by Paul Niehaus

In Us We Trust

Summer, 2006. Jouncing down dirt roads in Odisha, India to learn from farmers about their fertilizer mixes. Usually hungry, I didn’t trust my effete city-bred stomach on anything sold by the road. Nor did I understand a word of the Odia spoken in torrents around me. When we’d arrive I was mortified to see how the whiteness of my skin commanded attention, opened doors, seated me in the only chair in the room, the others sitting on the floor as we drank the chai and ate the biscuits of a farmer who might earn as much in a lifetime of hard work as my graduate school stipend paid me to think for one year—to think, in fact, about why it was that I had so much money, and the farmer so little.

I felt so, so deeply out of place.

But, I felt called to that uncomfortable place. I often turn to Jesus’ first words to his neighbors in Nazareth, when he stood up to share that he would be making a career change from “handyman” to “Messiah.” Imagine the electricity in that room.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

    because he has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor…”

This part of his vision for the inbreaking Kingdom really gets me up in the morning and keeps me up at night.

So I’ve carried on having conversations like those with the Odishan farmers, talking to people about their experiences with extreme poverty, focusing on what they’re doing about it. You see, an enormous number of people who once lived in extreme poverty no longer do. That’s a piece of good news that rich folk in rich countries need to hear—many of us mistakenly believe that extreme poverty has been getting worse. And given that, we naturally expect that things won’t get better until we do something different. So it’s grounding to get out and talk to the people actually wending their ways through and out of extreme poverty, learning how they go about it, reflecting on how we might contribute.

And speaking of contributions: as I sit and listen I become very aware of the cash in my wallet.

I travel with around $100. To me it’s a meaningless number, in the sense that I could not tell you anything meaningful about how my life would be different if I didn’t have it. But for the people I’m speaking with it could have deep meaning. It could mean working for themselves instead of scrounging casual jobs; educating a child to their full potential; not having to decide which family member skips meals. So the thought hits: I should leave this money behind when I leave.

Now, I’ve heard plenty of reasons not to do this, coming up through churches that were (relatively) engaged with global poverty, through universities doing my PhD in development economics. Poverty is a complex issue, not simply a matter of money. Money treats the symptoms, not the root cause. You have to teach a man to fish, not just give him a fish.

These adages seem to capture a kind of wisdom. But notice that they don’t address a very simple, factual question: what actually happens when we give money to people living in extreme poverty?

That seems worth knowing! Yet it turns out that until recently we really didn’t. The story begins all the way back in the 1960s when “economic development” really became a thing, a thing you could write papers about, attend conferences about, get a PhD in. Ideas about development were formulated and debated. But it wasn’t until the early 2000s that researchers began to test those ideas experimentally. That’s when we began setting up field-experimental trials to figure out what impact the many billions of dollars worth of programs we had designed were actually having.

There is no deep magic to these experimental trials—indeed they look very much like the clinical trials we use to test the efficacy of new drugs, or the A/B tests that technology companies use to evaluate new features. Yet they have profoundly changed our thinking about poverty and development. In 2019 the people who popularized them won the Nobel Prize for their efforts.

This “experimental revolution” has brought some real surprises. Strategies that made sense in theory turned out not to make cents on the dollar in practice. Take skills training, for example, designed to help people get jobs or start businesses—the epitome of the “teach a man to fish” philosophy. In practice, it hasn’t done much good. That doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with the idea that “learning to fish” is important. It just means we’re not great at giving fishing lessons.

Meanwhile, simply giving money has worked quite well. Across hundreds of high-quality studies from around the world, data say that people living in extreme poverty use the money in sensible ways that improve their lives. They use it towards future goals, not just today’s needs. They don’t systematically abuse it on self-harmful things like alcohol or tobacco (if anything studies tend to find the opposite), nor do they work less hard themselves.

In 2011, based on this overwhelmingly positive evidence, my co-founders and I launched an unorthodox new nonprofit: GiveDirectly. Its radically simple purpose was to enable rich people to give money to poor people. And over the past decade we’ve done a lot of exactly that. This fall we delivered a transfer to our 1,000,000th household. We’ve worked across 10 countries, run 15 of our own experimental impact evaluations, been consistently rated one of the most impactful ways in the world to give, all as part of a broader movement towards cash transfers as the default approach to accelerating the end of poverty.

In doing this work, a through-line for me has been Philippians 2:3:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves…”

Global poverty work, if we’re honest, has its share of “vain conceit.” I implicate myself. I’m part of a tiny, highly educated elite that influences or controls how billions of dollars of aid get spent. And it feels great! It feels great to exercise that power in the name of a just cause.

