Eden's Bridge

(With a special shout out to my newly acquired friends, SB and DH.)

In the midst of a recent conversation, Isaiah 40:31 – “Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.” – seemed suddenly clear as a model for Christian entrepreneurship and business life-cycling.

Having been a three-peat entrepreneur, I understand perfectly the energy and excitement of launching a new enterprise. Since any new undertaking is battling inertia – trying to get something rolling where no action has previously occurred – the energy level that entrepreneurs bring to the table is one of the four most critical components to early growth and sustainability (the others being location, capital, and marketing plan, at least to my thinking).

The energy required is drawn from the zeal of our belief that the undertaking itself is not only a good idea but borders on destiny or fate or calling, or whatever other terms (or combinations thereof) might seem most appropriate. That that energy is present is critical in that the specific challenges of a start-up are unique to that phase of business development. It is good, then, that in that phase we should soar or mount up with wings like eagles. First, our vision must be acute. While embedded in the diverse hat-wearing, often filling many roles in a single day within the organization, the entrepreneur must ever keep eyes wide open to see the broader landscape and be prepared to adjust their flight direction, speed, and trajectory to hit specific targets in real time. The combination of eagle-like vision and the altitude of its flight in search of prey lend themselves analogously to the entrepreneur’s readiness and ability to strike quickly when opportunity presents itself.

The second phase of the business life cycle is an interim phase after the launch has gained some footing but is not yet classified as a mature endeavor. This transitional phase will find the business leader often still wearing many different hats, despite having already fitted suitable matches to several key positions within the enterprise. In this phase, the leader may still be clarifying vision, for investors and key personnel alike, dealing with many unexpected developments on a daily, or at least weekly, basis, and nuancing the company’s product or service offerings within the greater context of its targeted markets or their industry at-large. Running without tiring requires clinging to that initial energy brought by the sense of destiny as the company begins its transition toward maturity. It is still a very formative time in many ways and may require significant shifts that need thought through, explaining, multiple revision, and long hours of diligence to bring a level of consistency and durability to the enterprise.

This phase of the business requires a special endurance, like running or cycling, that can be bone-wearying but compelled to keep putting one foot in front of the other or turning the pedals at a heightened but disciplined pace. The business leader will be challenged by turns and rises where off-loading tasks and building trust in others will be necessary for them to sustain themselves and the enterprise for a longer term than the initial, sprint-like race of the start-up phase. Anyone who has trained in endurance sports will recognize there is a level of pain and suffering that must not only be tolerated but embraced to reach the goals necessary. Sometimes it is as simple as picking a particular point on the horizon as the next achievable goal while the finish line is still far off and nowhere in sight.

The final phase of an enterprise (and one can easily equate this sequence of mount up – run – walk with the phases of spiritual maturity) is one of settled trust and continued diligence, not just in effort but of oversight. Once an enterprise has achieved an enduring level of sustainable profitability, there are yet dangers along the road. It is not a time for laxity or sitting down. Rather, as any through-hiker on the Appalachian Trail will attest, some days the temptation to simply “stay put” must be resisted. There is an adage in business that unless you are moving forward, you are falling behind. The marketplace has always been and shall always be an evolving environment. Companies must introduce new products and services, or innovate on old ones, to keep pace with customer demands and the offerings of competitors. It is no time to rest on one’s laurels but the pace is one that can more carefully take in the details of the surrounding landscape and adapt with greater precision than when rushing headlong, like the downward strike flight of the eagle, or seeing with the often blurry vision of a runner.

In this phase, the ultimate endurance is required because there truly is no end in sight to the journey. It is a journey, to draw on a spiritual parallel, into perpetuity. The business leader must have arrived at a level of trust in the operation and the personnel in which only minor adjustments to either become the norm. But those minor adjustments represent the final path to overt excellence just as a master builder hones his craft, increasing both the aesthetic and material quality of their work over time. In the end, the master is sought out, their work more highly valued than the surrounding players in their market, commanding greater value in their work and their profitability. The subtle nuances, over time, will ensure the long term livelihood of the company, its employees, vendors, and community.

But the wisdom key to Isaiah 40:31 is in its opening phrasing: “Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength.” Any entrepreneur, and especially those who have started and operated their business over an extended period, can tell you that running a business is an arduous, often draining, endeavor. There are two components in this opening phrase of critical importance to the marketplace life of a Christian: waiting on the Lord and gaining new strength.

