Pulling out, or pressing in?

If, as I have maintained, for Christians to have integrity they must align three interests (1) the advance of the gospel, (2) provision for one's family (3) securing competent human capital to achieve the mission of the organization, does that mean that Christians ought to pull out of 'non-Christian' sectors?

Take for example, the financial services sector. My former employer had as its mission: to become the premier global wealth management firm. Their stated mission is to make the richest people in the world even richer. In contrast, Jesus said,

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)

Does this mean that in order to have integrity, Christians need to pull out of firms like my former employer, or even out of the industry entirely?

To be faithful to the gospel, the Christian must act according to its truths, and not according to the stories that the financial services industry tells. I can imagine a Christian broker working for my former employer sitting down with his clients and saying,

"You have come to me as a wealth manager, and I aim to do the best job that I can for you. At present, your number one liability is the wealth that you possess. I want to help you minimize that liability."

That opening sets the stage for the Gospel: not that we do not seek profit, but that we seek lasting profit. If a person is amassing wealth only for this life, she is a fool. But if she invests her present wealth in a way that secures a more valuable and lasting return, she is wise. The Christian broker is going to approach investment strategies entirely differently from his peers. Furthermore, he is acting on faith. If he assumes that he can convince a client to divest her wealth liabilities for the sake of the gospel simply through persuasion, he has denied the very foundation of the Gospel: that it is the sovereign work of the Spirit. So the only way that he can faithfully present this investment strategy is by trusting that the Holy Spirit will open the eyes of the blind to the good news of God. If that doesn't happen, the client is going to walk right out the door shaking her head - perhaps for the Spirit to use that conversation later for her conversion.

The reality is that if the Christian broker decides to stay with the big wealth management firm, he may either be pushed out by his superiors, or simply lose his client base through the foolishness of the gospel - and it is foolishness to those who do not believe. We do not have a faith that is respectable in polite society; it is true and revolutionary or it is nonsense.

Given those two likely scenarios, what can a Christian do? Should he abandon the industry and go to work for a non-profit? Although some will be called out to 'non-profit' work, I strongly believe that rather than pulling out, we are called to press in. That individual must search out what gospel entrepreneurship means in his industry. How does he start a small business that brings the gospel to bear on his particular sector or industry? That is the question.

In the case of financial services, I think it will probably mean starting a small business built on the truth of the Gospel that does not target its services exclusively to Christians. Rather, it recognizes that it has at least 3 target markets: (1) Christians who want to store up treasure in heaven and need advice, (2) Christians who have never thought about storing up treasure in heaven, and (3) non-Christians who can only store up treasures on earth. If the new business is faithful to the Gospel, it cannot address only its first two target markets; it must pursue the third. The glory is that the only way to pursue the third market is through the gospel. The entire investment philosophy is built on the gospel, and is foolishness to those who reject the gospel. Those who form this company are going to be constantly engaged in evangelism, not because it is the path to their own profitability, but because the gospel constrains them. This is gospel entrepreneurship.

Aligned interests

When I worked in the financial services industry, I quickly saw how important it was for interests to be properly aligned. For example, if a broker gets paid on commission, every time he buys or sells equity shares for one of his clients, then he is quite naturally going to need to move their money around in order to make any money. This does not tend to make for good long term investment strategies for the investors, since the only way the broker makes money is by buying and selling.

Consequently there was a strong push in the financial services industry to align the interests of the broker and investors. The solution was a fee-based system where the broker is paid a set percentage of the client's assets every year. The bigger the total assets, the more the broker gets paid. Suddenly long-term growth strategy is in the interest of both the broker and the investor.

I have observed at least three major interests that exist for Christians in the working world. First, there is the interest of the Gospel, to see it announced, believed and transforming individuals, families and society. Second, each individual has a legitimate interest to provide for the needs of his or her family by working. Third, employers, whether individuals or organizations, have an interest in securing competent employees to fulfill the mission of their business, even if that business is 'non-profit.'

For the most part, I observe Christians aligning the second two interests, and seeing the first as disconnected from the other two. We are told that religion belongs to the 'private' sphere, and not the workplace. Religion in the workplace creates a conflict of interest, we are told. As a result, for a great many Christians, the latter two interests are aligned and to some degree satisfied, while the interest of the Gospel is unaligned with their work life.

I can provide a couple of concrete examples. In the financial services industry, I was on a number of occasions reprimanded for sharing the good news with co-workers. When I taught in the public schools, I was required to sign a non-proselytizing statement as a condition of employment. In no uncertain terms, I was being told that my first, and according to the Gospel itself greatest, interest could not be satisfied in the work place. Functionally, they were telling me that I could only work as a mercenary. I could work for my salary in order to take it home and do with it there what I wished - but not in the workplace.

