by Amanda Lawson

God designed humans for community. You already know this. Scripture uses the metaphor of one body with many parts everywhere—each part with different roles and skills and all of them supporting the overall mission of the body. A hand on its own cannot throw a ball and your right big toe is pretty purposeless without a connection to the rest of your foot. 

But when connected and supported properly, you can pitch a curveball and run a marathon.

The same applies for faith-driven business endeavors. Investors need entrepreneurs, and vice versa. Everyone needs knowledge, wisdom, and support—all three of which often come through community and relationships. 

The Global Collab is a community of people who work with incubators, accelerators, and capacity builders, dedicated to supporting Faith Driven Entrepreneurs around the world. As they support entrepreneurs, Global Collab provides a place for them to receive similar support from one another. It has grown to include 32 members from around the world who believe in the power of community and discipleship as crucial elements to effective kingdom-based entrepreneurship. 

Philip Geldenhuys, one of the founding members, explained that as a faith-driven support system, the Global Collab encourages members to openly share their questions and struggles, while surrounding them with a community of understanding friends who can offer solutions or access to networks that would have otherwise gone untapped. 

Geldenhuys also helps to lead Triga, an accelerator in South Africa, where he knows firsthand the value of a faith-based support system for entrepreneurs. A graduate from Praxis Labs, he took his passion and knowledge to Africa to bring a similar program to African entrepreneurs, connecting budding entrepreneurs with experienced mentors who will support and affirm them on their journey. 

Recognizing the challenges to African entrepreneurs—significant opportunity and wealth gaps, educational disparities that fall along racial lines, and difficulty accessing resources—Geldenhuys knows as well as anyone the importance of a solid community of wisdom and support. 

But regardless of geography, some universal struggles challenge all entrepreneurs. Geldenhuys noted that one of the biggest problems for entrepreneurs in this space is finding funding and leveraging resources effectively—especially for those operating in emerging or frontier markets. The Global Collab functions as a working group that enables growth for entrepreneurs both professionally and personally—through a supportive network of seasoned entrepreneurs with a variety of experiences. 

The Global Collab provides a level of discipleship and mentorship for entrepreneurs around the global. There is accountability and encouragement to be found when believers get together.  We see throughout Scripture that discipleship and accountability are important components of these relationships, useful for edification, teaching, and comforting. And these benefits are not limited to the functions of church congregation but reach the Body of Christ globally and in diverse industries. 

Geldenhuys noted that one of the most significant benefits to the Global Collab is simply the recognition of a shared story. CS Lewis once said that “friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one!’” Being a part of a working group like Global Collab is the same; a group of faith-driven professionals who can support one another as they press on toward the goal, even if that is simply saying “I understand; I’ve been there, too.” 

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’s Global Event.

by Mats Tunehag

God’s Investment and Ours

By Peter Heslam

The Bible uses rich figurative language, and a variety of metaphors and analogies, in its depictions of God. Many of these are well-known, such as king, shepherd and judge. But one that is almost unknown is God as investor.

Yet it occurs right at the start of the Hebrew Bible. There we find God investing a formless, dark and empty earth with light and a profusion of plant and animal wildlife. God then invests this creation with human beings. And in them – them alone – God invests his image (Genesis 1).

Later in the Hebrew Bible we find God advising Jeremiah on a property investment – the prophet is to buy a field (Jeremiah 32). But God clearly shuns the ‘location, location, location’ precept of today’s real estate experts. For the field in question is situate in territory occupied by the invading Babylonian army! Whatever happened to due diligence and caveat emptor (buyer beware)?

When we turn to the New Testament, we find that the use of wealth is a major theme in the teaching of Jesus. Yet here too, conventional wisdom is turned on its head. He does not, for instance, advise the rich young ruler to invest his wealth wisely and responsibly to optimise social impact. Instead, Jesus tells him to sell all he has and give to the poor (Lk 18.18-25), an action that would have added the man to the number of poor people needing help. And the parabolic rich man who builds bigger warehouses to invest for the future is not called prudent but a fool (Lk 12.13-21).

Similarly perplexing is the parable that addresses the issue of investment most directly – the parable of the talents (Mt 25.14-30). The reader is left to work out its meaning. What is it about the three servants in that story that makes them so different in the investments and returns they make, and in the rewards and punishments they receive? Could it really be saying that all God cares about is the return on God’s investment?

We also find Jesus investing a good deal of his time and energy – during his prime years – in a pretty flaky and shaky collection of prospects. It amounts to a motley crew of largely unschooled, hapless, and unreliable followers, all drawn from a relatively deprived region of the Roman Empire, and who end up abandoning him. When the crunch comes, they liquidate whatever investment they had in Jesus’ ministry, one of them receiving a shoddy dividend of 30 pieces of silver (Mt 26.15).

The Apostle Paul shares in the apparent recklessness of Jesus’ investment strategy. He pours his life into small and fragile communities of persecuted

Christians dispersed around the eastern fringes of the occupied territories of the Roman Empire. In doing so, he admits to acting ‘like a madman’, for it cost him heavy toil, imprisonments and near-death floggings (2 Cor 11.23).

In fact, anyone currently considering whether or not to invest their lives in the service of Christ may first want to read the preamble to Paul’s investment proposal:

Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches (2 Cor 11.24-28).