The Hebrew term most typically translated here as wait, is qavah, which means to “wait for with hope and expectation.” We see the damage done when Israel went up against Ai despite the Lord’s warning (Joshua 7). Or when Saul acted presumptuously by seeking the counsel of the medium at Endor (1 Samuel 28) rather than seeking the Lord for direction. Or when Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, offered “strange fire” before the Lord (Leviticus 10:1).

I often find myself mentally equating the exhortation to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) to waiting on the Lord and being still and knowing God (Psalm 46:10). There is, obviously, throughout Scripture the idea that God’s wisdom is far above our own and that by finding and following the counsel of God, we shall prosper. The human spirit, will, and intellect are enormously gifted in developing discipline, creativity, and reasoning. There are many solutions that we can create – such as finding a need in the marketplace and filling it – of our own volition and inventiveness. But we are fairly warned by the infamous (and when appropriate, omninous) opening words of Psalm 127:1: “Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it.”

God provides the impetus and sustainability for creation. As the beginning and end of all reality, it is only by God’s design that creation truly prospers. As we seek and align ourselves with the will and ways of God, we shall find the energy, the strength, to endure all the phases of our entrepreneurial endeavors. Only then will our efforts be perfectly sustainable, life-inducing, and productive as it was in the Garden of Eden. Where the Lord leads (builds a house), he gives the wisdom, gifts, opportunities, and energy to succeed to those who are willing to wait, listen, and obey, and we shall not grow tired or become weary but shall soar where the whole world can see what the Lord has done to his glory.

Sawasdee (pronounced sa-wa-dtee) cup (spoken by men, Sawasdee ca by women) is the most common Thai greeting, stated with both hands flat together in front of the chest and a slight bow. It originates from the Sanskrit and means “well being,” much as shalom does in Hebrew.

As I await my departure to the airport to began the long journey home to Atlanta, Georgia, it is not at all difficult to know where to begin in reflecting on the Global BAM (business-as-mission) Congress that just wrapped up yesterday (April 28, 2012) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I must begin in worship and praise for our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. If ever I have been encouraged and energized for God’s mission in the world, this conference was likely my greatest experience on those lines. It was humbling to meet so many who are laying down their lives for those suffering the dehumanizing life of poverty, and especially those victimized by human trafficking.

Some 530 delegates gathered from more countries than I can recount (I am sure a final tally will eventually become known) from all around the world from every continent save Antarctica. The keynote speakers and break out session presenters addressed the issue group concerns as each group prepares to submit final reports in June after a year long, transnational virtual think tank collaboration. There were sixteen issue groups in all (see at http://bamthinktank.org/process/) and it became apparent there could easily have been groups developed around many, many more! I was blessed to have taken part in two issue groups during the think tank phase – advocacy and mobilization (how do we get the global Church engaged in being Christ in and through the marketplace?) and biblical models (laying a sound theological and biblical foundation on which a solid “house” of BAM can be constructed as we go forward). If you have read much of my blog, you know the biblical and theological cases are very near my heart. I have said repeatedly, “You would never build a house without a sure foundation, but this one is being built on the Rock.”

More importantly than even the thought work to come of it, the Congress was about creating new and solidifying old connections among colleagues in the business-as-mission movement. Before, between, and after sessions, it seemed I found myself in one-to-one meetings, all but one entirely unplanned but perfectly arranged and timed by the Holy Spirit, from breakfast to midnight almost everyday. I now have covenant bonds with a church-planting brother in Pakistan, a pastor-cum-BAMmer transitioning in South Korea, and an academic leader from Down Under, to note but three. But there are many more I spent time with, sharing in the glow of Christ’s presence among us and seeking his guidance as we move together, many workers joined to one commitment: the Kingdom of God, coming even now on earth as it is in heaven. It is apparent, God has a purpose in all and each of these new relationships.

The worship sessions each morning were among the most anointed I have ever experienced. There was no division of denominations or national boundaries here. Here was one voice, of many origins, nations, and languages, joined together, five hundred strong, lifting praises to a God more glorious and loving than we can ever imagine. If nothing else occurred in Chiang Mai, that Christ was lifted up assures us that the Word goes forth and we are promised that it shall not return void of accomplishing everything God desires.

I spent a bit of time shopping in the night market where street vendors, traditional stores, and restaurants cater to local residents and tourists alike. The sights, the sounds, the bright lights and electronic billboards, and the bustling bodies moving between the curb-parked vendor carts and the storefronts, mixed with the sudden appearance but ever present temples strewn throughout the city, all lent to an energy and feel typical of Asian life.

