Article originally hosted and shared with permission by The Christian Economic Forum, a global network of leaders who join together to collaborate and introduce strategic ideas for the spread of God’s economic principles and the goodness of Jesus Christ. This article was from a collection of White Papers compiled for attendees of the CEF Global Event.

by Matt Elsberry

At CEF, we’re blessed to be a part of a community that challenges the status quo. This paper is significantly different than my two previous efforts.

This paper and my grandma’s decision prompt a critical question: Are churches and non-profit ministries the only way money can be used to build the kingdom of God? I chose a provocative title, but I am at least attempting to write with humility. There is much incredible kingdom work happening through traditional churches and traditional ministries that are worthy of capital. This paper and my grandmother’s decision are less about diminishing these forms of kingdom building and more about promoting an alternative route, one that is being increasingly represented by incredible members and businesses in the CEF community. Perhaps many of these are also worthy homes for kingdom-building capital. My grandmother certainly believed so, and in her final days, she put her treasure where she wanted her heart to be also, with the kingdom builders.

Here’s my tribute I shared at her funeral. [Elaine Elsberry]

How do you measure the value of a life well-lived?

In my grandmother’s obituary, one word stood out to me more than any other word…curiosity. Certain words have immense power and require thousands of others to explain. “Curious” is certainly one. Like Grandma, it brings a host of descriptors to mind. She was a tiny giant, open to learning something new for every one of her 35,000+ days. She had this uncanny, erudite way of using her curiosity to inspire and draw out your own.

Words hold no respect for the strong and mighty; her tiny, 90-pound frame could break down walls and destroy kingdoms. Words could transport her mind far beyond the stamina of her body. She could teleport with her mind as effortlessly as she could turn the next page of her book.

In a word, she was curious. And her tenacious curiosity made her a tireless force for good—yes, for worship. In ancient Jewish culture, the highest form of worship was knowledge. What more respect/honor could you give someone other than to learn everything about them? And if this is indeed God’s world, and each author ever to have put pen to paper is His child, then each word is a holy utterance—a fragment of a clue in the cosmic story God is constantly unveiling about Himself.

And Grandma drank deeply from this well.

She was insatiable—and darned if not more contagious than Covid.

I was one of the lucky ones to have caught her curiosity. Many others did, too.

Countless times she would throw out a thought, “What do you think God means by…” or, “Why do you suppose God allows….” I ache to remember those questions, to be surprised by the unveiling of a cosmic record with constant availability of those precious, finite, fleeting moments, made even more valuable by their expiration.

If you had the privilege of having one of those conversations with my grandma, you’d know that after careful reflection on the ensuing discussion, she would usually lean forward and say: “Well I suppose…” before delivering a powerful truth.

I guess I always knew it in my heart, but it took her death for me to realize that she was one of my favorite people in the world with whom to have a chat.

God, I wish for just one more of those conversations. Like a spoiled child, I took for granted the delicacies that I could have called upon at any moment, and yet too often did not.

I chose my words carefully around Grandma—not out of fear but out of respect. Each word holds meaning, and I could count on her to contemplate each one and assign value to it.

She upped my game. Her curiosity would often expose weak logic or unchiseled thoughts. Sometimes while talking with her, I would find myself outside of myself, examining my own thoughts, questioning their merit. I often would concede, “I guess I’m not sure,” after conversations with Grandma.

And it’s for this reason I suppose curiosity usually precedes humility. It’s hard not to be humble when you are constantly learning.

I threw some crazy ideas at her these last few years:

1. That God doesn’t only build His kingdom through church as we currently define it but wants to use business as well.

2. That 99% of our available wealth is invested in companies that care nothing for the kingdom of God, while we put what equates to a fraction of a penny into “the kingdom” through charitable investments.

3. That we largely let the US government dictate what constitutes a “kingdom-building” gift through its tax legislation.

And she was remarkably unfazed. She even cheered me on as I sought to help build a for-profit company that was committed to building the kingdom of God, showing up week after week after week to our company prayer time. And as an affront to the status quo, one last cannonball of curiosity, she did something many would consider scandalous. She struck out the traditional church from her will and penned in our for-profit company—one last big hug and encouragement from even beyond the grave. “I approve grandson. And I’m proud of you. Use that tenacious curiosity of your own to challenge the giants in front of you.”

