The Edelman Trust Barometer just released it’s 2023 report.  Based on interviews with 32,000 people across 28 countries, it found that people trusted business more than the media, government and NGOs. The report on this phenomenon may nudge some Christian businesspeople, who previously had been hesitant to express their faith in the marketplace to finally step up and begin to see their careers and businesses as ministries.  Here’s why and how.

According to author Dave Samson, “According to this year’s Trust findings, business remains the only trusted institution at 62 percent. And business is now the sole institution that respondents perceive as both ethical and competent …”

The report on this phenomena may nudge some Christian business people, who previously had been hesitant to express their faith in the marketplace to finally step up and begin to see their careers and businesses as ministries.  Here’s why.. 

Too many – probably the majority of Christian business people – have been silent and anonymous in the marketplace, believing that attending church on Sunday morning gave them a pass on being more visibly Christian in the their work. So, they could be comfortable hiding their Christianity from their peers and colleagues as long as they were faithfully plugged into the institutional church system. In other words, it was OK to compartmentalize your Christianity and your career.

Mixed in with and supporting that idea was the concept that business was a second-class occupation, devoid of the spiritual presence of ‘church work.’  Many of the compartmentalized Christians have been a bit embarrassed by what he/she did for a living.  So, they don’t mention business in church, and don’t mention Christ on the job.

This idea is flawed at multiple levels.  In addition to the biblical case against this idea, we now see the consequences of decades of adherence to that flawed model.  According to a number of recent studies ⁽²⁾ Christianity, as defined by people regularly attending churches, is on the decline in America, and Christians in the foreseeable future will be in the minority. The institutional church model has failed.

So, on one hand we see the decline in the institutional church system, and on the other, the growth in trust and respect for business. That looks like two trends coming together to create a compelling opportunity. Never before in our lifetime have we seen a greater need for Christ among our friends and colleagues.  And, never before in our lifetimes have we seen business — the place we spend most of our waking hours — be so fertile with potential.

The opportunity for Christian business people to make an impact has never been bigger. The world we inhabit for 40 hours a week is primed and ready to respond to someone who is moored in eternal truths, molded by love and compassionate to those around him/her.  

The time to be a visible, committed Christian in the marketplace is here.

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(1) Business:  An Unshakable Force In a Polarized World, Dave Samson, January, 2023 https://www.edelman.com/trust/2023/Trust-barometer/business-unshakable-force-polarized-world

(2) As recently as the early 1990s, about 90% of U.S. adults identified as Christians. In 2007 the share was at 78%. Today, that number is down to 64%. Since 2007, the share of adults who identify as religious “nones” has grown from 16% to 29%. 6/ — Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) September 13, 2022.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/christianity-us-shrinking-pew-research/

Related Resources

www.davekahle.com/integrity-sales-strategy

www.davekahle.com/business-model-leadership-character