But what if we reflect on the data humbly, with fresh eyes? It would be hard to argue that we should have so much control over how the money gets spent, while the people we aim to serve have none at all. Certainly we do not have a demonstrably better track record of spending it than they do.

So: I invite you to join me in reflecting, and then embracing a deeper and more Christ-like generosity. We should begin to give in a way that humbly values people living in extreme poverty above ourselves.

by Dr. K. Shelette Stewart

The way to achieve financial dominion and prosperity is by allowing God to serve as the ultimate Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of your life and business and by following His spiritual economics. God’s spiritual economics are sometimes referred to as “kingdom economics.”  But what’s the difference between conventional economics and spiritual economics? The difference lies in your mentality.

Conventional economics is based on a scarcity mentality as it seeks to understand behavior that, given scarcity of means, arises to achieve certain ends. God’s spiritual economics, on the contrary, is based on an abundance mentality as God makes it clear that He sent His Son Jesus so that we might have abundant lives (John 10:10). And Jesus makes it clear that it is our Father’s pleasure to give us the entire kingdom (Luke 12:32). 

Given today’s global challenges around COVID-19, economic decline, and civic and social unrest, it is quite easy to focus on negativity and scarcity.  But, “the kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17, NLT).  In order for us to achieve financial dominion and prosperity in business, you and I must incorporate and follow God’s principles of spiritual economics as outlined in the Bible. This requires that we make the commitment to begin cultivating “good ground” or a rich and fertile foundation for our commercial initiatives as Jesus declares: 

But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the Word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces; some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Matthew 13:23 (NKJV)

When the financial plan for your business is based on godly principles, your business will often flourish to a level of success that is beyond one you could ever fathom. This is because “the blessing of the Lord makes one rich” (Proverbs 10:22, NKJV). The favor, mercy, and grace of God are worth more money than you can ever imagine because they are the blessings of God that allow us to generate wealth and prosper. As Jesus observes: “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God” (Luke 12:21, NLT).

The world economy has no impact whatsoever on God’s spiritual economy. Commercial market fluctuations have no bearing on His spiritual economics. The principles of spiritual economics are based on the never-ending abundance and all-sufficiency of God Almighty. The Bible says that “those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing” (Psalm 34:10, NLT; 37:16-19). There is no lack in God. There’s no concept of “not enough” or “being broke” or “down on your luck.” God doesn’t operate in the realm of luck and insufficient funds. There is abundance in God. 

What are some of these Biblical examples of kingdom economics?  The classic Bible story of Jesus feeding a crowd of five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two fish is an example of spiritual economics at work (Matthew 14:13-21; 15:32-39). 

Another example involves the story of the prophet Elijah who came across a widow in the city of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8-16).  When Elijah asked the widow for some bread to eat, she replied that she didn’t have as much as a biscuit to give him! She told him that all she had was a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil. She explained to Elijah that this was all she had to feed herself and her son and that they planned to eat their last meal together and die because they had no more food. 

Elijah told the widow not to worry and to go and do as she had planned, but first make a small biscuit for him, bring it to him, and afterward go and make some biscuits for herself and her son. Elijah explained: “This is the word of the God of Israel: ‘The jar of flour will not run out and the bottle of oil will not become empty before God sends rain on the land and ends this drought'” (1 Kings 17:14, MSG). The widow did as she was instructed, and Elijah was right. God miraculously multiplied the flour and oil, and she and her household ate for many days.

You may be wondering:  What do these ancient miracles mean for me and my business now? How can spiritual economics help me with my revenue goals today? The key point in sharing these miracles of spiritual economics is to show you that as God’s child, the world economy doesn’t control your supply. When you are obedient to God, He will bless you even during the most difficult of times (Malachi 3:12). He will allow your business to grow during an economic recession. He will allow you to prosper during a national depression.  When times are tough and the economy is weak, God is still strong (Job 9:19; Isaiah 40:26; Joel 2:11; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10).   Society is ever-changing, but God remains the same (Hebrews 13:8).

Dr. K. Shelette Stewart is an author, global speaker, consultant, and graduate of Harvard University with over 20 years of leadership experience with prominent organizations including Harvard Business School, The Coca-Cola Company, and BellSouth/AT&T.  She is a Fulbright Foreign Specialist with a Doctorate in Business Administration and the founder and principal of Stewart Consulting, LLC, a strategic planning firm serving companies, non-profits, and higher education institutions.  Dr. Stewart is the author of the award-winning book, Revelations in Business: Connecting Your Business Plan with God’s Purpose and Plan for Your Life© which has been formally endorsed by several industry leaders including Dan Cathy, Chairman and CEO of Chick-fil-A.  Learn More: www.shelettestewart.com.    https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelettestewart/.