But nearby, and far too prevalent, the karaoke bars and massage parlors, fronts for extensive prostitution, sadly a major tourist “attraction” in Thailand, are never far from one’s awareness while observing this dynamic city. Of hope, however, a small café, the Zion Café, sits right next door to a brothel just around the corner from the Congress’ hotel. You see, the Zion Café is a Christian business, a business-as-mission, an intentionally planted business that seeks out and welcomes the young women of its surrounding neighborhood into a safe, embracing relationship and space amidst a local culture, broken like so many others around the world. A new friend and I ate dinner there our first night in the city. It was as if breathing fresh, mountain air after coming in from an oppressing smog. Here, in the Zion Café, an unassuming corner restaurant nestled in the din of Chiang Mai, a ground-zero point itself in the center of the East, the Light of Christ shines forth. Please keep the wonderful folk operating the Zion Café in your prayers for surely they were called to this city, this neighborhood, and this very building for such a time as this, as a line of rescue thrown out to all God’s children.

I have said several times in the last two days that when I arrive home, sometime tomorrow, it will take me thirty minutes to unpack my luggage and six months to unpack the BAM Congress. More likely, and I hope it is so, it will take me the rest of my life!

I met some folk here who, to me, are giants in the global BAM and tentmaking movements – Mats, Jo, Patrick, Dwight, Peter, and too many others to even recall offhand. Some I had communicated with before electronically but it was grand to put a face, a voice, a smile, and a handshake with the name and person I had come to know before. Some I met for the first time. In every case, I was blessed by their humility and tirelessness. These folk are true heroes comparable to David’s mighty men in Israel. I was humbled as well by how little my faith and service to God, the Church, and the world has cost me practically and in risk compared to these venturing boldly and directly in through the gates of hell, assured that that those gates will not prevail against the Church but always mindful of the evil intent and wiliness of Satan.

You might note that I did not include their last names here. Most of those named are people who need not be too concerned but many of the Congress delegates live very dangerous lives in places where Christians are routinely persecuted and even run the risk of a death sentence if found out. There was even a subtle “sign” each one wore that revealed to us all, as we moved about our sessions and common spaces in the hotel, that these folk need our prayers and a discerning level of sensitive protection from the rest of us. We were repeatedly exhorted not to photograph them nor to post Congress photos online. The Congress organizing committee will publish a great deal but not until every photograph and document has been thoroughly vetted to protect these precious, anonymous servants of Christ.

In the end, I will summarize (for now!): Since beginning my own journey with Christ into the marketplace in 1993, I have been convinced it is land ripe for Kingdom reclamation and dear to God’s heart. That I was, at that time, being drawn into a global movement of the Holy Spirit, I was entirely unaware for a decade. But while I was in seminary, God drew to me begin studying and understanding his economic plan for humankind and the rest of creation. That journey led to the publication of Eden’s Bridge: The Marketplace in Creation in Mission last year, and led me to Chiang Mai this month. I have never seriously questioned that I was being caught up in God’s marketplace movement but if anyone attending the Congress came with even a hint of doubt, surely they are leaving not only with no doubt but also a revived energy to be a blessing to all nations through the wealth-creating power of the marketplace and the just use of all God’s blessings among the global poor.

I, and many, many others, will be encouraging marketplace ministry participation by the whole body of Christ in the coming months and years. We will be preparing and presenting seminars, vision tours, and information portals to help you on your journey into these areas, as you are so called by God. Seek the Lord’s heart and wisdom and seek us out. We are prepared, having heard the call, and said “Yes and Amen, Lord, send me.” There are many of us who can help you connect to “the front lines” of this aggressive war in an arena too long influenced (and largely “owned”) by the enemy. You can contact me directly through my website (www.edensbridge.org) or any number of other organizations you will find if you simply Google “business as mission.”

That is all for now but there is surely more to come for so much is yet to be said. Be blessed and intentionally be a blessing “unto all the nations.” Shalom. – Dave. 

Eleven Integrated Models, Transforming the World through the Marketplace

(Please also read Bridge Ministry: The Twelfth MPM Model.)

As awareness grows and conversations increase concerning God’s current movement in the global marketplace, diverse strains of ministries are emerging into eleven distinct but integrated forms. This proliferation and resulting integration are grounded fundamentally in the underlying biblical and theological understanding of business as an institution created by God in the original order, now tainted by the universally corrupting influence of sin, and vital to our understanding the advancement of God’s Kingdom as we participate in God’s mission in the world.

Varying levels of integration, such as crossing the boundaries between workplace ministries and leadership discipleship, or between business as mission (BAM) and microfinance, will become increasingly evident as disciplines and protocols developed to pursue a particular agenda will be applicable in others.

