What are ways we can creatively use business to do God's work?
Last week, our discussion focused on one of the roles of work in Creation: to serve as a reflection of God's creativity. This week, I wonder if we can come up with some ideas as to how we can actually do this.
I saw an amazing example of this creativity at work last Thursday when Muhammad Yunus, an entrepreneur from Bangladesh, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the success he has had in using business to pull people out of poverty.
Yunus got the idea when he saw 42 women struggling to live off of their meager wages so he loaned them $27 (yes, $0.64/each) to buy straw to start their own stool-making business. Soon after, Yunus started the Grameen Bank to offer these small loans (microcredit) to poor entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. (Link to the Washington Post article about Yunus and the Grameen Bank: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/13/AR2006101300211.html)
The Noble Committee's citation had some amazing quotes (link to full text: http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-10-13T092143Z_01_L12831304_RTRIDST_0_NOBEL-PEACE-TEXT.XML) but the one that struck me most was: "Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea..." And now: "Microcredit has proved to be an important liberating force in societies where women in particular have to struggle against repressive social and economic conditions."
This ought to be a quote we carry around with us for anyone who says Godly business is impossible. It appeared impossible but the Grameen Bank has successfully pulled thousands of people out of poverty and, by the way, it happens to be good business: the bank has 6.6 million customers and a 98% repayment rate.
I believe we have a responsibility as Christians to find ways to conduct business like this. But how?
It seems to me the first question we have to ask is "What is God's work?" Some answers to that might be serving the poor, caring for orphans and widows, and sharing the Gospel. Here are some examples of professions/jobs that seem to be Godly based on scripture:
1) Tending -- God has created some amazing systems that He asks us to tend. We can see this in Adam tending the Garden (Genesis 2:15), David tending his flock (1 Samuel 16:11), the Levites tending the tabernacle (Numbers 1:50-54), and Peter tending the Church (John 21:15-19).
2) Reaping -- the fishermen disciples (Matthew 4:18-20) simply reaped the bounty of God's creation.
3) Resolving -- We have created some real problems that now must be resolved. We can see an example of God commissioning Moses to resolve problems through Jethro in Exodus 18:19-23. The Bible also has countless passages encouraging us to serve the poor through work (Exodus 23:11; Leviticus 19:10, 23:22; Deuteronomy 15:11, 24:12-15; Proverbs 22; Luke 4:18, 14:13; etc.; etc.).
4) Teaching -- Moses was to teach the decrees and laws (Exodus 18:20), Belazel and Oholiab were to teach their skills in Exodus 35:34, and Aaron and the priests were called to teach in Leviticus 10:11.
5) Creating -- Both Jesus and Paul created goods, Jesus as a carpenter (Mark 6:3) and Paul as a tentmaker (Acts 18:2-4). God also commissioned "master craftsmen and designers" in Exodus 35:30-35.
I'm sure there are many more, so post them if you have them.
Now we have to realize that each of these can be done in a way that is not Godly. If we are not intentional about keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, we will create products that shouldn't exist, teach things that shouldn't be taught, and end up create more problems that need to be resolved.
So how do we do God's work in today's economy? I think we have to get creative.
Yunus was a finance guy -- he could have used his expertise to start a bank that offered traditional banking products like home equity loans to upper-middle class Americans. Instead, according to their website, "Grameen Bank has reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral and created a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity."
An example of that creativity: "The Grameen Bank is based on the voluntary formation of small groups of five people to provide mutual, morally binding group guarantees in lieu of the collateral required by conventional banks. At first only two members of a group are allowed to apply for a loan. Depending on their performance in repayment the next two borrowers can then apply and, subsequently, the fifth member as well. The assumption is that if individual borrowers are given access to credit, they will be able to identify and engage in viable income-generating activities - simple processing such as paddy husking, lime-making, manufacturing such as pottery, weaving, and garment sewing, storage and marketing and transport services."
So what are ways you have or could creatively do God's work? How can we use business to serve the poor or protect/preserve the environment?
This isn't quite the philosophical discussion we've had over the past weeks (unless you want to chime in on the types of Godly work), but rather more of the practical application. Maybe it's starting a business like a coffee shop that uses the "community globalization" model discussed a couple of weeks ago to sell all fair-trade coffee and lift Guatemalan coffee farmers out of poverty. Maybe inventing something like a device that enables customers to recycle and reuse the plastic bags they get from the grocery store. Maybe it's getting your current employer to channel their expertise into the community to provide discounted or free products or services. What are some more ideas?
For more information on Yunus and the Grameen Bank:
http://www.grameenfoundation.org/welcome/muhammad_yunus/
http://www.grameen-info.org/
I saw an amazing example of this creativity at work last Thursday when Muhammad Yunus, an entrepreneur from Bangladesh, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the success he has had in using business to pull people out of poverty.