Article originally posted here by Inspire

by Robert Netzly

As an upper-middle class white male, I have no place speaking about racial injustice. The closest thing to racism I have experienced are Latino people making fun of me within earshot, not realizing that this blue-eyed white-boy is fluent in Spanish. Try as I might to empathize, there is no way I can fully understand the experience of my black fellow Americans.

But, although I have no place speaking about racial injustice, I can and must speak out against racial injustice. Racism in every form is an evil that must be opposed by Christians and all well-meaning people everywhere. Systematic racism is the overflow of a broken, sin-stained world full of broken, sin-stained people. Hatred is a real force in the world, and the people of God must rise up to overcome racism in the love of God, by the blood of Christ, in the power of the Spirit. As a people who worship a Savior who chose to put on brown skin, and lived and died as a colored middle-eastern man, we of all people should live by the truth that all men and women are created in the image of God, and that image is beautiful and demands dignity.

At Inspire Investing, we try to do our part in the fight against racism by advocating for biblical values with corporations around the globe, including the biblical value to “love your neighbor as yourself” no matter their color, and that all people are created in the image of God and deserve dignity and respect. We routinely engage with corporations on issues related to God-honoring diversity practices (which differ in important ways with the world’s practice of diversity) and encourage them to be a blessing to all their employees, customers, communities and the world at large. There is no room for racism in a well-run business.

Racial Justice Investment Screens

Our biblically responsible investing screens have always included diversity issues as an important metric. In our Inspire Impact Score methodology, we reward companies with best in class performance related to God-honoring diversity and penalize companies with below average performance related to diversity. Specifically, our Inspire Impact Score currently considers diversity in the following categories:

1. Diversity and Opportunity Controversies: Company involved in published diversity and opportunity controversies, such as wage discrimination, promotion and harassment issues;

2. Human Rights Controversies: Company has been linked to published controversies linked to human rights issues, including supply chain incidents involving contractors and suppliers;

3. Labor Practices (Best In Class): Company exhibits above average Labor Practices performance relative to their industry peer group. This category considers compliance with fair labor standards for union and non-union employees, including employee retention, education, training, health, safety, compensation, benefits, diversity and mentoring programs;

4. Social Impact (Best In Class): Company exhibits above average Social Impact performance relative to their industry peer group. This category considers a company’s overall impact on their communities, positive human rights behaviors, philanthropy and charity.

Standing For, Standing Against

We stand together with our black brothers and sisters who are (peacefully) raising their voice for an end to racism in our nation. We also stand together with the (honorable majority) members of law enforcement agencies who daily work to protect the lives and liberties of the black communities in our country.

We stand against those who are attempting to pollute the Black Lives Matter movement with violence and hatred of their own. And we stand against the (dis-honorable minority) members of law enforcement who abuse their power to inflict suffering on the black community.

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

May the Lord be merciful to our nation and grant us the grace of peace and brotherhood for all. May we as His people be ministers of reconciliation, ushering in the peace of Christ as the Day of His coming draws ever-nearer. Maranatha! Lord Jesus, come!

Oh, the irony when the cobbler’s kid has no shoes. This is a favorite metaphor of Chuck Welden, CEO of Welden Field, a property management and development firm that has turned its gaze toward measuring Kingdom Performance Indicators alongside traditional KPIs. It points out the counterintuitive nature of how the American Church typically views mission work as almost exclusively international, while neglecting the mission field within its borders.

Seeking to address this disparity, Welden Field has joined the ranks of other FDIs and FDEs integrating faith in their multifamily business operations. In addition to inviting investors to participate in a monthly prayer meeting, Welden Field designates 2% of its annual equity to support efforts toward spiritual integration in its communities.

Welden Field’s spiritual integration model is rooted in the idea that unreached people groups exist in local communities; that developing countries are not the only worthy or glorious mission fields. One of the local fields most ripe for harvest is multifamily living.

Providing a pipeline for discipleship, equipping community leaders, and embracing life-on-life ministry are three tangible ways Welden Field promotes spiritual integration in multifamily.

The changing culture of multifamily lifestyle can make it difficult for churches to reach residents. Welden Field’s model provides a pipeline to connect churches to these communities, serving as a missional matchmaker that benefits both the church and the multifamily community. In this way, the church can reach new people by meeting tangible needs through sustained connections which lead to both the church going out and the community coming in. This is particularly helpful for those in the church who desire to live missionally, but do not have the desire or ability to do international missions. By connecting people who live in the same community, Welden Field is able to facilitate long-term, relational discipleship in some of the most unreached places in the country.

