Using Business rather than Non-Profit Organizations for Charity and Evangelism: Now and Beyond 2000. by Harold J. Harder, Associate Professor Faculty of Business and Economics Trinity Western University Many Christian charitable and/or evangelistic organizations in our society were established as non-profit organizations for the purpose of meeting with favorable benefits of our current politico-economic systems in the USA and Canada, namely, to obtain tax benefits for the donors. However, the real purpose of these organizations, that is to provide charity or to engage in evangelism, or both, does not require that they be run on a non-profit basis. Jesus himself went around doing good, and preaching the good news without official non-profit status, it was a part of His life. We who have taken on His Way for our life also must make it a part of all of our life. This has been the pattern for Jesus’ followers ever since His resurrection. In our day legitimate business activity can be the vehicle for providing charity and making opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ cross-culturally, and may increasingly become so as we approach the year 2000 and beyond. In our society, we have emphasized the separation of church and state, and of the sacred and the secular. This separation seems to fit well in many people’s minds with a separation or compartmentalization of matters of faith and of business. The daily affairs of business or income generation for survival often seem separate from matters of personal spiritual life and devotion to God, and ministry. This separation also fits neatly with the common notion that business is business and is run by a certain set of rules and tax laws, while our worship, our charity, and evangelistic involvements are to happen through organizations in the non-profit sector. The idea that faith and business are separate matters, has been stated publicly by Christians prominent in business1. The Bible however teaches us that Christ transforms our thinking (Romans 12: 1,2) and that life is to be seen as a whole, with the mind of Christ permeating all our action, thought, and planning. If business and missions seem incompatible, or if it seems strange to think that business may be an appropriate vehicle for doing missions, then maybe our understanding of Biblical teaching on economic activity and justice needs to grow. Sutherland2 makes the point that our world view regarding the ultimate purpose of business activity affects our direction in terms of ethics. To view profit maximization as the ultimate goal of economic activity is not likely to lead to consistent ethical behavior. If we substitute some other goal...such as pursuing justice as the Bible defines it, then consistent ethical practice becomes more likely 2. Our world view regarding the purpose of business also affects our view of how business may be a means for ministry. It is not just by giving financial contributions, or by working for charitable and/or Christian organizations that we do ministry. These organizations may be good, and we should use the opportunities we have to serve through them, but we must think, and teach our students to think in terms of using all of life and economic activity for ministry, including cross-cultural ministry. I believe the time is here for us to think seriously about using business as an effective vehicle to do missions cross- culturally. We accept that doing business ethically and telling others of our faith is a witness that can be carried on in the course of daily business. However, the challenge to use business to minister cross-culturally is also highly relevant in our day. Many of the people who are unreached by the gospel live in parts of the world where a “missionary” visa may not be granted to foreigners, but where there may be opportunity for Christians to establish legitimate business that provides a useful service and the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ’s command to Go and make disciples of all nations... (Matth 28:19, NIV), is not limited to the activities of the non-profit organizations, it supersedes this artifact of our current society. God has mandated us to care for the less advantaged, and to share our faith with those who do not yet know him. This includes the need to fulfill our mission cross-culturally. Business seems increasingly to be a powerful tool to accomplish these goals. For convenience I shall deal separately with the topics of charity, and evangelism, recognizing that in many cases the two can be combined effectively. Business as Charity Can business ventures be used as charity? There are many charitable organizations. By charity I mean giving aid to the poor, the disadvantaged, or the less fortunate. Businesses are often requested to contribute to charity in their community and beyond. Some business people make large contributions to charitable organizations. Some make large contributions to construct buildings, or to buy equipment, or to fund programs at the institutions where Christian business faculty work. These contributions may be good, and we encourage generous giving for worthy causes. However, can business itself be used for charitable purposes, that is to bring help to the needy? Many of the world’s poor could become better able to help themselves, to provide for their families, and to make work opportunities for others if they were able to improve their business venture, or to embark on a better one. With help in improving their business, their situation can often be transformed so that they can better provide for themselves, and in many cases even provide work and income opportunity for others. Giving a handout may help them for a short time, but enabling them to improve their business allows them to gain a sense of dignity, and provides a means by which they can help themselves on a continuing basis. Let’s take a look at some examples. According to Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto much of the poverty in Peru and other developing countries in not the result of oppression by foreign capitalists, but rather is a symptom of an absence of capitalism3. De Soto’s 1989 book The Other Path4 has had significant influence by showing that many persons operating their business in the informal sector, do so because of excessive obstacles on the way to licensing their business, and to owning property. His activities have resulted in substantial changes in regulations, enabling many more people to operate their business as an authorized legitimate business, and to obtain ownership of property which enables them to improve their own situation. His efforts at enabling people to carry on their own