Yunus got the idea when he saw 42 women struggling to live off of their meager wages so he loaned them $27 (yes, $0.64/each) to buy straw to start their own stool-making business. Soon after, Yunus started the Grameen Bank to offer these small loans (microcredit) to poor entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. (Link to the Washington Post article about Yunus and the Grameen Bank: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/13/AR2006101300211.html)
The Noble Committee's citation had some amazing quotes (link to full text: http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-10-13T092143Z_01_L12831304_RTRIDST_0_NOBEL-PEACE-TEXT.XML) but the one that struck me most was: "Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea..." And now: "Microcredit has proved to be an important liberating force in societies where women in particular have to struggle against repressive social and economic conditions."
This ought to be a quote we carry around with us for anyone who says Godly business is impossible. It appeared impossible but the Grameen Bank has successfully pulled thousands of people out of poverty and, by the way, it happens to be good business: the bank has 6.6 million customers and a 98% repayment rate.
I believe we have a responsibility as Christians to find ways to conduct business like this. But how?
It seems to me the first question we have to ask is "What is God's work?" Some answers to that might be serving the poor, caring for orphans and widows, and sharing the Gospel. Here are some examples of professions/jobs that seem to be Godly based on scripture:
1) Tending -- God has created some amazing systems that He asks us to tend. We can see this in Adam tending the Garden (Genesis 2:15), David tending his flock (1 Samuel 16:11), the Levites tending the tabernacle (Numbers 1:50-54), and Peter tending the Church (John 21:15-19).
2) Reaping -- the fishermen disciples (Matthew 4:18-20) simply reaped the bounty of God's creation.
3) Resolving -- We have created some real problems that now must be resolved. We can see an example of God commissioning Moses to resolve problems through Jethro in Exodus 18:19-23. The Bible also has countless passages encouraging us to serve the poor through work (Exodus 23:11; Leviticus 19:10, 23:22; Deuteronomy 15:11, 24:12-15; Proverbs 22; Luke 4:18, 14:13; etc.; etc.).
4) Teaching -- Moses was to teach the decrees and laws (Exodus 18:20), Belazel and Oholiab were to teach their skills in Exodus 35:34, and Aaron and the priests were called to teach in Leviticus 10:11.
5) Creating -- Both Jesus and Paul created goods, Jesus as a carpenter (Mark 6:3) and Paul as a tentmaker (Acts 18:2-4). God also commissioned "master craftsmen and designers" in Exodus 35:30-35.
I'm sure there are many more, so post them if you have them.
Now we have to realize that each of these can be done in a way that is not Godly. If we are not intentional about keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, we will create products that shouldn't exist, teach things that shouldn't be taught, and end up create more problems that need to be resolved.
So how do we do God's work in today's economy? I think we have to get creative.
Yunus was a finance guy -- he could have used his expertise to start a bank that offered traditional banking products like home equity loans to upper-middle class Americans. Instead, according to their website, "Grameen Bank has reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral and created a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity."
An example of that creativity: "The Grameen Bank is based on the voluntary formation of small groups of five people to provide mutual, morally binding group guarantees in lieu of the collateral required by conventional banks. At first only two members of a group are allowed to apply for a loan. Depending on their performance in repayment the next two borrowers can then apply and, subsequently, the fifth member as well. The assumption is that if individual borrowers are given access to credit, they will be able to identify and engage in viable income-generating activities - simple processing such as paddy husking, lime-making, manufacturing such as pottery, weaving, and garment sewing, storage and marketing and transport services."
So what are ways you have or could creatively do God's work? How can we use business to serve the poor or protect/preserve the environment?
This isn't quite the philosophical discussion we've had over the past weeks (unless you want to chime in on the types of Godly work), but rather more of the practical application. Maybe it's starting a business like a coffee shop that uses the "community globalization" model discussed a couple of weeks ago to sell all fair-trade coffee and lift Guatemalan coffee farmers out of poverty. Maybe inventing something like a device that enables customers to recycle and reuse the plastic bags they get from the grocery store. Maybe it's getting your current employer to channel their expertise into the community to provide discounted or free products or services. What are some more ideas?