The aim here is not to delve into the biblical or theological underpinnings of these models, nor is it to investigate the various interconnections between models. The purpose is merely to offer some differentiation and work toward a comprehensive listing of models. This last is the motivation to invite readers, aware of any marketplace ministry initiative, to examine these model categories and suggest other models that may not be represented. Also, readers are encouraged to address any key elements missing from these brief, introductory descriptions. Treat this document as a “first draft” and, please, contribute your comments to flesh it out.

My identification of this entire movement as marketplace ministry (MPM) is motivated by seeing some unifying effort to help make practitioners in one pursuit aware of others such that the lessons learned across the spectrum can be shared and understood by all, whether applicable directly or indirectly. Given the grandeur of God’s mission in the world and the universal scope of marketplace participation by all humankind, this is a very, VERY large conversation but one that can be most helpful if we can bring it to greater clarity by establishing some framework of order for analysis and planning.

I.                 Tentmaking (TM)

Generally, tentmaking is focused on individuals who take work in a particular mission context to facilitate their presence for the purposes of evangelization in their local communities. Their vocation may supply all, part, or even very little to none of their actual support. This model, particularly when used as a guise to enter countries otherwise closed to Christian evangelism, may be perceived as deceptive (which it is to varying degrees) and can contribute to deepening political and religious persecution of the indigenous church where they take up residence. That is not to say that all tentmakers practice deception or are hiding behind a “front” to gain access to their neighbors and cities. But it is a model that especially should be approached with a great deal of prayer and wisdom.

However, in a very real sense, all Christians working in the marketplace are tentmakers if our normal work provides our support for daily living and contributes to our ability to perform ministry, whether inside our professional life or through volunteerism and such outside work hours.

II.              Business as Mission (BAM)

BAM initiatives are businesses started specifically to fulfill multiple purposes simultaneously but specifically as Kingdom-oriented and outreach endeavors. These businesses typically plan for and execute according to a quadruple bottom line: people (fulfilling an economic / market need in the community), planet (creation care), program (relational evangelism and discipleship ministry) and profit (sustainability).

Typically, BAM is understood to function through three basic models, including microeconomic development (MED), small-to-medium enterprises (SME), and overseas private equity (OPE). MED is proliferating rapidly among the poor as small investments or loans (microlending) supply enough working capital to create a small business designed to support just the entrepreneur and / or their family. SME’s require more capital and typically create more jobs within a community. Unlike many MED initiatives, which can fly under the radar of local and national governmental regulations (in the informal market), SME’s tend to be formal businesses which operate under those same regulations and are more fully integrated into their local and national economies and on tax rosters to support local infrastructure and other amenities like public education. OPE’s are the largest of BAM initiatives and can require considerable sums, often more than a million dollars, to build factories, establish sizable workforces, and so on.

SME’s and OPE’s are very useful tools for creating legitimate businesses that contribute to the common good in countries that would otherwise be closed to Christian presence. The evangelization efforts of Christian owners and operators of these businesses is most often conducted through building long term relationships with employees, customers, vendors, public officials, and their at-large communities.

III.            Workplace Discipleship (WPD)

Workplace discipleship ministries cover a broad range of ministry within a particular workplace or company from informal, voluntary prayer ministry to ethics training coordinated through human resource departments, to company-offered counseling support and chaplain availability. These ministries are established, or at least endorsed, by the ownership or management of the company. Prayer ministries can include scheduled prayer groups and meetings, submitting prayer requests to volunteer intercessors, and prayer request posting boards. Prayer ministries carry a certain burden concerning privacy issues that may be of concern to human resource professionals, hence prayer requests should be kept confidential.

Other forms of workplace discipleship include conducting (or allowing) Bible studies to take place in the workplace (before or after hours, or at lunch time), providing ethics training (conducted either by internal personal, such as a Human Resources program or by bringing in outside expertise), providing counseling for any number of afflictions or life troubles (including treating addictions or to minister to those grieving the loss of a loved one or co-worker), and even providing chaplaincy services.

IV.             Executive / Business Leader Discipleship

Business leadership ministries focus on this defined group specifically to address problems unique to leadership positions in the marketplace to advance the spiritual formation of business leaders and executives, hold group members accountable to the tenets of their Christian faith, and to offer collaborative business strategizing and problem solving opportunities in a confidential environment. These groups address a broad range of biblical and theological concerns, like spiritual formation, and offering peer-counsel for finding the wisdom to inform ethics, decision-making, and strategic planning.

