The kingdom of heaven is productive. It is in essence entrepreneurial in that it uses its resources to generate solutions to human problems.

We work in order to produce something that will benefit others while also benefitting ourselves.

The first instruction — commandment — God gave us humans was to be productive and increase. That hasn’t changed. We are to be stewards over our spheres of influence, and invest our time, talents, and resources in ways that will encourage growth.

I’m going to take the financial wealth discussion off the table for a moment, because that’s a given. Our ability to grow financial wealth to care for ourselves, our families, and others, is necessary. But there’s more about your business than supplying a living.

I want to look at another idea of productivity:

Increasing our influence

As entrepreneurs, we have the distinct ability to directly influence within the marketplace. Our approach, our policies, our branding and marketing, our customer care, are all avenues for outreach and authentic connection with people.

The Greek word oikos (same as the yogurt brand) means household. The concept was that one’s household included the business that supported it.

The family is the foundation of the oikos.

The oikos is the foundation of the ekklesia.

And we know that the ekklesia is anywhere we’re living and working under the authority of Christ.