Welcome to this first post of a new blog. This blog is meant to be teaching, devotional and somewhat personal in spirit, as we discuss issues and themes that will help us all live a Christian life in these secular times (although that’s nothing new, is it?). The blog is meant to be part of the ministry of Sidney First, a United Methodist church in Sidney, Ohio. I’m Gary Mintchell and I hope to recruit a number of other bloggers as we venture forth in faith. I’ve been meditating for 30 years and teaching a Bible class for at least that long. Feel free to comment back to this post or send an email to gmintchell@woh.rr.com.
I am in the business world and during my career I have run into several self-proclaimed “Christian businesmen.” They all still owe me money for projects or jobs I’ve done with them. In my career in business, I’ve faced many ethical dilemmas. Bet you all have, too. Do your brushes with such self-proclaimed people make you wonder about what it means to be a Christian? It does me. So, I often ponder business ethics and what the teachings of the church should be to help us. Just stumbled upon “The Congruent Life” by C. Michael Thompson. If you’re not an Amazon.com customer, this is a good reason to be one. It makes recommendations of new books based on a database of other books you’ve bought. This was one such recommendation that was quite helpful.
Thompson teaches “business ethics” and is a devout church member. He has noticed a problem in the teaching of this subject. To begin the book, he states that teaching of values/ethics has become divorced from the reality of God–and that too often the word “business” modifies what is expected by ethics. But he continues in the introduction to poke at the church, worrying that churches too often copy the models of businesses with a focus on the bottom line, growth in numbers, endless committee meetings–sucking people into the same whirlwind of activity that they face every day at work.
This first blog is meant to get you thinking. I’ll bring up more from the book and other teachings in the first series that I’ll be writing. Don’t be afraid to start a discussion about what you think on the topic, and I’ll be back with more from Thompson.
