The Relationship Between Corporate America and the Church

As a nation, we are finding ourselves in the middle of a cultural shift. While our world becomes more and more expectant to receive products that are custom tailored to fit every need and desire, a consumeristic mindset has permeated itself into most aspects of, not only the business culture, but church culture as well. Consumers no longer shop at the mall only but now shop for local churches. In recent years, churches have begun employing staff that have earned an MBA, establishing marketing teams, and even building coffee shops within the church buildings. There are both benefits and dangers to the market-driven church and the “Christian business.” When used with good intentions, both the market-driven church and the “Christian business” can thrive by learning from each other’s ethics and strategies. Similarly, when these strategies are used in the wrong context or outside of ethical means, both types of organization can find themselves in negative or undesirable situations. As the corporate world and the church continue to grow and evolve over time, ethics are going to play an even more important role in keeping people safe from harm that can come from unethical behavior. It will be up to the future church and corporate leaders to deem it important enough to place emphasis on the topic of ethics and to place the large amount of emphasis that the topic deserves.