In the first three parts of this article, we took a look at what it means to be a Kingdom business serving on the business mountain. We looked at the non-believer’s conventional business model and the spirit behind their motivational decisions as well as a proposed Kingdom Business Governance Model which used a biblically based apostolic and prophetic model. We also showed that the motivational spirit behind the governance, or decision making processes of the company, will determine the results that both models will obtain.
In this fourth and final part of the article, we will look at how the five spiritual offices discussed previously could be setup and overlaid onto our existing corporate organization chart to help make our company become a Kingdom-focused business that will serve the King and advance the Kingdom of Heaven in the business marketplace.
Putting it Together
If we overlay our Kingdom Business Governance Model onto our existing corporate organization structure we get a new business model that will hopefully allow us to focus on our King and our kingdom assignment on the business mountain. This is now our ekklesia with Christ as the head of the company and the governance of it upon His shoulders.
Figure 2 illustrates a possible mapping of the apostolic and prophetic leadership model onto our existing corporate functional organization structure. In the example illustrated below, we have chosen to bring in someone to head up the office of the Prophet, but we’ve mapped the other four spiritual offices to existing functional offices. We’ve also chosen to have our business intercessors assigned to this office rather than assigning them to each individual spiritual office.
Just as a corporate organizational structure grows as a company grows, our model is flexible to allow for future growth. Small companies with only three employees would look much different than a company with 300 employees. When starting out, you might not have all five spiritual offices staffed. That’s understandable. Like everything else in life, it’s more important to understand your destination, than where you are at the moment. You might start by identifying who the apostle is in your company and come together with business intercessors to pray for an understanding of your kingdom assignment and how the Lord would have you fulfill that assignment.
Keep in mind that the implementation of the spiritual offices alone will accomplish very little for your company. Our goal was not to create a new organization chart but to create a better way for the Lord to steer (governance) our business to accomplish His purposes and bring kingdom success to our lives and company.
Until we understand our kingdom assignment and are motivated by kingdom principles for success rather than mammon-bases principles, there will be very little difference between our business and our competitor’s non-believer-owned business and we shouldn’t expect results that are much different. Our new Kingdom Business Governance Model is intended to help us focus on our kingdom assignment and the King of our born-again business. Success will come as we permit Him to steer our ekklesia and permit Him to bring zoé life into our lives and the lives of everyone associated with our ekklesia.
Summary
Perhaps it’s your business that needs to become born-again. Perhaps it’s time to take off the old corporate business model which was formed in corruption and put on a new kingdom business model formed in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. The result of this “new birth” of our business should result in the type of zoé life and abundance that Jesus promised in His Word.
When your business becomes organized and governed as part of the Body of Christ with Christ as the head, then every decision you make will now be based upon His vision and mission for your company as part of His kingdom. It will no longer be based upon an internally focused Babylonian model, which is the model that the non-believing business world is using to govern and operate their businesses. Once your business becomes part of and starts operating as a kingdom business, you should then start seeing the type of success that will distinguish your business from your competitors, glorify the Lord, and make your business a sign and a wonder to the non-believer-owned businesses on your business mountain.
Governance is the act of governing or steering an organization and what a governing body does. The Kingdom Business Governance Model uses the biblically-based apostolic and prophetic leadership model to put the governance of our business on the Lord’s shoulders and establishes the five-fold spiritual offices in our company. This new kingdom business model is intended to help us clearly identify our kingdom assignment and mission on the business mountain. It will give us the infrastructure to receive course corrections from the Lord to fulfill our kingdom assignment, shape the culture of our mountain, and disciple the nations.
Most believer-owned businesses struggle to succeed on an equal par with their non-believer-owned competitor businesses. Is it possible that the reason Christian-owned businesses seem to obtain the same results that non-believer-owned businesses obtain caused in part by conducting our business the same way that the world conducts their business? Perhaps this new Kingdom Governance Business Model will help you to regroup and go back to the business mountain and take it for the Lord.
Have you dedicated your business to Him yet? Has your business died in Christ so that it can be resurrected as a new creature, one that is dedicated for His use in any way He chooses? Perhaps it’s time that you baptize your business to Him. Perhaps you might take a copy of your Articles of Incorporation, place it in a zip-locked bag, and have a baptismal ceremony with your business leaders to celebrate the death and resurrection of your new kingdom business company. Remember, whenever there is a death in Christ, there is always a resurrection to a better life.
Jeff Ahern is an author, public speaker, and former Naval Officer who has provided management consulting and business process improvement services to Fortune 500 and Government clients for over twenty years. He is co-founder of Sozo Services, Inc., a spiritual advisory firm helping business leaders succeed and achieve their personal and corporate goals by using Biblical, Spirit-led solutions.