Rethinking Business to Honor God and Change the World [blog series]

During September and October of 2011, I wrote a blog series entitled “Rethinking Business to Honor God and Change the World”. In the wake of the Occupy Wall Street movement that had quickly spread internationally, the tepid economic times, and the slow recovery from the latest Recession, much of the world’s attention was focused on business and how business was done. There was (and still is) a widespread dissatisfaction with how current businesses were run – the greed, scandals, and selfishness associated especially with large corporations.

In light of all this, I asked the question, “How can Business be done differently? How would God want us to run business?” Over two months, I read many books and articles on the subject, interviewed many business owners and people in business, and wrote about the subject.

Here is a summary of the blog posts I wrote:

WHAT IS WRONG WITH BUSINESS?
Why do some people hate business?
Even business students are disillusioned with business
Are salespeople the scum of the earth?
Are corporations psychopathic?
Is advertising to children ethical?
Is there a better way to do business?
Economic theory: My selfishness helps others so it is good
I work hard to make my COO rich
Maximize the good, minimize the evil

STORIES FROM BUSINESS PEOPLE
God's Purpose for Business
Serving Employees First
Are we colleagues first, friends second?
Canadian Office Supplies: Helping Others
Business Must be Profitable, Fun, and Further God's Kingdom
Just Work: A Social Enterprise in Vancouver
The Entrepreneurial Initiative in New York
Start Something that Matters - the TOMS Story
My Ideal Workplace

ALTERNATIVE BUSINESS MODELS
What if God wrote a mission statement for Business?
BAM! An Introduction to Business as Mission
Social Enterprise: Merging the Profit and Non-Profit World
My paper: Rethinking Business to Honor God and Change the World
Occupy Wall Street's message: Business for Good

Occupy Wall Street's message: Business for Good

Occupy Wall Street. Hong Kong. Taipei. Sao Paulo. Paris. Madrid. Berlin. Vancouver. What is this all about anyways? What started as a protest in New York on Sept 17 of this year has now spread to over 900 cities worldwide. Interestingly enough (from a Canadian standpoint), this “trouble” was initiated by a Canadian activist group. According to Wikipedia, they are “mainly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, corporate power and influence over government. The participants’ slogan “We are the 99%” refers to income inequality between the top 1% and the rest of the population.”[1]

The main criticism I’ve heard about this movement is that the people do not know what they are protesting against, that there is no unified message, and that they are protesting against the wrong thing. While this may be true, what is certain is that there are a lot of people not satisfied with the way business and the economy are currently running.

Here’s my take on this:
As consumers, we are sick and tired of being used as businesses' means to their ends: profits.
As employees, we are dissatisfied of being used as our employers' means to their ends: profits.
As shareholders, we are uneasy that the corporations we invest in (stocks, mutual funds, etc) are using questionable methods to maximize value for us.
As citizens of the world, we are appalled that businesses are callously harming the environment in order to make more money.
In my blog’s first post, I wrote about the many good reasons many people hate business: http://networkedblogs.com/lOwMo

My sister recently took her scooter to the Yamaha Dealership and they charged her $641 to service the vehicle. The scooter is only worth $1200. I am pretty sure the mechanic fixed things that did not need to be fixed. Mechanics are notoriously famous for overcharging their customers. I hate it. I hate going to a mechanic and questioning whether or not I’m being ripped off. I feel used. I feel cheated. It makes me feel stupid to pay for something that does not need to be fixed. Now not all mechanics are like that, but I feel like many take advantage of their customers that do not know much about vehicles.

What is the solution? Business for Good. This world desperately needs businesses that are willing to put people over profits. We need businesses that will put the needs of their customers and employees over making a quick buck. We need businesses that will care for the environment. We need businesses that have “doing good” as their end goal, not making profits.

This world needs people that will run businesses to do good. That is the message.
What are businesses that do good? Here's a few of my blog posts about some alternative business models I really like. 
Business as Mission: http://networkedblogs.com/nLHeq
Business as Service: http://networkedblogs.com/nFYza
Social Enterprise: http://networkedblogs.com/o5nQE
Here's the paper I wrote about rethinking business to honor God and change the world for good: http://networkedblogs.com/oDPo5

“What do you think the OCCUPY movement is all about and are you a part of this movement?”

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[1] “Occupy Wall Street”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street. Accessed 27 Oct 2011.

