Spread the Gospel: Start A Business

The relationship between politics and Christianity has been debated for centuries. Recently, the debate's heated up, with Christians from liberal and conservative leanings lambasting each other for betraying Jesus' mission.

Whether or not you agree with the idea that Jesus was a conservative wearing a Bush for President button, you might find it somewhat ironic that conservative groups like Pat Robertson's TV station advocates that being a capitalist is close to godliness...

While not making a direct link between being a Christian and a capitalist, the following quote from an article on Ken Eldred, who writes about business and ministry, makes that distinction so thin that it might as well disappear:

In the last 80 years, as developing nations like India, China, and Eastern bloc nations were moving toward communism or socialism as an economic model, the idea of capitalism and business became irrelevant. As a mission tool, business was no longer useful. With the end of the Cold War, nations began to realize that socialism was a dead end and moved toward capitalism. Today developing nations are asking for teachers, doctors, and businessmen to improve conditions in their countries. Ken says we need to send people who are appropriately prepared as professional missionaries and businesspeople. A strong suit in one and not the other will not be enough. As the coeditor of On Kingdom Business, Ken and other contributors included case studies of actual kingdom businesses and reviews of the case studies from both a business and a ministry perspective. Using this model of business as a tool for spreading the Gospel, the church can harness its energies to work and witness in strategic places previously unreached by the Gospel.