V.               Financial Stewardship Training

While John Wesley famously said we should “Make all you can [ethically], save all you can [frugally], and give all you can [charitably],” these ministries help both households and the very wealthy focus on managing their income and fortunes in keeping with biblical principles. All of these programs embrace core biblical financial concepts like tithing, frugality, and generosity. Household management ministries help individuals and couples understand God’s view of their income and to develop long-term strategies for providing for both current and future needs of families, whether how to deal with mortgage and car payments, build savings, or plan for college and retirement costs. Wealth management programs help participants understand the obligations before God of the enormous blessings he has poured into their lives and how best to leverage their wealth, and especially their giving, to have the greatest impact for advancing God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

VI.             Workforce Development (WFD)

These ministries fulfill two primary purposes: equipping workers, especially those without fundamental job skills and education, and connecting those in employment transition with hiring organizations. Some ministries in this classification also extend classroom training to small business operators and owners in developing economies to help them grasp the core disciplines of business creation and development – strategic planning, financial control, marketing, employee, customer, and vendor relations, and so on. There are a rising number of workforce development ministries that offer participants preparation for general equivalency diploma (GED) testing. Some also offer basic courses in computer programs in wide use and in high demand in the business world, such as Microsoft Word and Excel. Offerings may also include workplace etiquette, basic customer service attitude and skills training, and even address issues of personal hygiene.

Several workforce networking programs have come into being or grown dramatically in the United States and other regions affected by the most recent global economic crisis. Displaced workers are encouraged to attend networking events and take part in job transition seminars where they can, in the first case, connect with others in their particular industries or specialties, and, in the second, develop job search strategies, brush up on creating the most powerful resume’ or LinkedIn profile, or attend job fairs with many hiring companies present. Often both these type of ministries – job preparation training and job transition – are facilitated by, and even take place, in local churches.

VII.          Enterprise Coaching and Mentoring (ECM)

These ministry efforts match the skills and experience of business practitioners one-to-one with those in poor economies or redeveloping areas (in developed economies, areas such as inner city neighborhoods or among the rural poor) attempting to develop small businesses but lacking access to formal business education. Historically, fulfilling this ministry has been proving one of the most difficult to accomplish for two reasons. First, a lack of awareness among Christian business leaders of the needs and opportunities, even within their own contexts, has left many with great ministry potential idle. Second, problems of skills mismatching (corporate types attempting to coach entrepreneurial endeavors outside their particular areas of expertise or with thinking through how to adapt their knowledge to a very different context and application) and paternalism (which could to often be classified as over-lording when business leaders attempt to “take over” versus coming alongside those they are intending to minister to) lead to failures that may prove very difficult to overcome, especially on the “recipient” end of these transactions.

ECM can take many forms including business planning assistance (helping inexperienced entrepreneurs formulate and think through the numerous facets of business creation and operation), personal and professional development (whether by individual coaching or via classroom-based programs to equip inexperienced entrepreneurs with essential skill sets and decision-making techniques), the formation of advisory boards and mentoring relationships (to observe and come alongside entrepreneurs to forewarn of possible pitfalls or pending dangers and working through solutions strategies to avoid them), and service offerings of affordable consultancies (providing the guidance and information entrepreneurs may not otherwise get but at fees considerably below local market rates).

VIII.        Marketplace Ministries Advocacy and Mobilization (A&M)

These efforts are designed to expand the awareness and engagement of Christian marketplace practitioners at-large. These ministries work extensively on business outreach models, information gathering and sharing, theological and biblical exegesis, and thought leadership. Some of this work is being doing through or in conjunction with educational institutions (Bible colleges and seminaries) through standard coursework or supplemental institutes. Some of this work is being done through denominational and missions organizations, and a few interdenominational permanent and virtual think tanks which stage conferences and seminars, develop teaching materials, and publish in print and on line, including webinars. Some efforts are aimed directly at activating “the pew” while others concentrate more on the influence of the Christian faith by teaching in areas of economic and political philosophy that Christians can be better equipped as informed and active voters, consumers, political activists, and so on..

IX.             Microfinance Initiatives (MFI)

Most of these programs work among the very poor globally but domestic (U.S.) programs are expanding to provide access to credit for very small enterprises. The vast majority of loans range from $500.00 to $5,000.00 to entrepreneurs to purchase basic equipment and starting inventories. Two primary models are currently spreading around the world: community-based credit unions (including both credit extension and savings accounts) and lending institutions providing capital funds. Both can serve to help underwrite the launch of very small (micro-) businesses. The latter have found a great deal of success by working through peer-lending groups (typically featuring predominant women membership) to encourage accountability and provide safety nets in the case of a business failure or illness. Availability of additional loans to group members hinge on all outstanding loans being current on repayment schedules. Microfinance can be very labor intensive and do charge market interest rates but have proliferated since their introduction more than thirty years ago.