legitimate business have done more to improve people’s economic situation than charitable handouts could have done. In Colombia, a society that provides banking services to people in places that commercial banks avoid, traces its origins to the work of a Jesuit priest, who in 1911 began to provide help to people in need of better housing5. Currently, one branch provides the only banking services in a slum of at least one million people. Service is provided on a for-profit basis, but the society is willing to provide these services where most commercial banks will not. Most deposits are small, and loans are relatively small, yet the default rate is almost nonexistent. ‘If they don’t borrow from us, they have to go to the loan sharks, ... They’ll do almost anything to repay on time.’5 Providing banking services on a profitable business basis, in a way that serves the poor, allows them to better carry on their own business affairs, thus accomplishing more than a handout would. Microenterprise development efforts have been used effectively to increase productivity and income for poor persons in several countries. One Christian organization that has gained experience with this approach to development is the Mennonite Economic Development Associates6 (MEDA). MEDA is a North American based organization that focuses on microenterprise development in several countries including Nicaragua, Bolivia, Haiti, and Tanzania. They have in fact in recent years brought home their experience and now have projects in the USA. Their basic approach is to provide small loans to qualifying micro or small entrepreneurs who might otherwise find it difficult or impossible to obtain loans at reasonable rates. Along with receiving a loan, borrowers are required to take a training course in basic principles of operating a business. According to Allan Sauder who is director of international operations for MEDA, Entrepreneurship for these people is often simply a means of survival; a way to create a job where they have none. They may come with some of the requisite skills and dreams, but often lack the capital and business skills to really succeed7. Many clients have made remarkable improvements in their business, are now better able to take care of their family’s needs, and in many cases have hired additional employees, thus providing income for other needy people. Loan repayment rates are high (in some programs better than 98%). The benefits of the program are long-lasting, affect many persons (family and employees) and bring dignity that a handout would not have. Training and empowering people to do legitimate and effective business provides an opportunity for sharing our faith in an effective way. For example in Nicaragua where there was widespread instability and unemployment following the change of government from the Sandinistas to the market oriented government of Violeta Chamorro, MEDA was able to begin a program in 1990. The program operates under the name CHISPA and offers small loans and business training to hundreds of microentrepreneurs. This program continues to make a significant difference in the business and lives of many people in Nicaragua. Can we really make a difference in the lives of many poor persons, by using our business skills and knowledge? Allan Sauder asks this question regarding the work of MEDA Can an association of mostly North American business and professional persons, committed to using our God- given skills and financial resources to help the disadvantaged, really make a difference? Can we in fact offer hope and options? Is entrepreneurship a gift from God that can be used to improve the lives of others? He responds: The short answer is yes.7 Indeed, examples from many countries and similar work done by other organizations show this to be the case. In many cases the initiative for such action from North America has been taken by Christians banding together in a non-profit organization to utilize the tax benefits available to us, but the strength of the program lies in the fact that it is teaching and enabling persons to carry on sound business ventures, and in the recipient country is usually conducted in a program that can eventually continue without outside help. What an opportunity this kind of approach provides for some of our enterprising graduates! An effective program that I was personally involved with several years ago, is run by the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest nations. Our job creation program was designed to find suitable business ventures that could provide income opportunity for groups of very poor persons. Many projects were developed by first identifying suitable economic activities, giving assistance in planning and developing the venture, providing necessary training, and often providing startup loans. Projects included such diverse ventures as handicraft projects, coconut drying using solar dryers we developed locally, leather tanning, and a variety of other ventures. A significant factor in making the projects successful was assistance in developing markets and marketing capability, both for local, and for international marketing of products. Through these projects many of the very poor became able to provide more adequately for their own needs. This resulted in better nutrition for the participants and their families, and in the dignity of being able to work to help themselves. It was always our goal to establish a venture then make it independent of us as soon as possible. A very significant part of our contribution, was to give encouragement, and to absorb some of the risk involved in beginning the venture; many of the poor are too close to the margin of existence to absorb much risk in entrepreneurial ventures. Another very significant contribution was in establishing markets, especially foreign markets and in training national staff to carry on with the marketing function. Many of the hand- crafted items from those projects and other projects around the world are sold through a network of shops in North America, the MCC Self Help Crafts shops, and through shops in Europe and in Japan. A charitable handout may provide temporary help, but legitimate business ventures are able to provide for people’s needs on a continuing basis. Business as a Tool for Evangelism Business also provides unique opportunities for evangelism. Examples of the kind described in the previous section as using business for charity, give excellent opportunities to share our personal faith as we demonstrate unselfish love by our actions. Yamamori8 calls this strategy that accommodates both the physical needs and the spiritual hostility of people groups that need to be reached with the