I've heard that the Amish have a saying, "Work is worship." Myself, I learned a lot about this working for two managers in a franchise outfit that I ran into in my last year of college. Both considered themselves "Christian businessmen." But the first one thought that being a Christian in business was about how he treated his customers and his employees. And he was highly regarded by both. The second, who I served as assistant manager, thought that being a Christian businessman meant going to all of the meetings of the CBMC. He ended up being a bigwig in their state organization. But I learned, in a year working for him, that neither his customers nor his employees had much respect for him.
In 47 years of self-employment, in two different lines of business, I have tried to follow the first example. Some of my customers did figure out I was a Christian; I think they appreciated that I didn't try to use it for marketing. I never had any fish emblems or other Christian symbols on my work truck; but I tried to do the best job I could for my customers.
I also grew up in churches where being in "ministry" was a status division--when I was in high school, those of us who were planning to go to Bible college outranked those who weren't. I went to the old Cincinnati Bible College, (later renamed Cincinnati Christian University, closed their doors in 2019). My degree was in Christian Education. For 8 years I was part of a group of students and former students who operated a store-front mission church in a slum down the hill from the college. We didn't have any salaries; we had to support ourselves. And when I left there, I just kept operating my business.
I've heard that the Amish have a saying, "Work is worship." Myself, I learned a lot about this working for two managers in a franchise outfit that I ran into in my last year of college. Both considered themselves "Christian businessmen." But the first one thought that being a Christian in business was about how he treated his customers and his employees. And he was highly regarded by both. The second, who I served as assistant manager, thought that being a Christian businessman meant going to all of the meetings of the CBMC. He ended up being a bigwig in their state organization. But I learned, in a year working for him, that neither his customers nor his employees had much respect for him.
In 47 years of self-employment, in two different lines of business, I have tried to follow the first example. Some of my customers did figure out I was a Christian; I think they appreciated that I didn't try to use it for marketing. I never had any fish emblems or other Christian symbols on my work truck; but I tried to do the best job I could for my customers.
I also grew up in churches where being in "ministry" was a status division--when I was in high school, those of us who were planning to go to Bible college outranked those who weren't. I went to the old Cincinnati Bible College, (later renamed Cincinnati Christian University, closed their doors in 2019). My degree was in Christian Education. For 8 years I was part of a group of students and former students who operated a store-front mission church in a slum down the hill from the college. We didn't have any salaries; we had to support ourselves. And when I left there, I just kept operating my business.
And All Gods People Said AMEN!