My paper: Rethinking Business to Honor God and Change the World

Over the last two months, I've been working on this paper on what it means to do business to honor God and how business can change the world. This paper is a work in progress, and I hope to continue editing it. I would love to hear your feedback, comments, and suggestions. Please email me or leave a comment on the blog. Thank you.

Rethinking Business to Honor God and Change the World

Just Work: A Social Enterprise in Vancouver

What started out as a ministry that fed people in need has grown into a business that employs people in need. What began as a church's "hand out" of food for the hungry has turned into a "hand up" to the homeless and disabled. This is the story of the JustWork Economic Initiative, a Christian social enterprise that brings the hope of the gospel to the community in Vancouver.

This week I had the privilege to interview Sam Berthoud, the General Manager of JustWork. Many years ago, Grandview Calvary Baptist Church started an "Out of the Cold" ministry to provide food and shelter to people in need. There were many homeless and disabled people that were blessed by this ministry, located on the Eastside of Vancouver. As the ministry matured, the members of Grandview Church began thinking of better and more creative ways to help these people in need. Feeding them and opening up the church for them to stay in were temporary solutions.

In 2005, JustWork started to provide work for the people in the Out of the Cold program. Many of these people suffer from physical disabilities, mental illnesses, homelessness, and addictions, which create barriers preventing them from finding appropriate, steady employment. Because JustWork is a social enterprise focused on social and economic outcomes, they are able to offer 1) safe places of employment with more flexible work hours and job expectations, and 2) work experience and skill development enabling a transition to more regular job situations.

Over the past five years, JustWork has employed 140 people in the business of home renovations, pottery, and catering. Last year JustWork generated over $300,000 in revenues (including donations) and is looking to grow their business so that more people can be employed. As a business, they offer competitive rates and pay their employees a bit above minimum wage for jobs that require minimal trade skills. There are four branches of JustWork: JustWork Home, JustPotters, JustCatering, and JustRenos.

George (not real name) is a disabled man in his 60s. His disability has prevented him from finding a paying job with a business, but he's able to work part-time with JustWork. The government provides George with a disability income of $900/month. He works one day a week at JustWork and is able to make an additional $500/month to supplement his income. This makes a huge difference in his life, and allows him to live in a more decent living space and afford better food and clothing. His job at JustWork also gives him the dignity of contributing to society and earning an income. JustWork employs many people like George part-time, that prefer and are not able to work full-time so that they can continue to benefit from the disability income.

Sam says JustWork prefers to hire people that have support around them (i.e. a church or community), because they have a far better chance of resisting the temptation of going back to their old lifestyle. JustWork always has more workers than business, and a wait list of people wanting to find work.

How can you help? JustWork is looking for more business. Jobs like painting or deck renovations. Jobs like fencing or redo-ing kitchens or gardening. People interested in buying pottery. Catering jobs like conferences or weddings. If you know anyone that needs this type of work done, please have them contact Sam Berthoud at sam.berthoud@justwork.ca or visit their website www.justwork.ca. More information can be found at their blog www.thejustworkblog.blogspot.com.

I am a member of Tenth Church in Vancouver, and we also have an Out of the Cold ministry. As this ministry matures, I hope that our community might be able to join or start a social enterprise like JustWork to help our members in need find work as well. This is a hopeful, creative way that business can bring honour to God and change the community for the better.

Do you know of any social enterprises? If so, please let me know, as I am collecting the stories of social enterprises in Canada.

Social Enterprise: merging the profit and non-profit world

Dr. Michael Hodson teaches a class on Christian Social Enterprise (CSE) at Regent College, and defines a CSE as “an enterprise that funds its operations through generating income from the sale of goods or services yet doesn’t seek to maximize profits and consciously seeks to set its aims, strategy, ways of operating and relations with others according to the teaching and example of Christ.”[1] Like other businesses, a CSE produces goods and services that it sells to make a profit. How it is different is that it seeks not to maximize profits, rather its primary motivation is to be socially redemptive.[2]

In Britain, social enterprises are growing in popularity, and serve as a combination of commercial and volunteer sectors. Social enterprises or “social businesses” are impacting British communities through employing unskilled and previously unemployed workers to provide goods and services. Among the group of “social entrepreneurs” are Christians who create CSEs to bring the Kingdom of God to the country’s needy areas.[3]

