At the core of every people group or organization (driving all results they experience) are two influential factors which have captured my fascination for over 10 years: the powers of Story and Culture. I've studied them, read books on them, and done all kinds of tests and experiments around the powers of Story and Culture. This third core principle could produce several books in and of itself—but here is my shot at shrinking Kingdom Culture down to a few paragraphs:
In its simplest form, Culture is a common collection of values and beliefs held by a group of people.
For example, a group who values urgency will tend to decide quickly, act quickly, and get things done quickly, in contrast to another group who values perfection which acts cautiously and often slowly.
A leader who wants faster decisions and urgent behavior has two options: foolishly address surface level behavior by brute force through rules and regulations, metrics, and unreasonable expectations OR intentionally cultivate a culture of urgency by choosing to value and reward urgent behavior and performance.
When it comes to God’s Kingdom, the Bible is the manual of His Kingdom Culture. The Bible teaches us the Values and Protocols in God’s Kingdom through ten principles in Ten Commandments and countless stories. When those principles were not followed by God's people, they were replaced by an overwhelming number of confusing rules, regulations, rituals, and religious activities which were absolutely impossible to remember, let alone obey.
For our good and sanity, Jesus brought the entire Bible back to simplicity: Love God. Love People.
At the core of every Kingdom Company Culture are these two values: Love God well. Love people well.
NOTE: To have a culture of loving people, you must value accountability and responsibility equally as much as forgiveness, mercy, and grace. If you ignore the former and just demonstrate softer acts of love you will create a culture of passivity and entitlement. Jesus does not do this for us and we cannot do this to our people. This is REAL and quickly becomes very practical to the day-to-day operations of Christ’s company.
Kingdom-First Business Daily Standard Operating Procedures
So, what does Kingdom Business really look like when we prioritize all the practical things we do as a Company?
Well, as the Body and Bride of Christ and as Co-Heirs with Him, we have a tremendous amount of freedom in WHAT we do and HOW we do it. Our WHY—our Kingdom Purpose is in place every moment of every day to motivate, direct, and advance the Message Jesus gave and the Mission He began.
What was and still is Jesus’ Message and Mission today?
Everything Jesus said and did was to accomplish two things: First—to reveal the heart of the Father in Heaven and second—to reveal His Kingdom.
So, when it comes to our business partnership with God, no matter how much creative expression and innovation we add, the purpose of a business in God's Kingdom will look like its King’s purposes: To reveal the Heart of the Father and to reveal the Kingdom of God.
As entrepreneurs and pioneers, we get to play the fun-tastic role of expressing His purposes throughout everything we do in His Business.
And this looks more down-to-earth, rational, and wise than we think…
In God’s consulting company I teach businesses there are only Five Things Companies Need to Get Right and Do Well to CREATE GROWTH:
Attract attention to their products and service (that’s marketing)
Convert attention to a sale (that’s sales)
Deliver results promised in the sale (that’s operations)
Steward resources that come from the sale (that’s accounting)
Empower teams to serve more clients (that’s leadership & HR)
All companies which do those 5 things well CREATE GROWTH.
Beyond that, a company turns those five activities into systems which work without the owner or founder's time or effort. They will create sustainable growth and likely be able to build a world-class company.
But God’s intention is to take the Business of His Companies beyond world-class and create Kingdom Class Companies!
Please understand, I am not sharing the 5 Systems of Growth or the 5 Activities as a commercial for a coaching company, even though we’re very good at helping owners create the Freedom & Profit they really want from their companies.
I share this because, when God told me to give my company to Him and His Kingdom, this was the framework I had to work with in my mind. From the framework of these 5 activities and 5 systems I began to re-imagine what a company might look like “lead by a leader being led by the King” in the pursuit of the Kingdom and cultivating a Kingdom Culture.
What I determined was that, if the purpose of a Kingdom Company is to further reveal the Kingdom of God on the earth and the heart of the Father, then each system of growth should stand on its own in total alignment with accomplishing this purpose.
As the owner of my company, I worked hard to do the deep work necessary to make sure each of the 5 Systems of Growth were done in a way that directly honored the purpose of the King: to reveal the Kingdom of God and the heart of the Father.
Make no mistake, this is not a simple or easy task. It means asking two deep questions,
1. How does my Marketing/Sales/Operations/Accounting/Leadership practically reveal the Kingdom of God?
2. How does my Marketing/Sales/Operations/Accounting/Leadership practically reveal the heart of the Father?
When you start asking these two questions question about your company’s day-to-day business practices, you’ve started the journey to travel beyond world-class to build a Kingdom-Class Company.
The Future of the Marketplace in the Kingdom...
I began this article with a profound revelation: God's impending declaration of favor upon His people in business. This isn't about the prosperity gospel or personal gain. This declaration serves the higher purpose of the King and His Kingdom, and it demands a significant commitment.
It's far simpler to donate to a church and label one's business as "Christian." Truly aligning your business with the heart of the Father and letting the principles of His Kingdom deeply influence daily operations is a challenge of another magnitude.
When you genuinely surrender both yourself and your business to Jesus’ leadership, you embrace an act of ultimate sacrifice. The direction He chooses might not always align with your pre-set business plans.
In 2022, after I dedicated Growthpoint Coaching Company to His Kingdom, I anticipated a wave of blessings. Contrary to my expectations, business revenue immediately began to shrink. In a matter of six months the entire company had faded away and I was surviving off of savings, Jesus presented a new direction for me. He wanted me to relinquish the leadership & legal equity of the business—to give it away.
Obedience cost me everything I had spent years building and shortly thereafter repaid it back in multiples.
Within 60 days, my financial prospects transformed. From leading a struggling coaching company, I found myself working with the largest consulting firm in North America. In every engagement I was assigned, the client wrote a review that I was sent by God as an answer to their prayer—a timely intervention by Jesus.
Such divine favor, although exhilarating, comes at a price: surrendering everything. As I sit back today, appreciating the blessings God has given, I continue to bring myself to a willingness to yield and sacrifice them all for His greater purpose: to reveal His Kingdom and the heart of the Father.
Transitioning your enterprise from being a "Christian business" to a vessel of the Kingdom of God demands surrender. It's not just about ownership; it's about stewardship for the Kingdom of God.
If you’re being called to give your company to Jesus, you’re being called up higher from the title of Owner to the title of Christ’s Executive Officer (CEO) to lead His company out of the world’s ways of business and into the Culture and Protocols of the Kingdom of God.
There are significant, practical, and fundamental differences to operating a business in God’s economy and Kingdom, but it starts with the foundation I’ve outlined here in this article. If you want more information, more training, or just another leader to talk to, please don’t hesitate to reach out at http://TheDavidRobertson.com/connect. I’ve dedicated my entire life to helping leaders companies move their company from the World to the Kingdom of God.
