Business Ethics: A Quiz with Many Right Answers

You can find various business ethics quizzes around thPick the one answer you think is wrong. This one is different. Each question has only one WRONG answer, doesn’t analyze your answers and tell you where you went wrong. Rather, it is simply intended to raise your ethical consciousness, maybe even stimulate a little discussion between you and your peers or family.

In this quiz, try to pick the answer that is wrong. I hope the “wrong” answers are obvious if you care about business ethics.

Enjoy!

1. My reputation
a. Is only as good as my word
b. Precedes me
c. Once lost is hard to regain
d. Is the legacy I’ll leave behind
e. Doesn’t matter to me.

2. Following my employer’s Code of Ethics
a. Could be important to my success
b. Requires interpretation to get it right
c. Will make me a better leader
d. Is a waste of time
e. Requires a certain level of consciousness and some attention to detail

3. Pointing out ethical transgressions at work
a. Can be awkward
b. Helps raise awareness for us all
c. Is a career ending move
d. Can backfire
e. Could be educational all the way around

4. Keeping the workplace ethical
a. Makes it a better place to work
b. Is hopeless
c. Requires clarity around ethical standards
d. Means top management has to do it
e. Leads to a more profitable company

5. My employer’s ethical reputation
a. Is in the dumps and dropping
b. Reflects on me
c. Is partially set by how I behave
d. Makes a difference in the bottom line
e. To some extent determines whether people will buy our products

6. Accepting gifts from vendors
a. May be fine within limits
b. Should under no conditions affect my willingness to buy from them
c. Has stricter rules in the US than is some other countries
d. Is a great idea to get as much as you can!
e. Should probably be disclosed to the ethics office, particularly if it is valued at over a certain amount

7. I care about business ethics because
a. America’s reputation has suffered recently
b. Good business ethics can restore better profits
c. I don’t want to work somewhere slimy
d. Good business ethics creates a more just workplace
e. They substitute for my complete lack of business ethics.

The wrong answers would likely come from someone who is apathetic and/or cynical. Sometimes, we do feel either of those feelings. However, life is short and the well-lived life is a life of integrity. Living a life of integrity means caring about business ethics.

If you enjoyed taking this quiz, share it with your friends. If you work in an office that cares about ethics, share it at the next staff meeting. Leave it in the lunch room. Pick the one question that you like most and talk about it over beers this weekend. On your commute home, think about what you want to do differently going forward. Send the quiz anonymously to your boss. Keep the discussion going about the importance of ethics in business!

Copyright by Sally Rhys of Coaching for Perspective, July 2008

Sally Rhys, MS, coaches and consults on business ethics. As the former Director, Ethics and Compliance at a $1.5B publicly traded company, her expertise will help you increase both your business knowledge and professionalism. Contact her at http://www.coachingforperspective.com

Your Personal Code of Ethics: How Does it Work in Today’s World?

Each of us carries around within us a personal code of ethics. We may not be conscious of it; we may not deliberately consult it on a daily basis, we may not apply a decision tree against it to make a choice, but it exists. And, at times, it may falter, or we may apply different ethical principles in different situations.

Take a minute to identify your fundamental ethical philosophy. Which of the descriptions below best captures the way you like to operate in the world?

1. Humans have no special place within the world, but are just one of thousands of expressions of life. People have desires and free will and so can alter their nature. However, if one acts unnaturally, it upsets the balance of life. Therefore, one should seek balance in life.
2. Ethics is a practical science; you have to do it, not just think it. This philosopher thought in terms of virtue ethics which has to do with the proper function of a thing. Therefore, the best activity of the soul is to attain a joy in the good life.
3. The responsibility of all people is to help build the ideal society, and if it takes violating the norms of a society to do so, then do it. To some degree, the situation will dictate the proper thing to do at the proper time.
4. There is a single unconditional obligation, and that is to carry out your duty. How you feel when carrying out the action is what is important, although the outcome might not be what you intended.

Now, which statement resonates most with you? Which seems to be the path you travel in living your life?

If you select number 1, your pattern is most aligned with Laozi, a philosopher of ancient China and a key figure in Taoism.

If number 2 rang your chimes, your pattern is most aligned with Aristotle, the Greek who taught that to have a good life, you must live a balanced life and avoid excesses.

If number 3 resonated with you, your pattern is most aligned with Confucius, the Chinese philosopher who emphasized personal and government morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and mercy.

