Pastor and clergy speaking about their vocation say, “I am in God's business.” Can an entrepreneur declare the same about his vocation? According to the clergy and pastor, God must be a businessman or an Entrepreneur since they are employed in God's business. But many would shun this idea, since entrepreneurs are depicted as greedy, immoral, and cutthroat. Would this charge be true about God, if God was a businessman or Entrepreneur? George A. Paul evaluates.

Entrepreneurship; is it godly? How should we answer this? May be we should go by the maxim offered by Christ, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” John 5:19; from this we can state that whatever God does is a godly act and Christ would do it, hence we too can do it. Consequently upon examining if we were to find God acting as an entrepreneur, then entrepreneurship must be the most godly, spiritual and holy act, for us to imitate. With this logical assumption let’s move ahead in our enquiry.

Michael Novak has argued that, “the entrepreneur’s creativity is akin to God’s creative activity in the first chapter of Genesis.” One may ask; what actions of God in Genesis chapter one make God an entrepreneur? Let’s examine some of them….
 

1. God by creating the heavens and the earth was bringing in his capital investment, and in doing so brought into existence the non-existing entity. The Entrepreneur does the same, since by bringing his investment he brings into existence the non-existing organization.

1. Moreover, God while creating the universe, especially the earth used his wisdom and worked to produce a functional world, conducive for life and human habitation. Every entrepreneur just like God not only invests capital but also time, energy and wisdom. He does all this so that, his business functions well with proper coordination among various departments. Thus reflecting unity in diversity just like our triune God.

1. Furthermore, we see God of the Bible is not a deistic God, who after investing forgets about his investment. Rather He works and sustains His beautiful creation. Every successful businessman must do the same; he must not only employ and invest his capital in a market where it would grow and give him returns but he must also sustain the business and its growth.

1. All the above objectives are achieved by planning. We see God’s wisdom and planning in creating a planet which is conducive for human habitation. The Entrepreneur must do the same; he must plan by looking at the marketability of his investment. One way of doing this would be to study the market conditions through market research. By doing this an entrepreneur will identify the right needs of the market which he can satisfy for profit. If he fails do this then his capital can turn to sunk cost which he cannot retrieve.

1. Though God did all this by planning according to His wisdom. Yet, He had a potential risk of losing his creature and His creation because of mans disobedience. Nevertheless we see God creating and entrusting His creation to man. An entrepreneur takes a similar risk by establishing an organization with his investment. Subsequently he undertakes a greater risk of entrusting responsibilities to his managers with decision making power to run his business.

1. Since there was this obvious risk, God not only gave rules and regulations to follow, in the form of the moral law. He also implements it with rewards and punishments, so as to evade loss. Even an Entrepreneur implements such rules (company policies). Without such policies his business would incur loss and would lose its credibility in the market. This would be the consequence because customer, clients and other stake holders would not trust him and his unethical organization. Hence, we conclude, it is only with strong ethics and by implementing it with proper rewards and punishments an entrepreneur will succeed.

1. Additionally, God already had a contingency plan for an eventual loss. Gods plan was to credit all loss to Himself and to pass the profit to the creature (man). In doing this He himself becomes a victim and suffers the loss, so that man His creature might benefit. The entrepreneur does the same to a limited extent, though not always. The entrepreneur must have a contingency plan for eventual loss. Furthermore, he retains the employees by paying them, goes through and bears the loss himself with the hope of future profit.

1. The God of the Bible credits the loss and death to Himself, and gives life through loss and death. He salvages the loss, brings a complete turn around, and makes sure profit possible through resurrection. There by creating all things new. Moreover, because of resurrection which God would bring to pass by His power, we His creatures have hope of a glorious future. Exactly like God, an Entrepreneur bears the loss with the hope of making profit. This he does by adapting to the changing environment, technology and markets. Thus moving his organization into a new hope and a new future. Furthermore, because of this hopeful action and expectation of the entrepreneur, his employees have hope for a better future, thus avoiding situations like layoffs.

From the facts stated above about the God of the Bible, we conclude Entrepreneurship can be the most godly, spiritual, and holy vocation if the entrepreneur imitates God. The same is true for every vocation including the clergy and the pastor.

Furthermore, not only an Entrepreneur, but all who imitate God, and those who obey His c

ommands, and those who seek resurrection which God alone can give, have sure hope of abundant life.

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