This was an overwhelming thought to me. The most curious person I knew had dropped a fat stamp of approval on my own curiosity. These ideas my curiosity had led me to were more than ideas, they were worth the money she had reserved for the kingdom of God. And in her final days, she decided that LivFul (our company) was a better bet for growing the kingdom of God than her traditional church was.

This is no small thing, and while I tremble at the weight of the implication, I’m also glad for shoulders larger than mine who carry it (and us along with it).

I love you Grandma, and thanks to you, I have renewed strength to persist. You will forever be a part of me and my calling to demonstrate the building of the kingdom of God through business.

You are forever part of LivFul, and our legacy is surely yours as well.

I suppose my grandma threw down a bit of a gauntlet here. If you’re a business leader, the challenge is to make your business a worthy place for housing kingdom capital. Would you feel comfortable receiving a donation in lieu of it going to a church? If not, why not? I can assure you that there is no difference in how God views money entrusted to either…it’s clearly all His.

At LivFul, we don’t take this gift lightly. My grandma believed we could steward the money better than her church, and that’s quite the bar to live up to.

At the end of the parable of the talents, the man who had turned five into ten tried to give the money back to the master. “Thanks, but no thanks,” he said. “Please keep managing it for me.”

May we endeavor to build the kind of businesses that are so exemplary of the Kingdom of God that, when we try to hand the money back to God, He says the same. “You’re doing well! Keep stewarding this for me.”

by Bill and Dana Wichterman

Give someone a fish and they’ll eat for a day, but invest in a for-profit commercial fishery and their community could prosper and flourish for a lifetime.  Well, that’s not exactly how the old proverb goes, but it’s no less true.

And that’s why we’re leaning into impact investing: it’s sustainable, dignifying, cures and prevents poverty, helps people flourish, heals broken cultures, and draws from a much larger pool of funding to have a bigger impact.

Philanthropy is important, and it’s often the only way to address a problem. When someone is hungry and in need of their next meal, giving them a fish is the best thing to do. But it usually doesn’t address the underlying cause of the hunger. 

Plus, there is way more money available for impact investing than philanthropy. The average net worth of a family is around $100,000, whereas a tithing family will give just $10,000 annually. Harnessing the power of the liquid assets (in retirement and non-retirement vehicles) to intentionally invest according to biblical principles means the potential year-over-year impact of the investment dollars is far larger with a much longer tail.

Business is driven by two things: customers and shareholders. And in a sense, shareholders are more important because they also care about customers – without whom they won’t make money. Witness the power of shareholders shaping culture through ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing, prompting businesses to behave far differently than if their sole concern were sales. With Christians managing more than $150 trillion, the power to shape culture is huge. 

In the developing world, impact investing has far more potential to alleviate poverty and lead to human flourishing than charitable giving. Consider Sunshine Nuts in Mozambique. Founded by former Hershey Foods chocolate buyer Don Larson and his wife Terri, they are working to create a sustainable, for-profit cashew processing facility in one of the poorest countries in the world. They are providing good-paying jobs, training, and in a high-quality and safety-conscious factory shaping a culture of meritorious work for its employees and suppliers. The workers receive a small bonus every day they show up on time, upending the prevailing culture that undervalues timeliness. And Sunshine Nuts investors are betting on getting a decent return on their dollar so they can turn around and invest their appreciated capital in another start-up that has a redemptive mission. 

The Sunshine Nuts employees probably don’t feel any gratitude to the company investors, because as far as they’re concerned, they’re trading their labor for their wages, giving them a sense of accomplishment and dignity that is absent when the poor are handed a fish. Work is a reward in itself since it’s one of the ways we reflect God’s image. Empowering the poor to earn their wages is ennobling in a way that charity just can’t be.

Impact investing can cure and prevent poverty in the first instance. Plus, wages create taxpayers, potential donors and investors.  The unbending power of profits, deadlines, term sheets and spread sheets bring a real-world crucible to communities that government and philanthropic programs may lack. And it’s this market power that has the strength to straighten out twisted cultures (and all cultures need straightening to greater and lesser extents).

Impact investing is akin to the yet-to-be-invented perpetual motion machine that just keeps on going and going. But these machines need capital to be built in the first place. That’s where Christians come in.