gospel, contextual symbiosis. His book Penetrating Missions’ Final Frontier is an excellent resource for those who wish to pursue this matter further. In this book he articulates reasons for this emphasis, and gives strategies and examples of effective use of this approach (see especially chapters 1, 7, and 8). Business opportunities of various kinds may provide access to people groups unreached by the gospel, and may thus be used as an entrance for evangelism. Missions by tentmakers or bi-vocational missionaries is not new. The term tentmaking comes from the practice of the apostle Paul who made tents to support himself financially during his missionary ventures. In I. Corinthians 9 he tells of how he gave up his right to earn a living from his work in preaching the gospel, in order to increase his effectiveness. Since the time of Paul, the practice has continued. In Today’s Tentmakers, Christy Wilson9 traces a history of tentmaker missions, including reference to members of the early church, the Moravians, William Carey, and many more. Wilson then shares about the start of his own involvement in tentmaking ministry beginning about the middle of this century. In recent years, tentmaking ministry has often been pursued by persons in professions such as education, health, and engineering. There seems at present to be increasing interest in using business as an opportunity for this kind of missions. The term bi- vocational missionary emphasizes the importance of the dual preparation needed for greatest effectiveness -- preparation for one’s profession or business, and preparation for sharing the gospel and building God’s church cross- culturally. It seems to me that we as business faculty in Christian Colleges and Universities may have a special role here in preparing our students for tentmaker missions using business, since many of our schools offer the unique combination of academic programs where students can pursue both aspects of the necessary training, and see it as an integrated whole. If a business is to be a means for missions, it is important to recognize the dual purpose of that business. As Christians, our business is there to glorify God and to be used for His purposes, as well as to provide for our earthly needs. A recognition of this dual purpose helps us to keep our business and our life in balance. The individual Christian involved in business may seek opportunity to carry on that business in a country and region where there is a special need, and where God calls to reach out to people in need of the gospel. A corporation run by Christian persons, with missions as a significant part of its purpose, may make it their special goal to establish that business in places where a Christian witness by its employees is especially needed, say in a region of people unreached by the gospel. For example, a Korean company that has emphasized this balance has operations in several countries, and has witnessed more than a hundred conversions through its business in a year10. This company seeks to place christian employees to be tentmaking missionaries. They call them “Businaries”, businessmen with missionary vision.11 The possibilities are great! Can we challenge our students, and work with them to prepare for, to find, and even to create opportunities for missions in unique ways? The task of missions, including missions combined with business, is the task of the church international. We must think internationally in terms of resources for ministry as well as in terms of opportunities to serve. Might it be best to encourage Christians in Brazil to serve in Angola because they know the Portuguese language, or Christians from Argentina to serve in Spain because they speak Spanish? Might Christian business people from Hong Kong be good candidates for the task of missions, using their business acumen and experience, in China? In our classrooms we have many students that come to us from outside of our own country. Is this God’s opportunity for us to challenge them and help them prepare for very special ministry that they will be able to do better than we could? Our fundamental commitment must be to Jesus Christ and His kingdom, that ...by all possible means I might save some (I. Corinthians 9: 22, NIV). It seems that in our day we are witnessing the decreasing power of the state, and the increasing power of the transnational corporation. Might we be seeing the beginnings of a new missionary movement using business as the means of entry into many otherwise closed regions of the world? May it be that even transnational corporations will be used to bring missionaries to many of the unreached? Even as a former missionary movement thrived under colonialism which provided easy entry into many regions of the world, do we now need to look for new ways, encompassing an international scope of resources, needs and opportunities? While the non-profit sector remains, lets use it creatively. The tax benefits available may help to extend opportunity. The call of Jesus Christ to missions, however is not confined to the non-profit sector. We as Christian business faculty have a unique opportunity to challenge our students from many parts of the world, to see if they might be called to the growing frontier of missions now and in the future, to use business as a means of helping people improve their life situations, and to share the wonderful good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ in new and effective ways. Let’s help each other grow in meeting this challenge. _______________________________ ENDNOTES 1 Faith Today. “The man behind expo ‘86”. September 1986. p. 31. 2 John R. Sutherland. “Justice: The Key to Business Ethics and Goals.” Crux. forthcoming. 3 Joel Millman. “The Next Path”. Forbes. 23 May, 1994. pp. 106-109. 4 Hernando De Soto. The Other Path. Harper and Row. 1989. 5 Joel Millman. “Jesuit Moneylenders”. Forbes. 29 August, 1994. pp. 56,58. 6 MEDA’s involvement in microenterprise development is reported in several issues of The Marketplace, including the following: September/October 1991, January/February 1992, September/October 1992; as well as in other MEDA publications. 7 Allan Sauder. “Entrepreneurship: A gift from God?”, The Marketplace, vol. 24, issue 2, March/April 1994. pp. 10,11. 8 Tetsunao Yamamori. Penetrating Mission’s Final Frontier. Downers Grove, Il., InterVarsity Press. 1993. 9 Christy J. Wilson Jr. Today’s Tentmakers. Wheaton Il., Tyndale House. 1979. 10 OpportuniTIEs Newsletter. Volume 1, Number 1, Spring 1994. p. 2. Tentmakers International Exchange. 11 OpportunitTIEs Newsletter. Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 1994. pp. 2,3. Tentmakers International Exchange.