I was in the business world for about the first 20 years of my adult life and for the majority of that I was not a Christian. When I became a Christian I was sold on following God’s plan for my life. As it turns out God’s plans included business. I went back to school to earn my Masters in Community Counseling and have opened a Christian Coaching and Counseling practice!
I spent the first 5 years of my practice learning to be a strong faith-based coach and counselor. Part of the learning process was how I would build my practice with a strong foundation of my Christian values. The success I had previously achieved in business were a product of the company’s values, not necessarily Christian values. I would find myself acting on automatic pilot and then stop suddenly and say “Does this honor God?” At other times I would contort my view of Christian values to the point that I sometimes couldn’t find the assertive, prudent, business person I used to be. I guess I was just mixed up.
I personally began to wade through the question “What does a business foundation of Christian values look like?” As I navigated these crossroads myself, I saw clients flounder over similar issues and began to see most of our conceptions as myths. I can categorize them as a myth because they were not just isolated incidents. I began to hear the same concerns repeated over and over again.
During these developmental years of my business and practice, myself and my clients have proven many of our concerns to be just that – myths. I want to share these with other Christian business owners in hopes that you will not fall captive to these same MIS-CONCEPTIONS. If you already have, my prayer is that a new light will be shone on these myths and that you too will learn how building a business based upon your Christian values can be your strength and point of difference. And I hope you will become one of the many Christian businesses that will be a light in a world that only measures success based on dollars and doesn’t believe that you can achieve traditional success with a foundation of faith and Christian values.
I hope you will share this Manifesto with your staff and other Christian business owners in your community!
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