Why Should Christians Teach Their Children Practical Business Skills?

Many parents are waking up to the fact that we are sending our young people into the world with very few practical business skills. Unless your dad was a businessman, plumber or auto mechanic (and he took the time to teach you those practical skills), there is a good chance that you have no knowledge of even the basic skills that people a generation ago took for granted.

Far from encouraging the passing down of practical skills and the value of hard work, our society has lampooned practical skills as something unnecessary and even demeaning in today's highly technical world. After all, it has only been in the last fifty years that a man who can work with his hands has been considered inferior socially. 

When we look at Biblical times we see one of the requirements of a Pharisee was he had to have a trade. That is why Paul was a tent maker, a home-based business of his times.

Now, of course we are much more sophisticated in these modern times and have left behind the need for practical skills. Or have we? Whether you live in Texas or Vermont, your children need to learn practical skills useful in home-based businesses.  Below are three reasons why I believe practical skills are necessary for our young people no matter what career they choose to pursue.

1. Practical Business Skills Give Us Freedom From Man.

Notice in 1 Corinthians, Paul did not have to rely on the haughty Corinthians for his livelihood. He had his own source of bread and the Corinthians had no power over him. He was free from their corrupting influence. He could minister to a group of people without being beholden to them financially. How many pastors are afraid to say things that need to be said because some influential person in the church might pull the financial plug on them? Or how many Christian public school teachers are afraid to call evolution a lie because they might lose their livelihood?

When you train your children in practical & profitable skills, your children can make a choice, free from an employer, during economic downturns. Online family businesses offer your children a choice about how they spend their time and money. Find training for your children so they can choose to start a small business or depend on someone else for their pay check. Making a living with a home-based online business can give you and your children freedom from undue influence by other men.

2. Practical Business Skills Provide an Example for Those We Disciple.

One of the key reasons Paul worked with his hands was to provide an example to those to whom he was ministering. If the one who discipled is willing to do manual labor to get the gospel out, how much more the one being discipled? And hopefully our children are our number one disciples. They need to see the value of practical skills and the character that these skills produce. They need to experience success and failures in business to grow in spiritual maturity. Family businesses are a way to learn naturally how to handle failure and success.

3. Practical Business Skills Bring Us Down To Earth.

Far from enticing boys not to go to college, I have found that spending an entire summer mowing lawns encourages young men to pursue college with a vigor. And a summer roofing houses in the hot Texas sun will cause your son to enter post-doctoral studies! He may not want to rely on that skill for a living, unless he can parlay it into a business where he does not have to be the one on the roof!

I believe that every person in the ministry should work in the business world for a period of time. They would have a greater appreciation for the pressures and temptations that their parishioners face in the modern work environment. They would also be less apt to ask their congregation to do things (or programs) that compete with time and energy spent with their families. If more pastors came from the real world of work or had to earn a part-time living while ministering, they would have more respect from those inside and outside of the church.

Families and young people that run a home-based business bring you down to earth when you experience the highs & lows of an entrepreneur. Practical skills and starting a home-based business help to harness the intellect and bring it under submission to God. They also teach us to evaluate priorities and situations wisely.

If you do not have the practical skills to teach your children how to ride out economic hard times by having their own small business, search for places where your children can learn from successful entrepreneurs. Books, audio workshops, video tutorials and live seminars are the best place to gain these foundational and practical skills.