As a Christian and a financial journalist, I have never understood the coy unwillingness so many Christians have in connecting business and Christianity. Oh yes, we like businesspeople for the money they put in the collection, but they are not, in general, given support to live Christ's way in their workplace. We don't think about their lives, though our anti-business prejudice grows every time we read of big business excess, or when lack of transparency and iffy accountancy practices deliver another corporate scandal and share slump, which affects our pensions. And yet Christian businesspeople, who must work such long hours in such a competitive climate, have never needed more support.

The prevailing ambivalence to business also extends to money, that great by-product of business energy. This Mammon column has received huge support from many readers, but has also been criticised, interestingly often by those who control the purse strings, who feel a financial column has no place in a church magazine. As if the Church of Scotland has not led the way with great courage in ethical investment, years before it became fashionable, and is unaffected by having its HQ in the fourth largest financial services centre in Europe.

So in this last Mammon column, I would ask every church community to encourage the Christians they know working in business, to ask for God's guidance.

One of the most exciting, innovative projects in the Church of Scotland at present is Oasis (0131 229 1142 http://www.oasisedinburgh.com) which serves the 12,000 strong business community in the west end of Princes Street, run from St Cuthbert's in Lothian Road. Minister Peter Neilson and Microsoft consultant Iain Archibald have devised a hard-hitting series of lunchtime talks, which attract management from some of Scotland's biggest employers. I had the privilege of talking to them recently about the long-term effects on business of Sept 11, and I return this month to discuss the life/work balance. How inspiring to see businesspeople wearing suits, in work mode, searching for Christ's message.

Oasis also hit the national press earlier in the year, when it launched UK's first Business Alpha, which attracted participants from four denominations as well as non church backgrounds, with seed funding provided by Oasis members drawn not just from six different congregations but rival companies. How's that for the Holy Spirit at work! In April, their Alpha away-day brought about a deep spiritual awakening in the group. "This was the most warming and peaceful experience I have ever had", wrote one participant.

Oasis plans a second Business Alpha this autumn but why shouldn't an initiative like this be running throughout Scotland? God's way is almost always performed quietly, but wearing my journalist's tin hat, I await with anticipation to see when the effects of the many small actions taken in God's name as a result of Oasis' work, begin to affect our business climate and are reflected in the business pages.

Businesspeople's money does talk loudly. One thinks of active Christian Brian Souter, topping the Sunday Times Rich List in charitable donations and his sister, Anne Gloag who donated £4m to the Mercy Ships. But in every congregation businesspeople should be encouraged to give more than money. A skills audit could reveal huge talent: financial and people management expertise, a solid grounding in public relations and marketing, or a precious streak of 'just do it' entrepreneurialism which works miracles if allowed to flourish. This means taking risks; successful business people in a church context can be uncomfortable company, for they are highly paid to cut through the pecking orders and jobsworth hierarchies.

What's so new? Businesspeople in Scotland traditionally played a huge part in Christian life. Just look at the church buildings, which dominate Scottish high streets, so often paid for by local mercantile chutzpah. Was it the post-war growth of the State, which made us forget our Christian business routes?

A great read is Carol Kennedy's Business Pioneers, which traces the philanthropic and business success of the Sainsbury, Cadbury and John Lewis dynasties, all of whom showed how business in a Christian context could power lasting social change. This was enlightened self interest, for Victorian businessmen living in the shadow of the previous century's revolutions, saw that only peace and social cohesion within a strong shared culture of moral values, could provide the stable conditions business needs to prosper.

What a challenge we face in this new century. "Unrighteous" Mammon must be embraced, both business and businesspeople welcomed, supported and encouraged to pay their special part of our Christian life. As the Church fights for survival, to retain relevance in our secular world, can we afford to do otherwise?