If number 4 makes the most sense to you, your pattern is most aligned with Kant, an 18th century Prussian philosopher.

No matter which philosophy attracts you the most, all are legitimate, honorable ways of being. In fact, you may apply different principles depending on any given situation.

While these are all laudable approaches to life, applying them will likely have different outcomes. For instance, consider the case of Zoe. Zoe has a co-worker, Alice, who was listing more hours worked on her timesheet than was true; she is cheating the company.

To apply the thinking of Kant in this situation, we’d say, “If everybody cheated on their time sheet, no work would get done and the company would be paying for nothing!” Since Zoe is a friend to Alice, she knows that Alice was just abandoned by her husband, and has two kids under four to care for. Day care is proving problematic. With this additional information, you might think about adopting a Confucian standard. This philosophy would encourage you to value helping to build an ideal society, which certainly includes making sure small children are well cared for.

See how applying different ethical standards would guide you to take different action?

Whichever approach makes the most sense to you, explore the strengths and limitations of your preferred approach. Under what circumstances does your approach work best? Under what circumstances would your approach result in unintended, maybe even negative, consequences? How have you consciously applied your philosophy in the past? Has it ever landed you in a hot spot? By the way, note that being in a hot spot may mean that you did exactly the right thing, it is just not well received!

Sometime tomorrow, find an opportunity to practice applying your favored approach very deliberately. It can be a small incident in your daily life. Think about driving in traffic, trash on the streets, standing in a line. What do you learn from the exercise? Knowing that, how will you change your pattern in the future, if at all?

And finally, I encourage you find out more about the thinking and teachings of the thinkers above. You might refine your thinking about how you want to live your life. Online encyclopedias are an easy first step.

Happy philosophizing!

Sally Rhys, MS, coaches and consults on business ethics. As the former Director, Ethics and Compliance at a $1.5B publicly traded company, her expertise will help you increase both your business knowledge and professionalism. Contact her at http://www.coachingforperspective.com

When In Business Remember Your Values And Your Principles

The pressures people face as entrepreneurs can at times become burdensome. You are the boss, the one person within your company that is ultimately responsible for everything that goes on. Sometimes you may feel all alone in the world that makes up your life. And sometimes the pressure can seem overwhelming. Being in business for yourself does not mean living in a perfect world. So when challenges arise and things become difficult remember what your own personal set of values and principles are. They will help to make up who you are and how you want to run your business. Values like honesty, integrity, trust, and treating others like you would like to be treated should not be taken lightly.

In business your values and principles are important and should never be sacrificed for any reason. But they will be put to the test on many occasions. So how might your values be challenged by your business. Let’s start with your employees. Depending on what kind of business you own your employees will come from all walks of life. They will vary in the cultures they come from, age, race, gender, and education levels. And at times they will do things that they should not. How will you handle them? If your business needs them bad enough will you look the other way when they do something wrong? What if they treat other employees badly or try to take advantage of you because they know how badly that you need them. Will you sacrifice your values and principles because you are worried by what would happen if they leave or will you make the right choice and get rid of them.

What if a customer puts you in a compromising position about doing further business with your company? Maybe an employee of theirs demands a kickback or something if you want to continue to receive their business. How will you handle such a situation? Do you risk turning them in knowing it could cost you that customer? You have to ask yourself what will cost you more. Standing up for what you believe in knowing it could hurt your company or giving in knowing it could hurt you. We can always come up with excuses for giving in; it’s taking a stand personally that is hard to do.

The choices you face as you develop and grow your business with be hard. Some will test your principles. They will force you to consider how far you are willing to go to get ahead and make your business a success. So choose carefully because the decisions you make now can affect you greatly in the future. One small exception to your values and principles can lead to bigger exceptions later.

Cash Miller is an experienced entrepreneur and speaker who has spent over a decade as a small business owner. His years of experience in small business cover a variety of topics. If you are looking for more small business help please check out http://www.smallbusinessdelivered.com

Business Ethics: Why They Are Important For a Company and Its Success

Business ethics is an interesting branch of business theory, primarily because of the fact that they are inherently interesting in a market economy. People tend to be extremely distrustful of corporations in market economies and the bigger they are, the worse that problem of trust usually gets. Business ethics therefore are politically charged in many different circumstances and that in turn serves to make them interesting. Aside from this academic interest however, business ethics are also important for a company and its success. Here are some ways in which this is true.