A great example of a Christian Social Enterprise is the Just Work Economic Initiative, which has emerged from the life and ministry of Grandview Calvary Baptist Church in Vancouver. Just Work employs mainly people with physical disabilities, mental illnesses, additions, or people that are homeless in doing landscape gardening, pottery-making, catering, and building maintenance and minor renovations. David Holcumb, the program director of these social enterprises says, “JustWork exists to help provide that kind of work opportunity for people who need it to supplement the basic [disability] support that they would receive from the government.”[4]

“Well-designed social enterprises are participating in God’s plan for humanity in at least the following ways: 1) creating and promoting – as God did and does – things that are good; 2) working toward the restoration of God’s created world by providing productive, meaningful, and dignified work (i.e., the restoration of personhood), by tending to and responsibly using natural resources (i.e., the restoration of the earth), and by fostering a spirit of cooperation and selflessness between enterprises and within society (i.e. the restoration of relationships); and 3) reflecting the character and redemptive purpose of God – the image of God – through an attitude of loving servanthood.”[5]

Another example of a Christian Social Enterprise is TOMS. Blake Mycoskie founded TOMS in 2006 after going on a trip to Argentina and seeing the extreme poverty, health conditions, and many children walking without shoes. With every pair of shoes that are sold, TOMS gives a new pair of shoes to a child in need. Their motto is “One for One.” What started with selling shoes has grown to selling eyeglasses. The same principle applies. One pair of glasses sold, one pair of glasses given to someone in need. Employees that have worked for TOMS for a year can go on a “shoe drop”, joining a trip to bring shoes to children in need.[6]

One thing to consider with CSEs is whether these enterprises are giving up growth potential by designating a portion of their resources towards a social cause (rather than reinvesting in the company). Starting a new business is difficult enough as it is. According to Silver Lining’s CEO Carissa Reiniger, who has worked with thousands of small business owners, 90% of new businesses fail in their first year. One could imagine the increased difficulty for success when adding the element of doing good for society on top of the need to make the business profitable.

One question I have is whether social enterprise is an efficient way to doing good. The current model is for businesses to focus on maximizing profit, and then out of their profits give to charities and governments (by being taxed) that focus on doing good in society. In a sense, a social enterprise is a business giving up some of its profits to do good in society. Rather than focusing a core competency, it tries to do both business and social good.

Is Social Enterprise the best of both worlds or an example of "Jack of all trades but master of none"?

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[1] “Business as Mission: Engaging with Christian Social Enterprise Course”, Regent College Marketplace Institute. 24 June 2010. Web. 15 Sep 2011.

[2] Stirk, Frank. “Entrepreneur, do you love me?” Christian Week. 20 Nov 2009. Web. 15 Sep 2011. <www.christianweek.org>

[3] “Soul Business – the rise of Britian’s Christian Social Entrepreneurs”, FaithWorks. 15 Sep 2011. Web. 15 Sept 2011.

[4] Stirk, Frank. “Entrepreneur, do you love me?” Christian Week. 20 Nov 2009. Web. 15 Sep 2011. <www.christianweek.org>

[5] Lee, Lucas. “The Vision”, an assignment prepared for Dr. Michael Hodson of Regent College. 1 Jun 2011.

[6] “One for One Movement”, Toms. Web. 16 Sep 2011. <www.toms.com>

BAM! An introduction to Business as Mission

Business as Mission (often referred to as BAM) companies are for-profit commercial enterprises that seek to do economic, social, and spiritual good in a community. BAM companies often operate cross-culturally, strategically placed to reach people in countries that are closed to the gospel.

“BAM is not solely oriented toward evangelism or discipleship; it is holistic – reaching the whole needs of the whole of humanity everywhere.”[1] The 2004 Lausanne Working Group 30 on Business as Mission was composed of sixty-eight BAM activists from twenty-eight countries. In the paper that was written, the result of a week of discussion, they say that BAM originates from the theological premise that Christians are called to love and serve God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, as well as to love and serve their neighbours.[2] “Business as Mission is based on the principle of holistic mission. BAM’s ultimate bottom line is ad majorem Dei gloriam – ‘for the greater glory of God.’”[3]

Business as Mission started when Christians saw that missionaries were getting evicted from closed countries, but business people were welcomed into those nations. Christian business people started to establish real, for-profit businesses in those countries, adding value to the society while building trust and credibility to share the gospel.[4]

"BAM is broadly defined as a for-profit commercial business venture Christ led, intentionally devoted to being used as an instrument of God’s mission (missio Dei) to the world, and is operated in a cross-cultural environment, either domestic or international."[5] While the growing corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement emphasizes a “triple bottom-line” impact of financial, social, and environmental outcomes, BAM affirms all this but includes a 4^th bottom line. This bottom line is a spiritual outcome, intentionally honouring Christ and seeing Him transform lives through business. “BAM is CSR+… where the + can be seen as a cross – putting everything under the Lordship of Christ.”[6]


Do you know any Business as Mission ventures?

