Business as a Calling

When William Tyndale wanted to translate the Bible into English, a project that would change the course of Western history, he didn't do it alone. His most crucial supporter was Humphrey Monmouth, a wealthy cloth merchant. Monmouth didn't preach. He funded. He sheltered. He used his business and his resources to make the mission possible.

That was his calling. And it bore fruit for centuries.

In Acts 8:4, after persecution scattered the early church, those who fled "went everywhere preaching the word." These were not ordained ministers; they were merchants, tentmakers, and traders who carried the gospel with them wherever their work took them. The first great missionary expansion of the church was driven largely by marketplace people doing ordinary work.

As a Christian entrepreneur, you stand in that tradition. Your business can be a door for mission. The trust and relationships built through excellent, ethical work create natural openings to share what you believe. And it can be an enabler of mission, generating the resources and influence that support the spread of the gospel in places you may never physically go.

Dr Dennis Tongoi, a Kenyan entrepreneur, described the effect of faith on your everyday work in this way: "It's not like putting a marble in a glass of water. It's like putting a drop of ink; it changes everything." Every day, your work offers you an opportunity to bring kingdom life into your corner of the world.

You are as much in full-time ministry as your pastor. You simply have different gifts and resources for carrying it out. The Great Commission belongs to everyone who bears the name of Christ, including those in the marketplace.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. Is your primary kingdom role in the marketplace to share the gospel directly, to enable others to do so through your resources, to enable human flourishing, or all of these? How does that shape how you think about your work?
2. Over these eight days of readings, what is the one conviction you want to carry forward, and what is one step you will take in the next thirty days to act on it?

PRAYER

Lord of the harvest, thank you that you call ordinary people, merchants and makers, founders and farmers, to participate in your great mission. Please help me to see every relationship, every product, every service as an opportunity to bring your life into the world. Use my business in ways I may never fully see, for your glory and the good of the nations.

Amen.

"Called to Work" is adapted from a study guide developed by Ziwani, in partnership with Faith Driven Entrepreneur. A full study guide with discussion questions, video testimonials from African entrepreneurs, and teaching content is available at https://ziwani.com/