X.               Business for Mission (BFM)

These ministries are designed to provide a variety of capital resources to small business development (either start-up or early round financing) in poor economies. The biggest impact of these efforts is the injection of capital funds into poor contexts, whether rural villages or poor urban neighborhoods. These projects and initiatives are applicable in both developing global economies as well as among the rural and urban poor in developed economies. The potential of these projects will be enormously impacted by being conjoined to coaching / mentoring relationships to help ensure the success of new businesses. In any case, some may be businesses created strictly as revenue streams (for sustainable funding for not-for-profit efforts) while others may be formed as venture lending funds or social venture investment funds, both of which could be classified as “smart aid,” that is, increasing capacity in poor contexts by strengthening capital availability and movement within them.

XI.             Christian Community Development Corporations (CDC)

These organizations have traditionally been grant-based to fund their initiatives focused on the quality of formal primary and secondary education in inner cities, the dispersal of social services, family counseling, child and healthcare education and so on. Given their holistic focus, many are now beginning to address the need for jobs and small business development in their neighborhoods, including subsidiary businesses to provide ongoing revenue streams for the agencies themselves.

CDC’s feature three significant distinctive. First, they tend to focus on very targeted geographies, such as a particular cohesive urban neighborhood, or as may be becoming the case, on larger geographic regions involving the rural poor, such as distinct regions of the Appalachian Mountain Range. Second, CDC’s have historically been predominantly operational in Western developed economies but their design and influence is expanding globally and their principles and practices put in place an increasing variety of locations and contexts. But the dramatic rise – predominantly through the growth and influence of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) – has been in the United States and aimed at economic redevelopment of inner city neighborhoods. Finally, CDC’s take a holistic approach, as hinted in the paragraph above, concerned with all aspects of the target area including but not limited to issues of governance, taxation, education, infrastructure, social services, and economic development.

David Doty

Eden’s Bridge, Inc.

As I was reading in 1 Samuel this morning, I was intrigued with the events surrounding Jonathan’s confrontation with the Philistines (Chapter 14). What unfolds is paralleled in the birth and growth of the Church through the ages if we think of the participants who joined the fray against the Philistines along the lines of how successful products, services, or campaigns are adopted. In effect, this demonstrates the power of one person walking with God and the multiplying effects adhering to God’s will (in keeping with the creation model of  all things producing after their own kind and multiplying to fill the earth).

Jonathan knew the character of God and knew that if it were God’s will, he would find success in going up against the Philistines. He asserts that “Nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few” – 1 Samuel 14:6. In effect, Jonathan knew, if his plan was aligned with God’s will, there was nothing that could stand against it. But, in the first part of the story, there is a big “if.” Like Gideon laying out a fleece, or the priests casting lots by the Thummim and Urim, Jonathan establishes a set of conditions by which he will recognize the will of God: “If they say to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. But, if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us” – 1 Samuel 14:9-10.

Thus, Jonathan is, as he waits on the Lord’s leading (in the Philistines’ response in verse 12), an inspired Innovator, willing to take on the risk (another big market issue, especially for product designers and entrepreneurs) of faith. As he wades into the Philistines, his armor bearer “came after him” (v. 13), an Early Adopter. Next, apparently according to God’s whole plan, Saul and the people with him joined the battle (v. 20) as the Early Majority, and those Israelites living amongst the Philistines joined in (v. 21) as the Late Majority. Finally, those who had fled in fear of the Philistines to, and now living in, the hills, come out to also join the fray as Laggards (v. 22).

Interestingly, this same model can be overlaid on the history of the Church. Jesus is Lord, Savior, and Innovator of the Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.” His disciples were the Early Adopters and the early Church, gathered on the Day of Pentecost in the Upper Room were the Early Majority. Those coming to Christ in the centuries since I would label as the Late Majority. I can only imagine the Laggards to be those who have heard the Gospel but resisted God then finally come to Christ late in life, or perhaps those within the Church who, as Paul puts it, are still sustained by milk, unable to eat the meat of the Gospel, living with an outward, sacrificial focus, doing the works (of James’ infamous concern) that Jesus taught glorify God (Matthew 5:16).