Public Image

It is impossible to discuss business ethics as a branch of academia without taking a look at the relationship between business ethics and public image. Each corporation has a particular public image, which represents the way in which the public views the corporation. Wal-Mart, for example, has a terrible public image. Toyota, on the other hand, has a very positive one. These public images are the result of a number of different things, but they are primarily the result of the way in which a corporation acts with respect to the different things around it.

A corporation’s environmental policy, the way they treat their employees and the way they treat the communities they exist in are all part of their overall behavior and this in turn is the principle factor in determining their public image. As proof of this, you will notice that even though Wal-Mart makes products that have a decent quality and an extremely low price, they still have a negative public image.

Since public image is largely a result of company behavior, business ethics play a large role in determining public image since they determine behavior. And public image is important to success in most cases, which is one of the reasons as to why business ethics are important to a company’s overall success.

Investment

Another reason that business ethics are important is the relationship they have to investment. When a person or an entity is considering investment in a particular stock, there are a number of things they take into account. Aside from the quantitative factors surrounding a company’s profit margin a future prospects, consideration is also given to a particular company from the point of view of the qualitative aspects such as their public image and the products that they happen to sell. All of these things are taken into account before the final investment is made.

Therefore, a company that would like to encourage extra investment is a company that has a strong sense of business ethics. Part of business ethics is responsibility to the investor and for that reason companies with strong reputations in the field of ethical business behavior are also companies that tend to attract more investment from people that are new into the market. Investment is most definitely important to success.

Partnerships

In the business world, joint ventures happen all the time. They happen all the time because they are ultimately of great importance to the bottom lines of businesses. A business can be made or broken on just one joint venture and part of the reason that joint ventures are successful is that they combine the forces of two extremely powerful companies on occasion.

If you want your company to do well in joint ventures, then you need to have good partners. The only way to get good partners is to have a good reputation both in terms of a track record and in terms of your business overall. And of course, the best way to get a good reputation is to ensure that your company has a strong tradition of ethical business behavior.

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Employers Protection Against The Ridiculous

The UK is fast becoming the Health and Safety nightmare of the modern world. There are those who work in the care sector who are not allowed to come into physical contact with the people they care for fear of breaching some health and safety law, there are those in childcare who are not allowed to so much as apply a sticky plaster without a signed waver from the parent.

Of course, to counteract all these nonsense rules we have health and safety training. You can go on a course if you want to be certified to apply plasters to grazes which always comes in handy when you’re working in a playschool. If the teachers are away on health and safety training courses then they have stand in teachers. If the children should graze themselves during this time, there is no need to worry. They will simply call out a parent who can then drop what they are doing at work and run and fix their broken child.

If you think this is crazy then look to the UK’s compensation culture to appoint blame. For fear of being sued in the event of a plaster reaction and a rash appearing, teachers are stepping back from taking any action that involves physical contact and could result in a law suit.

I have a family member with a disabled teenager. His mother has no health and safety training yet she continues to lift this eighteen year old boy backwards and forwards to the bathroom. This is because the council housed her in a place that had a step down into a tiny bathroom with no wheel chair access.

The council refused to put in hoists because they needed to move house and didn’t want the expense. They asked for help from social services with help to bathe him and although there are social workers who have had health and safety training to lift weights, he was over a certain weight to be lifted without a hoist. And they won’t fit a hoist because….

So, with diabetes and two major heart attacks under her belt, his mum continues to lift him without health and safety training and does what the majority of us do – she just gets on with it.
Care workers all need health and safety training. To lift another human, however frail, can cause difficulties and especially back problems. Of course, people have done this for years without complaining but, as I said, in this age of compensation claims no company can afford to slip up in the training to approach things with common sense, apparently.

There are work places where health and safety training makes common sense. The building site, for instance. Nobody would expect an inexperienced person to go into such an environment without some form of training and expectations of good practice. The same applies to handling dangerous chemicals. It is common sense to make sure those that do that type of job are highly qualified people with the knowledge that will keep them safe.

But do we really, really need health and safety on how to use a desk and chair properly? Do we need a whole training course dedicated to the correct use of a ladder? Apparently so! This is because no one wants to take personal responsibility for their actions anymore and any chance of making a quick buck that will also see them taking six months paid holiday from work and this is what leads companies to cover their backs with health and safety training.