This is done through designated Community Leaders—individuals and families who live in the multifamily community and intentionally lead and connect to other residents. In addition to hosting events like parents’ night out and barbeques, these leaders engage residents through prayer walks and Bible studies to literally meet people where they live. A portion of the 2% dedicated to spiritual integration goes to funding these events and training the Community Leaders.

Community Leaders come from churches, college graduates with a heart for discipleship, and campus ministries—they are people on fire for people. Community Leaders become part of the multifamily complex. They are boots-on-the-ground local missionaries whose priority is to care for the residents’ in tangible ways that point to the hope of the gospel. When this is done well, residents are more likely to stay in the community—meaning less turnover and greater consistency.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, many international missionaries returned to the United States with little time to prepare. Many of these moved into apartments and are looking for opportunities to serve in their new homes. Welden Field recognized the opportunity to connect these missionaries with local communities in need of relational, life-on-life discipleship. By turning multifamily living into a local mission field, Welden Field has established a true win-win-win situation: missionaries continue walking in the call on their lives, residents have access to authentic gospel-driven community, and property managers see lower turnover.

Welden Field’s commitment to its spiritual integration model, its engagement with investors, and its designated funding for spiritual integration make it an example for FDIs seeking to reach partners and clients in gospel-driven business. When your business literally takes place where people live, positioning your team inside those communities is one of the most influential acts in authentic integration. In this way, multifamily living communities are a mission field like none other, and developers and managers are matchmakers with an eternal impact.

Article originally posted here by Eventide

by Finny Kuruvilla

The following are excerpts taken from Eventide’s Annual Shareholder’s Letter dated June 30, 2020:

If someone would have predicted at the New Year that during 2020, all professional sporting events would be canceled, restaurants would be closed, Seattle would have an autonomous “country” inside of it, large portions of Minneapolis would be looted while millions would be calling for the police to be defunded, public schools across the country would stop, and the market cap of Zoom would surpass American Airlines, Delta, Southwest, and United—combined, you would have thought that person to be insane. Surreal is too weak a word to describe the last few months of 2020. Most of us have grown so accustomed to the wildly improbable that we can hardly appreciate how abnormal our world has become.

What is an investor to do? As is often the case, investing and the events on the news teach the same lessons from different perspectives. An important lesson is that proclivities to sound bites and reductionism are costly, even deadly, tendencies. When we see people on both sides of the contemporary race debate (or rant, as the case may be), it is painfully obvious that very few have even read a well written book on the subject and certainly not one from the other side’s perspective. Mark Twain said it well, “In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.” If we could encourage deep examination (which best comes from books, not from the news or social media), much of the current rancor might be converted into constructive value creation, not demagoguery or demonization.

The investing world right now is subject to similar sound bites rooted in fear or snap judgments—“P/E ratios are high! COVID-19 is winning!” This has caused many to make unwise choices and miss the ninth best quarter in the history of the S&P 500. It has caused investors to miss opportunity because of fear. We do not mean to equate financial losses with the loss of lives or dignity, but the underlying thinking processes are the same in finance and politics. Investors need to rise above the groupthink and ponder deeply the basis of their decisions. On the valuation side, P/E ratios are notoriously obscurant, and those who rely on them may miss profound drivers of the market such as cost-of-capital, return on capital, and the equity risk premium. On the values side, reductionism may relegate investors to a shallow greed no better than the vapid political proclamations that dominate the media today.

We at Eventide are seeking to enlarge the conversation, inviting market participants to think deeply about what investing represents. Our Business 360® approach is designed to investigate the multiple stakeholders affected by a business, an approach that could not be timelier in a world that is looking at supply chains, employees, and social concerns as never before.

[Reductionism] leads to pernicious consequences in all facets of life. The news today teaches another lesson with direct relevance to finance. That lesson is: it takes courage to see oneself as not merely passive but endowed with abilities to effect change. It is easy to watch the news, shrug one’s shoulders and say, “The West is in moral decline.” There are many people who bemoan and criticize, watching from an armchair as virtues unravel. Similarly, it is easy to be a “passive” investor and allow corporations as they are to shape the future. We at Eventide are here to remind you that investing is ownership and that the owners of a business determine the character of the business. The failings of the media and corporate America are opportunities for investors to right the ship. This takes courage and collaboration in a world trending toward greater passivity and isolation. As we have grown as a firm, we are more excited than ever for our capacity to influence business practice. By partnering with us, you are endeavoring to step outside the status quo and use your investing dollars to labor for a future that is bright