The intriguing thing to me is that this model, which has proven to be the case in the marketplace throughout history (and political science, education, medicine, and probably every other significant field of endeavor if examined closely) seems to be a natural ordering within creation of human society and human behavior. It is just the way it works without humanly designed  intervention or intention and it works similarly to the natural, predictable workings of the laws of physics, the botanic life-cycle, and so on.

What does this mean to us as we examine the business-as-mission / marketplace ministries movement? While Jesus was a carpenter and drew heavily on economic analogies in his teaching, perhaps we can still credit Paul, as a tentmaker, fully integrating his vocational life of work and ministry, as the biblical marketplace ministries Innovator. I suspect that that integration did not completely disintegrate (or at least nearly so) until the European age of Enlightenment and the rise of scientism in the last five hundred years, as there have been working missionaries (a redundancy) throughout the history of the Church. In any case, then I would suggest that those intentionally ministering through the mechanisms of the marketplace today are the Early Majority as we are witnessing the early groundswell of where we all suspect this movement is headed.

In the end, the whole of creation will be redeemed and the marketplace, as a subsidiary function within creation, will follow suit as 1) the wealth of the unrighteous will be given over to the righteous (Proverbs 13:22) and 2) as economic justice emerges from the redemption of the marketplace, sin will be diminished, and swords and spears (instruments of division and strife) will be pounded into plowshares and pruning hooks (instruments of Garden productivity and economic prosperity) – Isaiah 2:4.

The Law, the Prophets, and the teachings of Jesus focus heavily on the moral issues of economic justice, not the least of which is just scales (Proverbs 16:11), but are also concerned deeply about the welfare of the poor and marginalized and the injustice of selfish wealth. The current global social consciousness, just trade movement, even outside the Church, is demonstrative of the movement of God’s Spirit in the marketplace in terms of social enterprise, responsible consumerism, and such. The Church has the opportunity to fulfill the highest purpose of business in creation and mission, that of glorifying God. As thought and action leaders in marketplace ministries, we have the opportunity to influence and actuate the impact of the Late Majority as they join the fray as Christ-followers, doing so with the higher cause of practicing business as a means of grace to reveal the character and nature of God working in and through us such that kindness of God will draw many to repentance (Romans 2:4) . . . even Laggards.

As I have taken part in the Lausanne Global Business as Mission (BAM) Think Tank and indulged in countless conversations concerning God’s movement in the marketplace through a myriad of other connecting opportunities, I am struck that most of us have become so enamored with the complexities of modern society and the modern marketplace that we tend to over think and over complicate how we might do business as Christians.

Personally, I am highly in favor of reductionism, even if we must, from time to time, endure pithiness when it comes to tackling the whole wide world of business as a field of Christian mission. For example, I have been trying to isolate the various models and forms of marketplace ministries. Thus far, including those who are operating from “the outside” as advocates, I have identified eleven major model categories. The substrata of those categories stretches to something near thirty five distinct practices. Now, I can compile that list, annotate it with detailed descriptions of each function, and cite organizational examples for each one. Frankly, it would not take much for me to throw in some foundational material on the theologies of work, stewardship, and the marketplace and compile a book length treatment that might be handy for missions agencies and local church mission committees to explore how they can take any number of different paths into the marketplace to build relationships and evangelize.

But now, in keeping with Jesus’ willingness to also be a reductionist when he reduced virtually all of the Law and the Prophets to two commands then asserted one new one, in effect, to supersede even those: “Love one another as I have loved you” – I hope to assert that there is a very simple approach to addressing business ethics and practices that will simplify many, many discussions, or at the very least, provide a consistent foundation and launch point for making business decisions.

I find reductionism also in keeping with the soundest of all business principles, the singular most important lesson any management wannabe should learn as early as possible in their management career: K.I.S.S. – Keep it simple, stupid. Now Jesus never really called us stupid because it would have been enormously out of character but perhaps it was somewhat tongue in cheek when he referred to his followers as sheep, undeniably one of the most simple-minded of all God’s creatures.

Lest I offend, please be aware that as I share my own reductionist theory on what “Christian business” looks like, I am coming at this from a very personal tack. I am an information junkie and tend to collect way more material than I can ever read or digest thoroughly. I have had to come to a personal practice of reductionism to make sense of a world that is confronted with the bizarre proliferation of information that is taking place around us. I cannot make sense of the world if I consider anything in too much depth, hence the limitations of things like doctoral degrees that restrict their holders to narrow fields of specialty. I, being of a free spirit to a fault of too often lacking real discipline, find myself wandering down rabbit trail after rabbit trail, finding my way back to some center point, then becoming distracted once again by another interesting topic that just might have some tangential input to some other tangent running aimlessly around within the neural networks of my cranium. But I digress…

The question I would pose is this: what guiding thought can I engage that will allow me to take all that I have learned in my faith walk as a Christian and bringing it to bear quickly, simply, and effectively in operating as a Christian business leader?

