The Good

So, you are a small business owner, part of the 33 million throughout America today who support and have influence over 62 million employees. You faithfully go to a good Bible-believing church every Sunday as well as your mid-week Bible study. You contribute to worthy causes, help with childcare, volunteer your time on the finance committee, and set up tables for Sunday brunch. You pray, read God’s Word, and try to raise your family in a Christ-centered environment. Your friends are all Christians because those are the people who fit your worldview.

The Bad

You keep your Christian views to yourself because you want your employees and customers to “like you” … it’s good for business. Your hope is that by “being a good person” they will figure out that you are a Christian and will get saved as a result … or something like that. After 15 years of listening to sermons, Sunday School, and Bible studies, you really don’t want to engage anyone in a “spiritual conversation” because you are not sure if you can answer all their questions. You see the weight of evangelism on your shoulders and are too busy and fearful of “getting tangled up in all that.”

The Opportunity

Each of the sentences directly above could be attached to multiple Bible verses in challenging the false comfort you feel that Lifestyle Evangelism is what God is calling you to do. However, as you read this, if you don’t recognize the dichotomy in your own heart, a list of verses will likely have no impact on your worldview.

Lifestyle Evangelism – “is an evangelism strategy that focuses on living a holy, winsome life among unbelievers with the goal of attracting people to the message of Jesus Christ” (details here).

There is nothing inherently wrong with this initial approach to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ, however, it is woefully short of what the Lord has called us to do.

As a small business owner, you have a platform to do more than be a good person because of your faith.

An Example of Evangelism through the Workplace

The image above is a card I received yesterday in the mail when ordering replacement lawn mower blades from Amazon. On the front side of the card is an advertisement from the company. However, when I turned the card over, the back side was a list of Scripture verses directed toward salvation through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Imagine the courage of a small business owner sending out lawn mower parts with such a blatant Biblical Christian message. What about Muslims receiving the order, or Jews, or, worst case, atheists and agnostics? How confrontational. How discriminatory. How bigoted, narrow-minded, intolerant, prejudiced, old-fashioned, and biased.

Who is in control of your success in the marketplace? Is it strictly your efforts or does God have a hand in the formula? Setting aside the prosperity gospel (which is anti-Christian), remember that it is the Lord that owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He is the one that tells us to expect persecution and that He will never leave nor forsake us.

Other Suggestions on Workplace Evangelism

As a small business owner there are many ways you can express your Biblical Christian worldview less dramatically than sending out Scripture verses to your customers. Consider …

Offering a weekly Bible study during the lunch break.

Put a Bible and/or other Christian material in the reception area.

Open meetings in prayer.

Establish a Mission Statement or Corporate Vision that has a Christian component.

Hire a ministry like Corporate Chaplains of America (details here) to care for your employees.

There is nothing wrong (or illegal) with expressing your faith overtly in the workplace. In fact, if serving Christ is your heart’s desire, to ignore opportunities you have beyond the bounds of your cloistered church life is the sin of omission (James 4:17).

Matthew 10:33 – But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.