Employment expert Catherine Harvey looks at the way health and safety training has become such a neccessity in the workplace.

The Dos And Don’ts Of Using Office Furniture

When it comes to the use of office furniture there are several etiquette rules that should be observed and these rules will differ from office to office. What is acceptable in one place will be your downfall in another. Suss out the rules of your new office early on and you will be welcomed with open arms if you observe them in the decent way.

Open plan offices take a great deal of delicate handling. Office furniture is often laid out in a manner where all workers are in fairly close proximity and all types of rules should be applied. You will not, ever, get away with making just one coffee. If in doubt, offer those in your immediate vicinity a drink when you make your own. If this is not the way things are done in that particular office, at least it will make you look good.

Another tip for open plan office furniture is that of keeping your own house in order. Do not allow your paperwork to spill onto the desks of others and never leave your bag on the floor where others can trip over it. If you have a cough or cold, always stay at home. Open sneezing causing spattering of nasal secretions on those around you will incur the wrath of that foam in your coffee not being from extra vigorous stirring.

Some offices will be open plan but have partitions as part of their standard office furniture. These are to allow a little privacy and division of work places. They are not sound proof. An argument with your wife over the phone will be heard and dutifully embroidered upon and spread by those around you until, by the time you leave work for the day, your colleagues from the next office are commiserating with you on your divorce.

Partitions are not smell proof either. For the women, over powering perfume is annoying to your colleagues and for the men, it really is only you that finds your personal bodily gases entertaining and fragrant. Please limit all aromas to coffee or fresh laundry and you will be more popular.

Computers are the staple of any office furniture and as such should be treated with the utmost care. Any punching or slamming of office equipment that doesn’t do what you want when you want it will be frowned upon, as will using computer equipment as projectiles.

Emails should always be kept professional as bosses that are good at delegation often find they have quiet spots in their day and will fill them with checking up on who’s sending what to whom and if people are talking behind his back. Any bitching about colleagues or the boss should be saved for the ladies loos and not bandied about via emails.

Lunching on office furniture is always a delicate subject. If you must eat at work, nobody wants to smell your lunch so keep the spices for at home. Similarly, nobody wants to be leaning in your lunch if you happen to share a desk so always clear up crumbs behind yourself and never, ever, drop food in the keyboard. Anything nasty growing out of it in a few weeks time could spread germs and see you getting scorn poured from above.

Networking is an important aspect of office life. If a lunch is held in honour of new contacts and any alcoholic beverage is served, please remember that office furniture is not a prop to be used when flirting. In fact, just don’t flirt at all. This will not further your career, only get you a bad reputation.

For those moments in the day when you feel yourself flagging, do not fall asleep at your desk. Office furniture is never comfortable and walking around an hour later with qwerty stamped on your face is a bit of a give-away. If that forty winks is absolutely necessary, try the stationary cupboard.

Office expert Catherine Harvey looks at the best use of office furniture and what to avoid.

Avoiding a Hostile Workplace: Fairness in Employee Discipline

The environment of your workplace is vital to employee satisfaction, reduction of turnover, and productivity. It is also vital to the legal stability of your business.

A hostile work environment can be the basis for many types of employee complaints and causes of legal action. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lists as a basis for employee complaints the existence of a “hostile work environment.” The creation or continuation of a hostile workplace environment can be the beginning of a legal quagmire of lawsuits, wrongful termination suits, and discrimination complaints. The atmosphere of a harsh and antagonistic workplace can be a death sentence for your business.

One of the biggest factors affecting hostility in the workplace is inequity and selective discipline. Employees frequently site favoritism and unfairness as their reasons for discomfort and intimidation at work. It can also be the basis for proving a pattern of discrimination in your workplace.

It is essential for all managers to apply coaching and discipline in an equitable fashion. Once employee standards are established, infractions of these standards must be applied fairly and without bias. Failure to hold workers accountable to employee standards of conduct and behavior in a consistent manner will lead to accusations of bias and favoritism. The consequences of such accusations are far reaching and will affect management credibility at all levels of your organization.

Establishing a written and clear code of employee conduct is only the first step in good human resource management. This written policy is only as good as the enforcement of its standards. Just as your personnel policies were written in a neutral and impartial manner so must be the enforcement of these policies.

