God desires to redeem business for his glory. In high school, I was directionless and passionless. But God had grand plans for me, calling me towards business and the poor, to the University of Michigan, to Harvest Mission Community Church, and eventually to Christian Business Initiative (CBI). I knew nothing of these plans back in high school. Even now, I know so little of where God is taking me, but I’m in it for the ride because I trust that God has a well-designed plan ahead.
I can still remember when I felt called to become a business(wo)man. During the frantic season of preparing college applications, I stumbled across a New York Times Article about the rich-poor disparity in China. The article highlighted the forced displacement of poor laborers by a realtor’s grand chateau endeavor. The room turned cold and my heart broke. I sat and wept. Visions and plans came - creating lasting impact and closing this income gap felt like a distant reality.
God had more than business school in mind. He closed many doors to the more "prestigious" schools I applied to and opened the door to the University of Michigan. By his divine will, he brought me to Harvest Mission Community Church, a community of believers thirsting to go beyond the walls of “church.” During my first year here, God continued to impress upon me to apply to the business school and to use it as a means to my end goal. More importantly, God was working on my heart, bringing me back into his presence. He asked me to live for his glory alone.
At the beginning of the summer after freshman year, I received my acceptance letter to the Ross School of Business, and God burdened my heart for the salvation of those in the business school. The establishment of a Christian fellowship consumed my mind; one night I even dreamt about business students gathering together in worship and prayer. Could this only be a night’s dream? Or was God pouring out his heart to me? The truth is, my faith is weak, and as the new school year approached I pushed these dreams aside and focused on other things instead. But God’s plans remain the same, and he is so committed to them.
God continued to remind and confirm his visions for a Christian fellowship. Returning to school for my sophomore year, two brothers sent emails sharing their desire for a business fellowship within the HMCC community. What more of a confirmation did I need? God did not want me to forget the burdens he granted me, that this vision of business for God’s glory was not my own. So, with a handful of people, we gathered and began to seek God’s face to guide us. Surely God answered many of our prayers by creating the Christian Business Initiative, CBI for short.
CBI seeks to reconcile business and Christianity in a way that focuses on life-on-life development and digging into the word to understand God’s perspective on business. It is a place for business-minded Christians to pray together, dream together, and build each other up not only in our careers, but more importantly, in our faith.
When we pray, God works. In my third year at the University of Michigan, he opened the door for CBI to become a registered student organization. We’ve already held several workshops for underclassmen to explore what business really entails and to transition into life at the business school, established connections with professors at the business school to provide us with guidance, and reached out to several pre-Christians through our activities.
God does not create coincidences. CBI is only at its beginning stages. By God’s divine appointment, we are growing as this “transformasphere” movement grows. My excitement and anticipation for God’s movement increases each day knowing that God planned for these events from the very beginning of time, and that his vision is greater than mine and his purpose is higher than mine.
If you are interested in learning more about CBI or joining the fellowship, please email Ruth Gao at ruthgao7@gmail.com.