Building a Resilient Business: The Power of a Christ-Centered Foundation
Thursday, August 22, 2024
When we think about constructing a business that truly reflects Christ, it’s not unlike building a house or an office. You can tweak and change many small things to make your business more Christ-like, and those efforts are valuable. However, if you really want to create a business that is deeply rooted in Christian values—a business that stands the test of time and the challenges from Satan—you have to start with the foundation.
The Foundation: Christ at the Core
Imagine you’re building a house. The most critical part of the entire structure is the foundation. If the foundation is weak, it doesn’t matter how beautifully you build the rest of the house; it will crumble when faced with adversity. In a Christian business, the foundation is God, and more specifically, Jesus Christ. Everything else is built upon this bedrock.
This isn’t just a simple shift in mindset; it’s a profound realization. This business or department you’re working on? It’s not yours. It belongs to God, and you have been chosen to steward it for a fleeting amount of time. Recognizing this puts everything in perspective: God is not just a part of the business; He is the very foundation that holds it all together.
The Soul: Connecting the Foundation to Everything Else
Once you have the foundation, the next step is to build the walls that rise from this base. These walls, in the construction of a home, are typically the basement walls or crawl space walls that support the entire structure above. In the context of your business, these walls represent the soul of the organization.
In the secular world, this might be referred to as the core of the business—your purpose, values, vision, and strategies. But in a Christ-centered business, this is the soul. Just like a person, a business has a life, and the soul is what connects what everyone sees above the ground to the foundation below. If this soul—the core of your business—is strong, well-thought-out, and aligned with Christ, the rest of the business will be sound. If it’s disjointed, unclear, or poorly constructed, the structure above will suffer.
The Structure Above: Building on a Strong Foundation and Soul
Too often, business owners and leaders start building above ground without ensuring that their structure is firmly rooted in the foundation of Christ and connected through a strong soul. This can lead to divisions within the business, where parts of the operation are disconnected from the core mission and values. For instance, you might love the customer-facing aspects of your business but view the administrative side as a necessary evil, something separate from the core mission. This creates division, making it difficult to manage effectively.
If you carefully lay the foundation of Christ and build up walls that connect this foundation with everything else you do, the rest of the business becomes much easier to manage. You will be able to see clearly when opportunities align with your core mission and when they don’t, allowing you to make decisions that keep your business strong and focused.
The Jet Plane Analogy: Building the Parts of Your Business
To build out the rest of your business, I’ve adapted an analogy from Donald Miller that likens a business to a jet plane. Each part of the plane represents a crucial aspect of your business:
The Cockpit: This is your leadership—clarity, execution, and decision-making.
The Cabin Crew: This represents your culture and team.
The Wings: These are your products or services.
Engine 1: Marketing.
Engine 2: Sales.
The Fuselage: This is your overhead and operations.
The Fuel: Cash flow, the energy that keeps everything running.
Each of these components is vital, but they must be built upon the foundation of Christ and connected through the soul of the business. If they are, your business will be strong, resilient, and capable of achieving its mission.
Conclusion: Building with Christ as the Foundation
In creating a Christ-centered business, the ideal starting point is always the foundation—Jesus Christ. However, for existing businesses, the path to transformation may require a more nuanced approach. Before you can build a new structure on the foundation of Christ, it’s essential to first assess and clearly define the current state of your business.
This involves an honest evaluation of your existing departments, their structure, and how they currently function. Whether these aspects are thriving or struggling, defining them with clarity is the first step. Think of this process as taking stock of your current building before planning a move to a new, more solid structure. This might involve making some immediate improvements—like refining your meetings, streamlining processes, or enhancing communication—to stabilize what you have now.
Once you’ve clearly defined where your business currently stands, you can begin to envision where you want it to be. This is where the foundation in Christ comes into play, along with the soul of the organization that connects that foundation to everything you do. It’s akin to moving your business from its current building into a new one, designed specifically to be rooted in Christian values.
The transformation won’t happen overnight. It requires a plan—a blueprint for gradually remodeling your business from its current state into the Christ-centered structure you’ve envisioned. By carefully aligning each department and function with this new foundation and soul, you can move your business step by step into a place where it fully reflects Christ in all its operations.
This approach acknowledges the reality that change is often a process, not an event. But with patience, dedication, and a clear vision rooted in Christ, your business can be transformed into one that not only survives but thrives, embodying Christian values in every aspect.
