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

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>