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

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?

---

[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>