“Whether you’re in business or an employee, reflect the Gospel through your life”: Sherman Ng at the School of Gatekeepers

A wealthy merchant once sent two couriers through a forest to deliver a message to a distant city. The first carried a detailed map, while the second had only a simple compass.

At first, the map gave the first messenger confidence. But as the journey went on, he discovered the landscape had changed, and the map no longer matched reality, leaving him lost. The other courier, though armed with nothing more than a compass, stayed oriented until he finally reached the city.

Sherman Ng, National President of Gatekeepers Singapore, was telling this story to some 50 participants at the fifth iteration of the School of Gatekeepers, to illustrate the importance of having a right worldview of business.

The School of Gatekeepers is a three-day programme, held from August 15 to 17 this year, by Gatekeepers Singapore that aims to disciple Christians to live out their faith intentionally in the marketplace. 

Sherman, who is the founder of Salt Media & Entertainment, said: “Your map could have been inherited from your parents, your Pastor, the world, the TV series you watched last night on Netflix. It may once be true, but it’s not the Gospel.

“The compass, however, represents another worldview, a guiding framework rooted in a deeper truth. It doesn’t tell you every detail but it helps you to interpret the world.”

He laid out four ways that business owners can reframe their worldview of business to make a greater impact in God’s Kingdom.

1. Rethink the mission of your business

While many are familiar with the concept of business as missions, Sherman challenged the audience to rethink it as business is missions.

He explained that in the business as missions worldview, the work is just a vehicle for evangelism. However, “for a missional business, where business is missions, everything that you do is missional”, he said.

The goal of missional businesses is ultimately to promote human flourishing, he added.

“Wherever you are, whether you are a CEO, a CFO, you’re an entrepreneur, you’re an employee, you are a professional, it’s about causing the environment around you to flourish, so that the Gospel is reflected in your life,” he said.

“I always say that the Gospel is a very good product. You don’t need to oversell it. You just have to do it well.”

2. Operate from a mindset of abundance

In running a business, economics – demand and supply, pricing mechanisms, marginal utility and so on – plays a big role. However, Sherman noted that economics, which is essentially about how to deal with limited resources, is a concept that only came into play after the fall.

“When God created the Garden of Eden, He put two humans in there and asked them to expand the Garden of Eden. It was managing abundance. There wasn’t a mindset of lack,” he said.

Therefore, if we, as God’s children in the workplace, are to bring God’s Kingdom here on earth, then we need to go back to this mindset of abundance, rather than hold on to the worldly mindset of scarcity.

“Sure, we must be prudent and scrupulous in how we spend money, but if we deal with our businesses with a pure scarcity mindset, what is going to happen is that you’re going to manipulate people, you’re going to squeeze every last drop,” he said.

However, if we remember that we are loved and cared for as children of a sovereign God who has abundant resources, then we will operate our businesses very differently.

“Only orphans believe in scarcity, in a lack, in not enough.”

Sherman challenged the cohort to think “business is missions”, reflecting God’s glory in one’s life and operating from a position of abundance.

3. Ask how your business can be redemptive

Sherman also challenged Christian business owners to go beyond just running an ethical business, and instead make it a redemptive one.

To elaborate, he told a story of three builders who decided to build a mill and start a business during a time of recession and famine.

The first builder, an exploitative one, took full advantage of people’s desperation and lack, and charged exorbitant prices for the flour and bread his mill produced. Left with no choice, the people sold their land and houses, and gave away their children’s inheritances just to buy from him.

“This builder’s business thrived, but the community grew weaker while he grew fatter. He became a parasite feeding on people’s desperation,” said Sherman.

The second builder, an ethical one, set fair prices that allowed him to sustain his family, make a good living and keep his business strong. He followed the rules, paid his workers on time, and ensured that no one was cheated by producing a genuinely good product.

“People respected him and he did no harm. But although he prevented injustice, he also stopped short at healing what was broken,” Sherman noted.

The third builder looked at his business with a redemptive mindset. So, he built his mill not just for profit but for renewal. He hired whoever was in need of a job, taught them skills and helped them rebuild their lives. He set out grain for those who could not pay, and planted new fields and built new mills so that he could hire more people in need.

“His business not only avoided harm, it healed wounds and gave hope to people. His mills became a place of restoration, not just transaction,” said Sherman.

Having a redemptive mindset in business essentially asks the deeper question: What would love do in this situation?

“Love would want things to flourish. Love would want God’s creation to flourish. Love would want the flourishing on humankind, because God loves people,” said Sherman.

Pointing to the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), he added that stewardship is about caring, preserving and growing the resources that God has entrusted to us. 

“If your idea of stewardship is to spend as little money as possible, lose as little as possible, I want to suggest to you, ask yourself if that’s a scarcity mindset. Because when Jesus gives you something, he expects you to either add to it or multiply it,” he said.

“God’s mindset is always about growth.”

4. Forget the sacred-secular divide

We often think that there’s a sacred-secular divide – for example, that the calling of a pastor is holier than that of a working professional, or that the time we spend doing ministry in church is more important than the time we spend in the workplace.

But “there really isn’t a hierarchy of calling”, said Sherman. Rather, when we put God first in all aspects of our life and work, be it in or out of a church setting, whatever we do is sacred.

“To break down the sacred-secular divide, you need to understand that whatever you do, do with all your heart as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23). Your work is worship.”

He noted that the words “work” and “worship” can be translated into the same Hebrew word “avodah”. “So when you’re working, you’re actually worshipping … and God delights when we worship Him.”

Using the analogy of a kingdom, Sherman went on to explain that every kingdom has a king who rules over his subjects by administering laws, ordinances and having governance over them.

As Christians who endeavour to expand God’s Kingdom, we can demonstrate to others what God’s laws and governance look like – for example, forgiveness and blessing your enemies – in our workplaces, which is our sphere of influence. In doing so, we will influence people to come under God’s Kingdom and worship Him.

“To sum it up, our marketplace mantra is as follows: Our work is our worship. Our career is our calling. Our posting is our parish. Our position is our pulpit,” he said.

Nevertheless, he acknowledged that running a missional business is no easy feat, and urged business owners to grow in their personal relationship with Christ and be led by Him.

“Sometimes the decisions are not so obvious, so you need to have that compass in you to know what the Lord is doing. It’s not enough to just read and grow in your knowledge, in your mind. You need to know the person of Jesus Christ. He has given you the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you.”

About the School of Gatekeepers

The School of Gatekeepers (SOG) is a signature programme of Gatekeepers (Singapore), intended to fulfil the objective of intentional discipleship of marketplace Christians to live out Kingdom values that influence the culture of their workplace, industry, society and nations.

SOG provides a personal, pastoral and professional experience for local and regional marketplace believers who desire to make disciples of the nations. After being equipped with a Kingdom identity and worldview, inspired by lived-out values, and given practical tools, SOG graduates are invited to join the Gatekeepers community for continued learning, support and Kingdom collaborations that address society’s issues upstream.

Click here to find out more about Gatekeepers Registration for SOG 2026 is open. Click here to register.

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