Leadership: God’s Plan of Success for EntrepreneursIhe Atụ

Introduction

In this short set of readings, we explore what the Bible has to say about God’s promises for your success as an entrepreneur today.

Specifically, we will uncover examples and teachings from the Bible that relate directly to your role as entrepreneur – whether that is in a small, medium, or large enterprise.

As an entrepreneur, you face a unique set of challenges: trying to grow your business, even as everything around is changing. Your business may not have enough momentum to carry it through difficult times, and it seems to need your attention24 hours daily.  Yet, you love doing it and wouldn’t dream of quitting for a "regular” job.

Your goal as entrepreneur is to bring success – to establish your business ideas and plans in such a way that it grows to become a mature company, creating jobs for employees, products or services for customers, and eventual reward for yourself. And so you work hard, and do your best. You even pray for God’s help and look for ways that your entrepreneurship fits with His plans.

But how do you define success? Is it as simple as meeting sales and profit goals? Or, in a happy and growing workforce? And, if you’re doing your best to serve God in what you do, what kind of success does He have for you anyway?

The Bible is full of promises and you’re likely already familiar with one or more of these. 

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. – Joshua 1:7

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." – Jeremiah 29:11

Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request. – 1 Chronicles 4:9

On top of that, the messages you hear at church and from others affirm that God wants to bless you, He wants you to be successful. In fact, those messages are often so strong that it’s easy to wonder what’s wrong when you or your business are not being blessed with success.

And that’s the exact topic of this reading plan: What kind of success does God have for you as an entrepreneur, and how do you achieve that as a Christian today?

To find out, we will look at the example given by a couple of fellow entrepreneurs – Abraham and Job from the Bible. We will look at their management style, their decision-making processes, and their characters to see what might apply to your situation in entrepreneurship today.

Following that, we will step back to take a broader look at how and when God gave His blessing of success in Bible times, and what that means for you today.

The lessons are timeless, so be sure to dig in!

Reflection and application   

• How do you define success in your role? Think beyond sales, profits, and number of workers.
• What measures of success have you seen recently? Do you see these as blessings from God?   
• If you could ask God for success, what would that be?