BAM

Creating a Kingdom Values Based Corporate Culture: 

/ Phill

http://globalopps.org/tmbriefs/BAM.png

Putting the “M” in Business as Mission

The BP oil platform failure and subsequent leak in the Gulf of Mexico is a major news focus these days. People are asking, “What could have led to such a catastrophic failure?” In the days to come this will be analyzed ad nauseam. Many factors are being discussed. One that keeps coming up is that there was a corporate culture of indifference.

Business gurus are nearly unanimous. Clear core values are essential for success. They need to be understood and internalized by everyone in the company. They do not guarantee success, but their absence guarantees mediocrity or failure. I want to look at the idea of corporate culture in light of the growing interest of Business as Mission (BAM) as a type of tentmaking work.

In Christian circles a lot of interest has been generated about BAM and the importance of having businesses run by Christians in order to bring a witness to the international marketplace. It sounds great. But what does it actually mean?

What makes a business Christian?

Is it enough that the business is run by a Christian?Can there be a corporate culture based on Kingdom values? If so, what does it look like? Should the employer use work time for “devotional meetings”. Can he obligate employees to participate?

Maybe the path one takes is to have a chaplain on staff and make that person available to staff or even to customers. Does this make the company a business as mission company.

What if the business measures its success by looking at the “Triple Bottom Line” taking into account more than just profit, but also social and spiritual impact?

These activities may be desirable, but in some ways they miss the main point. They are not what make a company a BAM company.

Companies, like people, have a “personality” or “style” in the way they act and in the way they relate to their staff and constituencies. Our core values determine how we interpret and interact with our environment. In organizations we refer to this as its corporate culture.

Every company has a culture, whether consciously developed or not. Sometimes the corporate culture is given slightly different names: culture of the organization (Eldred), core values (Johnson), core ideals (Collins), for example.

Corporate culture, like our social culture, is instilled in us by everything around us, people and environment, and we are not always consciously aware of it and how it influences everything we do. It shapes our worldview and informs all of our decisions.

When the company culture is well aligned, fewer rules are needed because the staff is motivated internally to do the right thing. The company values are internalized and guide all actions assisting staff in the interpretation of the messages they receive and in determining what the appropriate response should be.

Having a Christian corporate culture means incorporating Kingdom values not only into our goals, but also into the staff’s way of thinking and operating – into the core of the company’s “being.” The values need to be a part of who the company is and how it behaves. In other words Kingdom values need to be part of the personality of the company.

No one activity makes a company a BAM company. It starts with an understanding of the the values of the Kingdom of God and exemplifies it in the sum of its attitudes and activities. Essentially the company runs as one company simultaneously under the sovereignty of the the Kingdom as God with its requirements and the laws or legal requirements that govern its host country.

What are those values? Ken Eldred has a useful list to prime our thinking in the third chapter of his book, God Is at Work.

He gives 10 common features that characterize BAM companies.

1. The presence of a Christian or Christians with a sphere of influence.
2. A product or service in harmony with God’s creational purpose.
3. A mission or business purpose that is larger and deeper than mere financial (though including it) so that the business contributes in some way to the Kingdom of God.
4. The product or service is offered with such excellence that it suggests the presence of the Kingdom and invites opportunity to witness.
5. Customers are treated with dignity and respect and not just as a means of profit.
6. Employees and workers are equipped to achieve greater potential in their life and, if they are Christians, to work wholeheartedly with faith, home and love.
7. All aspects of the business are considered to be potentially a ministry and subject to prayer.
8. The culture (values, symbols, governing beliefs) of the organization line up with God’s word and Kingdom purposes.
9. The business runs on grace.
10. The leaders are servants, dedicated to serve the mission of the business, the best interest of the employees, the customers and the shareholders because they are first of all servants of God.

The Wheaton Declaration

/ Guest Contributor

In October 2009 we organized a global consultation on Business as Mission, BAM, under the theme ‘Business as Integral Calling’. The Consultation, held in Wheaton, Illinois USA, was a significant contribution to equip many on the journey towards a better understanding and praxis of BAM.

We came from sixteen countries and five global regions “to explore the place of business in God’s purposes, together with the sacred calling of a life in business. 
We began with an acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty and Lordship over all aspects of human life, including our work, our business, our money, our profit, our economy, and our working relationships.”