We could seek a return-focused investment strategy without regard for the second bottom line, but why? If God wants to steward all our resources for His Kingdom, we shouldn’t ignore how we are making money. After having been challenged by Henry Kaestner and Greg Lernihan to use all of our resources in an intentional double-bottom line way, we’re systematically going through our portfolio, transitioning away from vehicles that have no regard for social and spiritual impact to those that do.  

Admittedly, this requires effort – more effort than most busy people have time to expend. How can we vet all the companies in an index fund, much less a startup half-way around the world?

Thankfully, there is a movement in the Church to create organizations to do just that. 

Praxis, Lion’s Den, Impact Foundation, Talanton, Eventide, Kingdom Advisors, and of course, Faith-Driven Investor are among the growing number of Christian-led organizations empowering Christians to unlock the potential of their capital to remake the world and lead to human flourishing. To us, it feels like a work of the Spirit blowing through the Church, and we couldn’t be more excited about it.

Abraham Kuyper, the Dutch Prime Minister 120 years ago, said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” This includes our money – and not just our tithe, but our investments, too.  

by Troy Austin

I first became interested in stewardship when I submitted to a Crown Financial Ministry course 20 years ago. Having grown up in the deep south in a blue collar Southern Baptist church, I knew about stewardship: Give 10%. . . of the net, right?

This study unlocked in me a new found purpose in my closed-handedness. It led me to the spare bedroom / war room, complete with a giant shower board on the wall (I was not going to waste God’s money buying a real whiteboard) and a hand-me-down recliner in which my poor young bride, Sunny, could relax while I passionately “lectured” her as to how we were going to tighten our grip in order to most effectively manage God’s money.

A few years later, after I violently attempted to pound 1.25 cents out of every penny, I was given a gift that began to loosen the grip on the money flowing into our hands. The gift giver was a mentor of mine: a no nonsense, larger than life, NFL linebacker turned cowboy. When he told someone something, they listened. He handed me this book, The Treasure Principle, directed me to a website called Generous Giving, and told me that God owns it all. I am forever grateful for his leading me into an upside down world that has dominated my thinking since then.

I became mesmerized by spiritual giants like Stanley Tam and RG Letourneau. They were not like the businessmen I knew, read about or idolized. I almost instantaneously created a new idol: I would give away 51% of my income. I would have to tighten my grip for a season, but I would loosen later FOR God. Little did I know, I was still missing it.

Fortunately God was not shaking his head, but was patiently walking with me through numerous trials leading me ever closer to the life of an open-handed steward. He led me to attend, host, and later facilitate Journeys of Generosity with Generous Giving. He led me to work with both National Christian Foundation and Waterstone. He allowed me to meet and work with many incredibly successful Christ followers at different places along their own journeys.

The more I was around these incredible stewards, the more I began to notice that they had more joy than I did and it was not just because they had more wealth. They seemed to see more beauty in relationships and in simple pleasures. They were more grateful. Their yoke seemed easy and their burden light. While they were intelligent and informed in their giving, they did not get bent out of shape if and when things did not go as they had planned.

Fortunately, as I started walking with these people, my tight grip began to relax a little. I began to see glimpses of what these guys were seeing. I desperately wanted more, but it seemed so counter to what I had been taught. It seemed irresponsible at times. . . upside down even.

Tim Keller has been significant in shaping my views on stewardship, and he says this:

If we are Christians, we are living simultaneously in 2 Kingdoms: The right side up kingdom and the upside down kingdom. The right side up kingdom is the one we see physically. It is the one the world tells us we must build: Power, success, comfort, recognition. The upside down kingdom is described by Christ in the sermon on the mount: Weakness, sacrifice, discomfort, rejection. Remember, everything in the right side up kingdom turns to fertilizer. This does not mean we are not to live in the right side up kingdom and even enjoy it, but we cannot be controlled by it. It is not our kingdom.

He goes on to share how you know you are living in the upside down kingdom:

1.  You are a reckless giver, so much so that it could put you in financial risk at times

2.  You are exploited emotionally by others taking advantage of your generosity

3.  You do not feel like God owes you something because you have earned it

4.  You recognize that all you have is a gift of grace

Wait a minute, this is stewardship? This does not look like the stewardship I was trying to outline on that shower board all those years ago. Keller goes on to say that the standard for stewardship is the cross. . . whoa! That sounds crazy and imprudent to me. But that is the owner. . . radically generous. . . even to those who do not “deserve” it. . . even when it makes no sense to the world. . . even when it costs Him everything.