Infractions and violations of personnel policies should be dealt with in an established way. Degrees of discipline such as verbal warnings and written warnings should be contained in your protocols and associated time frames should be attached. Follow these protocols without regard to the personalities involved. Circumstances that mitigate infractions can and should be documented as part of this process.

There may be factors that make one breach of conduct different or less severe than another and there should be a venue for written comments in discipline documentation. But these mitigating circumstances should not preclude discipline. You may know and understand why someone broke the rules and may indeed find these factors understandable but the perception of favoritism must be avoided at all costs. It may mean writing up an employee for something you feel was justified but to just dismiss the violation fails to take into account the perceptions of other employees and the effectiveness of your personnel policy.

Take the time to communicate your views and feelings about the infraction and document them properly. This is an exercise in fairness and consideration that you owe your employees. It can turn discipline into constructive coaching.

The perception of employees is the key to creating a work environment that is neutral to the personalities and personal preferences involved. Discrimination occurs when your employees perceive that they are being treated differently than others. When the tardiness of one worker is excused because they have to take their child to day care but the tardiness of another worker without such a valid reason is cited with warnings can cause the perception of unfairness.

In your warning to the employee with day care issues you can mention your empathy with working parents and suggest flextime options or carpooling as constructive suggestions but the employee’s failure to adhere to work rules must be documented. Other employees may not know about their coworkers obligations and be angry when they are written up for tardiness and others are not. Hostility can be avoided by consistent and equitable enforcement of work rules.

Avoiding the impression of unfairness can go a long way to maintaining an impartial workplace, the satisfaction of employees, and the feeling that everyone is being treated in the same way. It also takes the perception of bias out of the employee relations equation. Though it means hard choices it can mean the difference between a hostile and hospitable work environment.

Melissa Vokoun is a successful Business Advisor, Coach and Trainer. To learn more about the services available, please visit the website at: http://www.coachingqueen.com or call 847-392-6886.

Retracting Sales Based On The Talmud

The Talmud cited the following incident: There was once a food shortage in Nehardea. All the people sold their mansions. Eventually, wheat arrived and Rav Nachman told them that the law is that the mansions must be returned to their original owners.

The Talmud notes that the reason why sales are void is because they were made in error, since it became known that the ship carrying the wheat was waiting in the port at the time the mansions were sold.

The Talmud in the daf yomi adds that this would explain the following conversation: Rami bar Shmuel said to Rav Nachman, if you rule like this, you will cause them trouble in the future. Rav Nachman replied that a food shortage is not common, and therefore we need not worry about the next one. Rami bar Shmuel retorted that a food shortage in Nehardea is indeed a common occurrence!

There are many legal issues that this Talmud is used to resolve.

Reuben desperately needed an operation and he desired a certain expert doctor to perform the surgery. The hospital told him that he presently was outside of the country, and will only be returning the following week. Reuben vowed an enormous amount of money to charity if the surgeon would return earlier than he originally intended. As soon as he uttered those words, the doctor was standing by his bedside. He told Reuben that he had decided to shorten his vacation. The question was asked – was Reuben obligated to fulfill his vow? Perhaps, he was not required to give the money to charity, for at the time that he pronounced the vow, the doctor was already in the country.

There was a certain city where a terrible edict was issued against the residents. They sent a message to a well-known Rabbi, who was famous for delivering miracles through his prayer. The Tzadik agreed, but requested of them to send a certain amount of money that he would be able to distribute to the widows and orphans residing in his city. A short amount of time after they sent the money, they received a letter that the decree had been cancelled. The city was overjoyed. However, one resident sent a letter to the Maharsham saying that perhaps, they should get their money back because he noticed that the date on the letter stating that the decree had been cancelled was before they actually sent the money. It appears that the giving of the money was erroneous.

Reuben and Simon bought two lottery tickets together. They made up that they each would share the winnings of each ticket. The reason for this decision was based on the Talmud in Bava Metzia that states that the mazal of two people together is better than one. After the lottery numbers were chosen, Reuben went to Shimon attempting to switch the deal. He said, let us each keep the winnings of our own individual ticket. Reuben did this because he already knew that the ticket that he was holding was chosen and he would receive fifty thousand dollars. Simon agreed to this new deal. The reason that Simon agreed was because the ticket that he was holding was chosen, and he would now receive the full share of a two hundred million dollars. Can Reuben now retract from the second deal?