Our conversations were organized around topics like:

  • What challenges and opportunities confront business seeking to 
    implement Kingdom values?
  • How does an understanding of the Kingdom of God re-center and 
    anchor business?
  • From a Kingdom of God perspective, how should business, in conjunction 
    with non-governmental organizations and government agencies, address poverty?
  • How do businesses with Kingdom values operate within environmental and 
    natural resource constraints?

The Wheaton Consultation brought together leaders from the realms of business, non-profit organizations, and Christian ministry with theologians and academic leaders in business, economics, and missions.

The Consultation sought to build upon the Lausanne process and document.**

Our deliberations are summarized in the Wheaton Declaration.

One brief excerpt:

“It is our deep conviction that businesses that function in alignment with the core values of the Kingdom of God are playing and increasingly should play an important role in holistic transformation of individuals, communities and societies.”

Mats Tunehag

Lausanne Senior Associate Business as Mission

Why believe in Business as Mission?

/ Steinar Opheim

http://globalopps.org/tmbriefs/hands-2.png

The Business as Mission (BAM) movement has become a fast growing flower in God’s garden. But not all rapidly growing seedlings will last for a long time.
So what will happen to the Business as Mission companies? Will we still talk about BAM 50 years from now? Of course only God knows what the future will look like and his foolishness is wiser than the wisdom of the humans (1 Cor 1.) Still it is possible to say something about the strengths and weaknesses of the BAM-strategy.

BAM strengths

Let us look at the strengths first. Here are a number of reasons why Business as Mission is a very relevant strategy for bringing the gospel to the ends of the earth:

1. Business people are welcomed everywhere. 
Nearly all countries will give visas to clever business people who will contribute to building up their society. In several of the countries where the Gospel is least known, there is a great need for business entrepreneurs who can bring about the creation of new workplaces. According to estimates from the World Bank, 2.6 billion people today have to survive on less than $2 per day. 1.4 billion people have an income lower than $1.25 per day. Within the next 20 years, two billion people will be born in societies where there are few churches and few jobs. It was God’s intention that everyone should work. If we have no job to go to and our skills are not in demand in society, we will very easily lose our dignity. God rejoices when business people use their skills and help people to get their dignity back.

2. Business people are welcomed in all layers of society. 
A man who served as a missionary in an African country for more than a decade, decided to start an import-export business when he moved to a new place. Now he is testifying how all doors opened for him after he started his business.

3. God has always used business people to bring the gospel forward. 
The Bible tells us that all but the apostles had to leave Jerusalem due to the persecution after the killing of Stephen (Acts 7). Many of those who left were craftsmen and women. The book of Acts tells us that those who were scattered planted new churches in the places where they settled. Gary Goodhew, a retired Anglican bishop, has concluded that «in the earliest history of the Christian mission the saving news of Christ was often carried to new places by those who were seeking to do business.»

4. Business leaders are people of influence.
Some years ago a tentmaker went to Greenland to run a shipping business. The business soon became the biggest tax payer in the local community. Because of his contribution to the society, the tentmaker was able to connect on a personal level with the municipal leaders.

BAM challenges
There are also some common reasons why some Business as Mission companies fail.

1. The founders/leaders don’t know how to run a company.
Some Christians have seen the BAM-model as an entry strategy to countries that do not issue visas to missionaries. Without any business skills, the people involved try to set up a viable company. However, due to lack of knowledge on how to run a company, the business fails.

2. Stigma of business
Related to the first problem is the attitude that business work is not real work for God. Some people think that as soon as they’ve managed to register a business they can use as a visa platform, they’ll spend as little time as possible running the business, and as much time as possible on evangelism. Anyone thinking like this will probably not succeed in his or her business. The attitude will also often discredit the name of Jesus. When the authorities see that the persons involved are not doing the job they promised, they conclude that Christians are people who do not keep their word.

3. Hostile authorities are becoming more aware of the BAM model
It is not only the Christian business people who know about the BAM way of working. Authorities in countries that are hostile towards the Gospel also have up to date knowledge about BAM. In many places they keep track of what the business managers are doing. This causes problems both to the businesses and to the local believers who are getting involved.

Conclusion
The BAM companies come in all shapes and sizes. Within the BAM family you find everything from one person companies making very little money to multi-national businesses with profits of millions of dollars. Together the BAM companies form a colorful flower. Let’s pray for God to raise up good BAM leaders and models so this movement now and in the future will have maximum impact for God’s kingdom.