How the Church fails Business people - and what can be done about it

Author John C Knapp argues that, by and large, the Church has nothing to offer the woman who wonders what Sunday worship has to do with her hard hours as a hotel housekeeper. Church leaders unconsciously devalue ‘secular’ work and make it difficult for men and women like her to find support, encouragement and guidance in their faith community.

Relating Sunday worship to weekday work

Says the book’s author, John C Knapp, “I have known countless believers who say the church does little or nothing to equip them for faithful living in the settings where they spend most of their waking hours and productive years.”

His response to this situation is ‘How the Church Fails Businesspeople’ which incorporates real-life anecdotes and examples, many drawn from interviews with 230 Christians actively seeking to bridge the gap between their Sunday church and weekday work.

Serving God in the commercial and vocational

The book offers a new framework for Christian life in the workplace with a look at some promising models of faith-at-work ministry. It is time, he says for the Church to come to grips with its neglected responsibilities and close the dangerous chasm between the worlds of faith and work.

'How the Church Fails Businesspeople' looks at the accepted hierarchy of professions that divide those with a church recognised ‘vocation’ from the vast majority who just have ‘jobs’. He argues that full-time clergy and missionaries are seen as having the top vocations.

Bridging the gap between faith and work

Paid workers in Christian ministry with jobs seen as genuine callings are often validated by ordination ceremonies and commissioning rituals. Below them are the so-called caring professions such as social workers, nurses and the like whose work matches the church’s priorities.

The vast majority of Christians don’t have ‘vocations’. They are the office staff, business owners, skilled workers, sales executives, legal advisers, accountants and countless full and part time employees in the world of commerce and industry.

Honouring God in the world of business

'How the Church Fails Businesspeople' shows that when the church elevates an elite, while subtly devaluing the rest of the body of Christ, the consequences for the gospel and for individual believers can be disastrous.

John C Knapp addresses how church leaders can minister to those not employed in pastoral or caring professions: how to reassure them that the work of businesspeople can be pleasing to and glorify God, that lawyers can feel the Holy Spirit and sales managers can show the love of Christ.

Author Snapshot: Dr John C. Knapp

Dr John C. Knapp is founding director of the Frances Marlin Mann Centre for Ethics and Leadership at Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama.  Before joining Samford, Dr Knapp was Professor and Director of the Centre for Ethics and Corporate Responsibility at Georgia State University. With his doctorate from the University of Wales, UK, he has written extensively on the ethics of leadership, real-world perspectives on business and the business of higher education.

February 23rd, 2012 - Posted & Written by Les Ellison

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