The divide between church and business is usually very obvious. Customers have been quick to express their discontentment with businesses promoting “religious” causes. Chic-Fil-A found itself embroiled in significant backlash from the LGBTQ community angered by their support of Christian charities. Unfortunately, this led to Chic-Fil-A severing ties with charities like the Salvation Army and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. These kinds of decisions result from the need to maintain public relations. However, there needs to be a commitment to uphold the bond between church and business. If every business decided to focus purely on public relations and the bottom line, there would be a major lack of funding for Christian activities, particularly missions.

There are alternatives and options for building a church-business connection without upsetting customers. One route is for business owners to reflect their earnings through their own personal tithe. This is not a true church-business connection, but it still offers the same value for missionaries needing funding. Another option is for small businesses to participate in giving towards missions. Small businesses do not have as hard a time with ministry connections because they do not generate nearly the same amount of press as large businesses. The last option, while not ideal, is for larger businesses to hold true to their core values, donate, and deal with public relations.

Missionaries should recognize this opportunity to partner with businesses and take full advantage of it. They need to remove any kind of begging mentality and approach it as an opportunity to work alongside a business to further God’s kingdom. Updates on the service projects by these missionaries around the world can be used by a business for justification of their giving efforts. Customers may not agree with the ministry purposes but they will be able to see the fruit of the businesses’ donations.