Based on the decision of the Talmud, in all three cases it would seem, the money does not transfer when a deal was made after the circumstances causing deal are no longer prevalent.

Billy Kite is a researcher writing on behalf of the source for Gemara Brachos – Shema Tefilla and
Daf Yomi review.

The Importance Of Ethics For Your Business Success

That question has already been answered to the extent of jail terms, lost pensions, personal disgrace and yet that is only the tip of the iceberg. We as human beings must build organizations in which freedom and personal initiative can cohabit with cooperation, caring and a highly integrated harmony or all is lost.

Hard times are not coming they are here. They call into question more self-indulgent goals such as quality of work, life and minimizing the environmental degradation. What good are business ethics in a business that may be forced to close its doors and send all of its people to the streets because of deceit?

Business, small or large, still does not understand that the hard lesson we are facing is that ethics is not a luxury. The ethics we need to save us, to make us competitive in the market, is a very deep kind of wisdom.

Free enterprise is about to encounter the age of limits and in doing so will discipline itself. As the decade progresses, the advantage to the ethical will grow. It is now being discovered that we only bring our best selves to the party where each individual is valued and has sufficient freedom to act.

For higher levels of interconnection to manifest there must be trust, and that trust must be based on an assurance of the goodness of others in the system. Effective societies and companies alike have their grounding in ethical basics that rest on freedom and democracy.

We all get complacent sometimes. We have comfort zones. We do the things we enjoy, that feel good before thinking things thoroughly through. That is why many people surround themselves with people who agree with them, think like them, and support them.

The CEO of a large company does not have that luxury. In return of the compensation being heaped on him by the shareholders, he must immerse himself in the uncomfortable, the unfamiliar, and the different opinions, often times of others.

Only in that way can he keep the company strong. Only then can he and the shareholders avoid a debacle like Enron. There are many lessons that can be learned from the collapse of Enron. Their demise came from within, where there were no ethics.

Business organizations have contributed to the problems of the world, materialism, and alienations as consequences of the modern corporations. Yet modern corporations have with them the powers of change.

Those businesses that seize the ethical initiative will define the future and be around to enjoy it.

Court provides internet marketing tips and is an expert on internet marketing.

Should Mega Churches Run Their Business Like A Corporation?

Recently my son, who is a minister with a master in divinity from the South Western Baptist Theological Seminary, in Dallas, Texas was fired from his job. He had put years of service into the biggest First Southern Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas as their Video Production Engineer.

He was highly praised and he was known by the nickname of ‘Wonder Boy’, all because he could run the television ministry with ease. He also directed, produced, managed a large staff, and even installed and wired expensive television equipment. Just months before he was fired, a new senior pastor was hired and part of his job is to trim the fat from the budget.

My son was only paid $35,000.00 a year as the Video Production Engineer. Yet his salary which could never take care of a family of four was considered worth sacrificing for the all mighty dollar.

My son explained to me that a senior pastor was actually a CEO and that mega churches are run like a corporation. I of course am a proud mother of my very accomplished son. But my question is the same question that anyone would ask who has ever worked for a Mega church, ‘Should Churches Run Their Business Like a Corporation?’

We are all aware of how a big business is run. We know from the media how a newly hired CEO over a multi-million dollar corporation always begins by letting go of the highest paid employees. We may have even had a family member or friend who experienced such a horrendous blow. Just the same when we hear these stories almost everyone acknowledges that this is just plain wrong!

People should not be treated like they are just money. They should be respected for the years of service and any change up in a company should be about production quality or lack of services. Of course if an employee was known to be lazy, well, he or she should be fired, but never because of money.

Unfortuately today people are treated like a commodity instead of being respected for their achievement. Men and women who have worked for years in a company are fired just before retirement to save the company money. Experienced men and women of all ages are pushed aside for cheaper labor. They are a force of people who have been disrespected and humiliated and forced to look for a new job even though they had done their old job with excellence.

The truth is we live in a corrupt world. Greed abounds everywhere and people are being sacrificed for money. However, my question is, should multi-million dollar churches behave the same as the world? Should they run their churches like big businesses?

I was always taught that God was over the church and the pastor was a shepherd to the people teaching them God’s word through love. The pastor is to imitate Jesus Christ and be an example of ‘What would Jesus Do’ in all life situations, even in how he manages the affairs of a church.