Increasingly, I believe that a paradigm shift needs to occur among Christians in the workplace like the change that happened in the financial services industry in order to align interests. Christians (myself included!) need to retain the integrity of all three interests. In some cases, I believe that will mean stepping out, or being forced out, of current employment. It will mean stepping into organizations that are either truly tolerant, or are Christian. Or it will mean creating organizations that are deeply Christian and therefore align the three interests and foster a truly tolerant work environment. Since I have encountered a frighteningly small number of existing organizations that are either truly tolerant (and allow for appropriate, non-coercive proselytism) or deeply Christian, I can only conclude that the call to align these three interests is going to necessitate gospel entrepreneurship.

Bearing a radically other-worldly hope

To put it even more sharply: the hope, of which the Church is called to be the bearer in the midst of a famine of hope, is a radically other-worldly hope. Knowing that Jesus is king and that he will come to reign, it fashions its life and invites the whole community to fashion its life in the light of this reality, because every other way of living is based on an illusion. It thus creates signs, parables, foretastes, appetizers of the kingdom in the midst of the hopelessness of the world. (Lesslie Newbigin: Missionary Theologian p146)

How is it possible to engage in entrepreneurship and bear "a radically other-worldly hope"?
There are two typical answers to this question that Christians have taken:

1. Many have said that since we have an other-worldly hope, and this world is passing away, we are not to be enmeshed in it. Those who do not believe in the age to come will engage in entrepreneurship; but we, who believe in the Gospel and the age to come, will engage in evangelism.
2. Many others have denied that we have an other-worldly hope altogether, and have contended that the hope that Christ offers is for this age, and that therefore we ought to be actively engaged in entrepreneurship that brings the kingdom of Christ into the world.

I think that Newbigin gets closer to a Biblical answer to the question when he says,

"Knowing that Jesus is king and that he will come to reign, [the Church] fashions its life and invites the whole community to fashion its life in the light of this reality, because every other way of living is based on an illusion."

As such, the Church does not abdicate her involvement in society because she has an other-worldly hope; nor does she have the illusion that her efforts will establish the kingdom of Christ in this world. Instead, as she fashions all of her life around the reality that Christ is King and is coming to reign in order that through her engagement in temporal affairs, others may experience a foretaste of the kingdom of Christ now, and by faith become partakers of that other-worldly hope.

What others taste of the Kingdom of Christ is but an aperitif. It points to a great, eternal reality. Our businesses and ventures will not endure; but Christ will reign forever as King. This is what makes us bold to engage in entrepreneurship that witnesses to a radically other-worldly hope.

Beginnings

Not long ago, a good friend made and observation and asked a question that captured my attention. We had been talking about some opportunities for entrepreneurship, and he said:

I grew up in the church, and I learned that Christians should have integrity, treat people well, and use their profits wisely and generously. But I feel like there is something more. Is that all there is to being a Christian in the workplace?

When he said that, I was deeply impressed that the church often says very little about the claims that the Gospel makes on us in the workplace beyond having integrity, treating people well, and being generous.

My friend had glimpsed something painfully clear: There are many people who are not Christians, nor make any pretense of being Christians, who excel in integrity, good will and generosity. So what difference does it make if you are a Christian or not?

I'm quite confident that my friend is not alone. We live in a disintegrated, and disintegrating, society. We have been told that matters of faith are distinct from, and not integrated with, matters of social engagement and welfare. What is worse is that we have believed it. We have agreed to be Christians at home and at church, and dutiful employees at the office. We have conceded that as long as our work is not immoral (like publishing child pornography), we can do it with a clear conscience.

My aim, then, is to demonstrate integrity in a disintegrated and disintegrating society by contending that the only way Christians can live under Christ as King is for our engagement in social and economic structures to be defined by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am convinced that the Good News of Jesus Christ calls us not out of the world, but into it in a way that unmasks the powers of this age, provides a foretaste of the age to come, and is the instrument of the Holy Spirit for rescuing the enemies of God.

There are a host of questions that need to be answered, and with which I will wrestle on this blog. I welcome submission of more questions, and contributions to meaningful answers to them.
Here are a few of the questions:

1. How does an entrepreneur submit to Christ as King?
2. How does gospel entrepreneurship differ from social entrepreneurship?
3. What are the aims of gospel entrepreneurs?
4. How do gospel entrepreneurs measure success?
5. Are there any business sectors off-limits to gospel entrepreneurs?
6. What is a 'Christian' business?
7. Why focus on entrepreneurship and not commerce more generally?
8. Aren't the Gospel and profit fundamentally irreconcilable?
9. What is the hope of a gospel entrepreneur?