Bearing a radically other-worldly hope

To put it even more sharply: the hope, of which the Church is called to be the bearer in the midst of a famine of hope, is a radically other-worldly hope. Knowing that Jesus is king and that he will come to reign, it fashions its life and invites the whole community to fashion its life in the light of this reality, because every other way of living is based on an illusion. It thus creates signs, parables, foretastes, appetizers of the kingdom in the midst of the hopelessness of the world. (Lesslie Newbigin: Missionary Theologian p146)

How is it possible to engage in entrepreneurship and bear "a radically other-worldly hope"?
There are two typical answers to this question that Christians have taken:

1. Many have said that since we have an other-worldly hope, and this world is passing away, we are not to be enmeshed in it. Those who do not believe in the age to come will engage in entrepreneurship; but we, who believe in the Gospel and the age to come, will engage in evangelism.
2. Many others have denied that we have an other-worldly hope altogether, and have contended that the hope that Christ offers is for this age, and that therefore we ought to be actively engaged in entrepreneurship that brings the kingdom of Christ into the world.

I think that Newbigin gets closer to a Biblical answer to the question when he says,

"Knowing that Jesus is king and that he will come to reign, [the Church] fashions its life and invites the whole community to fashion its life in the light of this reality, because every other way of living is based on an illusion."

As such, the Church does not abdicate her involvement in society because she has an other-worldly hope; nor does she have the illusion that her efforts will establish the kingdom of Christ in this world. Instead, as she fashions all of her life around the reality that Christ is King and is coming to reign in order that through her engagement in temporal affairs, others may experience a foretaste of the kingdom of Christ now, and by faith become partakers of that other-worldly hope.

What others taste of the Kingdom of Christ is but an aperitif. It points to a great, eternal reality. Our businesses and ventures will not endure; but Christ will reign forever as King. This is what makes us bold to engage in entrepreneurship that witnesses to a radically other-worldly hope.