Because we live in a corrupt and evil world we need good examples. We need the kind of role models that reflect the very characteristics of the Almighty God. This is the way we learn the principles that are taught in the Bible. This is how we show the world that we are different from them. This is how we justify our biggest call as Christians. We are supposed to go throughout the world and teach the message of the gospel of Christ.

John 15: 12-14, “My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you. The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them. And you are my friends if you do what I command you.”

This verse is the essence of what is required to show others you are a Christian. To imitate God we must be willing to love to the point of sacrificing our very lives. This is a message of hope that will bring people who don’t know God into the church. A message that they are so important, the church would die for them.

Unfortunately in today’s church too many pastors have become managers of money. They have responsibilities to keep the budgets down low so that money is allocated to the proper places such as giving to the poor and other charities. But is this what God wants a pastor to do?

When the first churches were established, the Holy Spirit inspired people to give up everything they had in order to further the ministry of Jesus Christ. People needed to make sacrifices so the entire world would have the ability to hear the good news about Jesus’ saving power.

Acts 4: 32-35, “The group of believers was one in mind and heart. No one said that any of his belongings was his own, but they shared with one another everything they had. With great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God poured rich blessings on them all. There was no one in the group who was in need. Those who owned fields or houses would sell them, bring the money received from the sale, and turn it over to the apostles; and the money was distributed to each one according to his need.”

This is how the first churches began their ministry. They needed money in order to build churches. They needed money to take care of the people who were giving to the church. Everyone was making sacrifices, but soon the apostles became frustrated and they realized that to allocate money was not what they were called to do.

Acts 6: 1-4, “Some time later, as the number of disciples kept growing, there was a quarrel between the Greek-speaking Jews and the native Jews. The Greek-speaking Jews claimed that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of funds. So the twelve apostles called the whole group of believers together and said, ‘It is not right for us to neglect the preaching of God’s word in order to handle finances. So then, brothers, choose seven men among you who are known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, and we will put them in charge of this matter. We ourselves, then, will give our full time to prayer and the work of preaching.’”

This is a powerful story because it explains the truth about what is the most important call for a pastor in a church. A pastor is to give his full time to prayer and the work of preaching.

There is more to this story than a pastor’s call to ministry. It also talks about how churches need the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. A Spirit that inspires people to give. A Spirit that reflects God’s approval for how they are running their church according to His principles.

If God is left out of the church then churches will not be able to meet their budgets. In the time of the disciples when money was needed people went and sold their property. Today there are millionaires in mega churches. There are people who own several vacation homes. People who have so much money, they can never spend it all before they die. What would happen in today’s churches if when a budget couldn’t be met a millionaire goes out and sells one of his many homes?

Maybe the real problem isn’t about running a mega church like a corporation, but that the people aren’t being led by the Holy Spirit to give the money that the church needs in order to fill its budget. Maybe money problems show that the church has left God out? Maybe churches have turned out to be clubs instead of houses for teaching the word of God.

Churches have a responsibility to be an example of love. They are never to allow money to be the reason why a person is let go when they are doing a good job. They are to show a distinct difference between how they are run compared to how the world does things. No church should ever be run like an evil corporation whose only concern is about how to make more money.

Jesus proclaims in the parable of the ‘Good shepherd’ what a shepherd must do in order to show people who God really is. A Shepherd loves his sheep and wants to keep them safe from the influence of the world. He does this by being willing to die for his sheep.

John 10: 11, “I am the good shepherd, who is willing to die for the sheep.”

John 10: 14&15, “I am the good shepherd. As the Father knows me and I know the Father, in the same way I know my sheep and they know me. And I am willing to die for them.”

What would happen if today’s church actually did what God commands? The story of the good shepherd shows the world that to be like God we must be willing to die for the sheep. What would happen if the Mega Churches started caring about the people who work for them like the good shepherd?

I am very proud of my son! He is a good man and a good father. He has given his life to the ministry of God. The people of the church know him and his family. They know that in a month, he and his wife will be welcoming a new baby boy into their family. His insurance will run out two weeks before the baby is suppose to be born. What does this say about churches? Should Mega Churches Run Their Business like A CORPORATION?

Linda C Dipman author of The Game of Life It’s Almost Over http://outskirtspress.com/gameoflife presents And His Love Shone Down, my true life story! It describes all the persecutions I endured. It will put you on the edge of your seat as you read each vivid detail. You will feel terror and experience love like nothing you have ever read before. lovinghandsministry.com

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