We can throw pithy answers at that question and say things like asking ourselves in every instance, “What would Jesus do?” and actually, that is not a bad approach, especially if we find ourselves in doubt as to what Jesus would do and take the time out of our schedule to ask for his guidance. Some might also say that when it comes to making business decisions we should always be guided by the “law of love,” which is also a good answer . . . if we can just define exactly what we mean by love.

But it is within those two answers that I think a very satisfying, formulaic approach can be found. First, every decision is informed by our relationship with God, and second, the essence of that particular God is defined as love. In other words, our decisions are based in real time vital relationship to the God who defines how love acts and our answer emerges that we should always follow the Way of the Cross, rather the definitive act of God intervening in human history since creation.

Now, that might seem to be as vague as “What would Jesus do?” or being guided by the law of love but the Cross gives us the example of the character and nature of the God who stands behind it and the one who hung upon it.

To help us understand the God who is love and how the Cross is an expression of that love we need to take a minute and understand why the Cross occurred. The operative word we are pursuing (via this convoluted journey) is righteousness. That may seem a bit out of place given we are just now discussing the Cross, which must surely be the most unrighteous event in human history, and indeed it was. But, the problem with that is we having already overstepped and framed the Cross as an event isolated to human history. It may well have been unintentional on our part but that is what we have done.

Let us take that same event and frame it in the divine approach to God’s mission in the world. We recognize the omniscience of God and so understand that God knew the Cross would occur even before the creation of the world. But God took an extra step that ensured the Cross would happen . . . he made a promise to Abraham that through him, that is, by his seed, God would provide the corrective stroke to set right the corruption of sin that entered creation when Adam chose the course of moral self-determination. Adam chose to disobey God but his disobedience, just as surely as the Cross, came as no surprise to God.

God committed his Son, our Savior, to the Cross, knowing it was the fulfillment of a covenant he swore by himself to deliver the descendants of Abraham from the throes of that sin corruption. The Cross was, and only from the divine perspective, an act of righteousness. But this understanding of righteousness must embrace the character and nature of God whose glory cannot be contained within the godhead itself. The glory of God is always in outward motion, extending itself for the sake of the other. A fundamental purpose in creation is to reveal God’s glory, that is, the (literally) overwhelming goodness that emanates from divine love, “spilled over” into creation.

So, the Christian business operator operates business, not of their own accord nor for their own benefit but as a manifestation of the glory of God, that same outward movement of goodness acting by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit indwelling the Christian business operator. Ultimately, following perfectly in the example of Jesus’ ministry on the Cross, the Christian business operator takes no mind of their own benefit in making their business decisions but, entrusting those decisions and the outcomes to God, makes decisions always to benefit others as witness to that same “other-oriented” glory.

The Christian business operator does not face the same challenges as a worldly operator and may even find themselves on the outs if the values and demands of worldly stakeholders are enforced and take precedence over God’s determination of righteousness, which is demonstrated by the “power” giving itself freely away for the sake of the powerless. Frankly, many Christian business executives are being challenged every day to follow Christ, which may mean a venue change for their particular desk, if you catch my drift, or to follow the world.

For most employees, however, the choice is much simpler than it is perhaps in the executive suite since the New Testament commends us to obey authority, and even the ornery type. That is not to say that Christian workers should take part in overtly immoral activity per se and the discernment of when it is appropriate to speak out against certain practices may come with great difficulty, and at great price. But even in those situations, where livelihood hangs in the balance, there may well come times to step out, in the name of righteousness and in faith that God does not call his people to demoralizing, ungodly circumstance. Faith tells us that we may be Daniels, on the carpet but able to prove our ways, the ways of God, better in the long run. And God does tell us to pray for the “city” of our exile so it will go well for us even there.

Christian business owners have the greatest latitude to exercise righteousness because it is their own livelihood they sacrifice or put at risk but even in that position, there may come times when the owner must suspend business simply because no other course will align with the righteousness of God.

So the simple rule is this: Act according to the righteousness of God. Any other decision criteria leads down a slippery slope. I know, I have fallen on that slope myself more than once and the lessons involved were hard to learn but well worth it. Ours is not an easy path, especially as we strive to integrate our Christian faith with our workplace ethics and decision making, but it is a path that leads to glory . . . but only as we choose to glorify God according to his righteousness.