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[1] Johnson, Neal, Business as Mission. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2010), 22.

[2] Matt 22:34-40; Luke 10:27

[3] Adapted from “Business as Mission,” Lausanne Occasional Paper No.59, Sep29-Oct5, 2004, in The Lausanne Movement, <http://www.businessasmission.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Documents/
Lausanne_Occasional_Paper_on_Business_as_Mission.pdf >.

[4] Johnson, Neal, 32.

[5] Ibid., 28.
[6] Tunehag, Mats. “The Mission of Business: CSR+.” Connections – The Journal of the WEA Mission Commission. Aug 2009 Vol 8. No 2. Web. 15 Sept 2011. <www.WEAConnections.com>

What if God wrote a mission statement for Business?

What if God wrote a mission statement for Business? That's the question that Jeff Van Duzer, dean of Seattle Pacific University (a Christian university started in 1891 by the Free Methodists), asks in his book Why Business Matters to God (And What Still Needs to be Fixed). The answer to his question is reflected in the "Business as Service" model. 

Businesses exist not to maximize profits, but to serve people. Traditional businesses serve customers and employees as a means to the ultimate ends of maximizing profits. The Business as Service company sees generating profits as a means to its ends, which is to serve its customers and its employees.

Jeff writes, “I would conclude that at this time in history, there are two legitimate, first-order, intrinsic purpose of business: as stewards of God’s creation, business leaders should manage their businesses (1) to provide the community with goods and services that will enable it to flourish, and (2) to provide opportunities for meaningful work that will allow employees to express their God-given creativity.” [1]

Besides pursuing the twin goals of serving customers and employees, the Business as Service companies should seek to do so within the limits of sustainability. The decisions should be limited to the need to operate in ways that “do no harm” to any of the business’s stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, the environment, and the community.[2]

The Business as Service model originates from the Creation Mandate given to Adam and Eve by God in Genesis 1 and 2. Jeff Van Duzer breaks down the Creation Mandate into several parts.[3]

1)   Human beings are called to steward God’s creation.

2)   Human beings are made in the image of God and thus created to be in relationship with God and with other people.

3)   Human beings are made in the image of God and thus created to work like God did. “Adam and Eve were called to creatively organize (name the animals) and manage these resources (take dominion), to enhance the productivity of the Garden (be fruitful and multiply) in a sustainable (guard creation) manner.”[4]

4)   Humans are made to live within limits. Though made in the image of God, men and women are inherently limited and created to live within boundaries.

5)   God delights in variety and created humans to complement one another, as Eve was created different from Adam, yet complementary.

6)   “God intended that men and would take the raw materials that had been provided and, in partnership with God, help to grow and construct the kingdom here on earth.”[5] Humans are called to co-create with God, to cause the Earth to flourish and be fruitful.

7)   Human beings are called to be fruitful and multiply, to enjoy sexual-relations and produce offspring.

Businesses should see themselves as not the only institution to attempt to fulfill God’s mandates given in Genesis 1 and 2, but a part of many institutions each playing a unique, yet complementary role. Van Duzer writes that certain institutions are better suited for certain tasks within the Cultural Mandate. For example, the family is a better institution for the bearing and raising of children (be fruitful and multiply). The church and neighbourhood might be the best settings to nurture community. The government may be in a better position to assume primary responsibility for guarding creation.[6]

As businesses pursue its purposes of enabling creative work (innovation) and producing community-flourishing products (productivity) in a sustainable manner, it should be mindful of the fact that it was designed to work in partnership with all other institutions in order that they might collectively advance God’s kingdom on earth. Whenever possible, business managers should operate their businesses that respect other institutional agendas and wherever possible, look for opportunities for collaboration to advance the common good.[7]

What do you think about the Business as Service model? Agree or disagree?

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[1] Van Duzer, Jeff, Why Business Matters to God. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2010), 42.  [2] Ibid., 28.  [3] Ibid., 27-38.  [4] Ibid., 33.  [5] Ibid., 38.  [6] Ibid., 40-41.  [7] Ibid., 168