For more information on Yunus and the Grameen Bank:
http://www.grameenfoundation.org/welcome/muhammad_yunus/
http://www.grameen-info.org/
posted by Matthew at 1:24 PM
4 Comments:
Great article and even better topic. I can't agree with him more about helping people. I would bet that he did not only loan those people the money but he led them on how to start a business and possibly how to take care of their money when they got it. there was some sort of mentorship and leadership invloved. I think that is where we come in as Christians, to become leaders and mentors to not just give of ourselves but to teach others how they can do the same. I am one of the fortunate maybe because my brother introduced me to business idea that has an incredible system that teaches exactly what Matt and Yunnus talk about. imagine having the ability in these times where people all across our nation are poor in the Word, time poor, money/ credit poor, relationship poor, etc, to help people with your time and a System that can change that for them. we can't force people to increase their wealth in these areas but we can lead those who are willing to go on Faith that there is a better way. I know I am not perfect at what I am doing but I am working to get better everyday at it. There is hope for a better future for the world we live in. It starts with us as Christians taking the responsibility and then sharing and leading others in that direction.
This is officially my first blog comment ever. I'm a little nervous.
Typically, I try to gather all the data, read all the articles, dig into scripture and then post, but this has proven to lead to one outcome: not posting. So, this time I'm going to fire from the hip a bit more while striving to maintain the impetus of Scripture based comments (which I think is GREAT, can't over-emphasize that).
First, Yunus is the man. This guy just sounds cool from the couple of interviews I heard with him last week. Between the lines of what he said I heard, "This doesn't have to be so complicated." See a need; address it.
I constantly struggle - as I'm sure we all do - with what I will do with my life, what is God calling me to, what am I made to do? Very much, I believe, in line with the topic this week. One word consistently comes to mind in the last couple of years: equip. I want to be about preparing people for the challenges they will face in this life. More accurately, I hope and desire that God would do this through me. I love what Robert had to say about mentoring. People who are poor (in all of the ways robert mentioned - guess that includes me) don't simply need food, money, shelter, or whatever. This is likely not a revolutionary concept. So perhaps equipping looks like a million different things, befriending the unfriendly, loving the unlovely, moving to a neighborhood that's outside of your social or econcomic level, working overseas in under-developed countries, disaster relief, shoot just being radically devoted to a friend who needs it.
A few months ago, I heard a common saying that I keep thinking of (why I had never heard it, I have no idea, I tend to be naive): "Teach a man to fish..." Such a simple, physical thing, but so many parallels to personal finance, study of the Word, how to work hard, etc.
Well, I'm certainly no practical expert in a lot of these things. Mostly, it's theory with a little bit of practice within the realm of comfort. My prayer, though, is that God would open my eyes to opportunities to equip, that I'd have the courage to take them, and be prepared for them, in the meantime.
Alex and Robert,
What are some specific examples of actual businesses/practices you think we can pursue? How can we mentor/equip/teach a man to fish in a Godly way? Should each of us simply try to do that in our current profit-seeking jobs or should we seek first business contexts that are Godly before mentoring?
I did a little research yesterday and found some facts that are simply incredible:
- There are 48 million orphans in Africa (source: www.cnn.com)
- Today across the world 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar a day; 3 billion live on under two dollars a day; 1.3 billion have no access to clean water; 3 billion have no access to sanitation; 2 billion have no access to electricity (source: www.globalissues.org)
- Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names
- Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific
- According to UNICEF, 30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they "die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death." That is about 210,000 children each week, or just under 11 million children under five years of age, each year.
- The richest 50 million people in Europe and North America have the same income as 2.7 billion poor people. "The slice of the cake taken by 1% is the same size as that handed to the poorest 57%."
- Humans have destroyed more than 30 percent of the natural world since 1970
- In Africa, 6300 die every day from AIDS, 5 die every minute (source: www.mochaclub.org)
- The average American household spent $1500 each week in 2005 – adding up to $78,000 in expenditures for the year (source: www.adage.com)
- More than one billion people lack access to a safe supply of drinking water (source: www.water.org)
- Water-related diseases are the leading cause of death in the world killing more than 14,000 people each day and causing 80% of all sickness in the world.
- The average American individual uses 100 to 176 gallons of water at home each day. The average African family uses about 5 gallons of water each day.
Approximately 60 to 70% of the rural population in the developing world have neither access to a safe and convenient source of water nor a satisfactory means of waste disposal.
I don't know about you, but it's hard for me to read this and go back to formatting PowerPoint presentations. What can we do? How can we creatively attack these problems in a way that brings glory to God?
In answer to Matt's questions, i think the first thing we need to do is find a mentor who has the fruit on the tree. Someone who does what you aspire to do. We can't fix something that we have no experience with. Once we find that mentor we can become mentors to others. If you and a small group can start a business that becomes successful we can accomplish 2 things. 1, we can give money where it is needed to help some of the less priviliged in the US and the world. There are charities that need our money that already go out and make a difference. and 2, we can teach people to teach people how to better their lives thru starting their own business. It all starts with us getting out of our comfort zones and changing. then submitting to someone who may know a little more than what we do. I think we can make a difference.
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