If God didn’t keep a tight grip on unlimited grace, then who am I to pinch every penny, even if I’m pinching for the “right” reasons? Generosity isn’t about gaining as much as you can in order to give more away. It isn’t even about giving away everything you have. It’s about acknowledging the free gift of love and grace you’ve already received from the one who owns everything—and in turn holding on loosely to whatever treasures he has placed in your hands.

[ Photo by William Fortunato from Pexels ]

by Stella Tai

How community development investing is changing the lives of everyday Kenyans

On a recent trip to Kenya, I had the privilege of visiting some of the impact organizations associated with Praxis Mutual Funds’ community development investments – to which we dedicate approximately 1% of Praxis funds’ assets. We arranged these visits in cooperation with Calvert Impact Capital, our CDI partner.

The trip was an opportunity to observe firsthand how investor capital contributes to the success of organizations seeking to benefit communities. I was moved by what I saw – and privileged to bear witness to the many ways God is present in efforts to empower underserved families and communities in my home country.

What is CDI? 

CDI aims to put investment dollars to work directly in communities, in ways that meet social and environmental priorities. At Praxis, we see CDI as a sustainable way to lift up the downtrodden, protect the widow and the orphan, and restore sight (metaphorically) to the blind.

When I position CDI among the various impact strategies we implement, I think of Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed in the Book of Mark. This seed is indeed the smallest of seeds but grows into the largest garden plant, and becomes a tree that provides shelter to birds in its shade. Like the mustard seed, a CDI investment is generally small but has the potential to generate significant economic opportunity, changing many lives for the better.

CDI in Africa

While in Kenya – the land of my birth – I visited organizations spanning the agricultural, innovative finance, microfinance and fintech industries, funded partially by Calvert Impact Capital and other impact investors (Please see my blog posts for details on site visits.) The work being done by these organizations in Kenya signals that CDI is one way of turning your investment dollars into real, tangible impact.

Africa is a relatively youthful continent with around one-fifth of the world’s youths, meaning that any poverty alleviation strategies implemented now will have long-lasting effects on the people living and working in sub-Saharan African countries like Kenya.

The CDI sites I visited were not focused on simplistic solutions that build dependency, like giving handouts, but on building infrastructure such as food supply chains, providing solar power to rural farmers, and creating business opportunities by financing motorbikes. By focusing on longitudinal change, these organizations can create changes that last for generations and contribute to the creation of long-term solutions.

This philosophy lies at the heart of community development investing – making small, sustainable investments that empower economic inclusion and opportunity that will continue to grow and positively impact families and communities for years to come.

Due to the unbanked and off-the-grid reality for many people living in both urban and rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa, traditional solutions to economic inequality do not work. That’s why CDI has the greatest effect when supporting organizations that think outside the box.

For example, Watu Credit used existing technologies to build an adaptable lending system that’s right for Africa and the youths who need the jobs. Another example of innovative solutions that I saw in Kenya is how Yehu empowers community lending groups that provide business loans for those in rural communities who are not qualified to receive traditional loans.

Investments must be agile and responsive to the needs on the ground. Patience – and no small amount of faith – is necessary while deploying impact capital, with investors understanding that it’s going to take time for the investment to produce results. These are innovations that can potentially scale very quickly but can be compromised if they are not backed by the right kinds of capital.

Joyous collaboration 

I witnessed inspiring collaboration between community development investors and recipients on the ground. As a woman of faith, I remember the words from Matthew 22:39, where Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Community development investing is a great example of how we can love our neighbors with the resources God has blessed us with.

The Faith Driven Investor movement stands on the shoulders of those who have come before us. John Siverling and the Christian Investment Forum are just one of the groups who have led this conversation, and we’re grateful to feature their contribution to the movement here.

by John Siverling

Redeemer Faith and Work Founder and co-author with Tim Keller of “Every Good Endeavour” shares her thoughts on why every Christian should see their work as an act of worship to God and how those in the financial industry have a particularly important role. Presented as the Keynote address at the 2019 CIF Leadership Summit.