Neither Jesus not Paul made such costly investments, of course, without hope of a return. In the case of Jesus, it was ‘for the sake of the joy that was set before him’ that he ‘endured the cross, disregarding its shame’ (Heb 12.2).

Following his conversion, Paul shunned the return on investment (ROI) he had been making from his training to become a learned Pharisee. The ROI he now looked for was ‘to know Christ and the power of his resurrection’ (Philippians 3.8-10). And he considered the church communities in which he invested to be adequate ROI in themselves; he refers to them as his ‘joy and crown’ (Phil 4.1; 1 Thess 2.19).

Some of the biblical material will be revisited later in this series, in order to explore its ramifications for our investment in our work and in the people around us. Faith in Business, the co-publisher of FiBQ, is exploring this question in 2022. It will consider God’s investment in the world and what implications that has for our investment strategy.

This exploration began with the Faith in Business Monthly online seminar on 6th January. In that seminar, a panel of experts approached the theme of investment from different angles. In doing so, they provided rare insight on how scriptural principle relates to everyday practice. As part of Faith in Business’ attempt to bring the quarterly journal and the monthly webinar closer together, subscribers can expect to read within these pages some of the theory and practice that is shared and discussed in these webinars.

I opened that seminar by noting the point I make at the start of this article about the picture of God as investor that is presented in the creation narratives. To elaborate here a little, this picture

is reflected in God’s ‘investiture’ of Adam and Eve as those appointed to name the animals and to rule (or ‘have dominion’) over God’s creation (Gen 1.28). God thereby elevates them to the role of prophet, priest and king – three offices symbolized in ancient Israel by the wearing of a mantel, or vestment.

Investiture, vestment, investment – all these words derive from the Latin vestire, meaning to clothe. Solomon, Jesus tells us, was vested (clothed) with splendid garments, yet God vests ordinary wild flowers with even greater splendour. How much more splendid, Jesus continues, is the way God vests ordinary human beings (Mt 6.28-30).

Made in God’s image, Adam and Eve and their descendants are vested by God with dignity and authority. In other words, we need to regard ourselves, and all those around us, as God’s investment. 

As a coach and consultant, one of my favorite exercises to do with leaders and leadership teams is to have them evaluate the legacy they desire to leave. The exercise has them fast-forward to the end of their lives and ask what three things they would most want to be remembered for by those closest to them. If what they want to be remembered for does not align with the story they are currently writing for their life, I encourage them to put down a period, turn the page, and begin writing the story that will lead to the ending they desire…not the one they dread.

Having an end-of-life perspective is healthy; however, for years, I missed something in the exercise that pales in comparison: the six words on the other side of this life awaiting followers of Jesus Christ:

“Well done, good and faithful servant.”

How I Wrestled With My Story of Becoming a Good and Faithful Servant

I believe God gives us the pen and the book to write our story in. Yes, He is actively engaged and acts directly in our lives, but out of His immaculate love for us, He’s given us the pen.

For the first half of my career, my story was focused on three things:

1. Bigger

2. More

3. Faster.

I took over my family business two years out of business school. The transition happened in one day, literally. I went into my dad’s office to resign. Instead, he left – literally! He moved 1,200 miles away, divorced my mom, and handed me the reins on his way out.

Because I was successful in business school, I thought that meant “guaranteed” success in business. Four months later, near the time of my first wedding anniversary to my elementary school sweetheart, the business was facing certain collapse (business school didn’t teach me how to deal with a failing business).

Six months after that, I was at rock bottom. I suffered from clinical depression, experiencing debilitating panic attacks; I was hopeless and helpless and decided it was time to end my life.

At rock bottom–at the end of myself–God was there waiting for me. In a series of miracles, I was removed from the business to get mental and emotional help, and a friend sent in a team of professionals to assess what we had. We had just enough to start over. Nine months from rock bottom, the business started over, and it was profitable from the first month. Over the course of the next decade, it grew over fifteen-fold through organic and acquisition growth.

Let Me Share a Story that Might Sound Familiar

After selling the business, I spent the next twelve years in private equity. I traversed the globe, meeting owners and leaders of businesses while looking for investment opportunities.

Over time, leaders shared a story with me. I heard this story so many times that it became a pattern. Different storytellers. Same story. It went something like this:

I sacrificed time with my spouse and kids. I missed important events like birthdays and ball games. I prioritized my business and ‘to-do lists’ building this business–this empire. For what? I have everything I could ever want–money, a nice home, vacation home, cars, toys, reputation, power, access to important people, and luxurious vacations. And now, my kids are grown and gone, and I barely hear from them, my spouse and I don’t know one another, and I am not satisfied. Not in the least. Why did I do this?

And I didn’t hear this on rare occasions; this was the norm! It’s still happening today. Leaders are writing their stories according to this old pattern. And they want out.

As I was picking up on this pattern, God was also awakening the same realization in me. If I had come to the end of my life, I realized I wouldn’t have called myself a good and faithful servant. This sparked an inner dialogue that went something like this:

What am I doing? I have sacrificed time with my spouse and kids, I missed my little (and only) girl’s first steps; I missed my boys’ ball games, and I missed my kids’ concerts, performances, and awards ceremonies. For what? To travel the world, meet with important people, build a bigger platform, increase my reputation and name, climb the corporate ladder, have more influence and impact, make more money, buy more ‘things and stuff’…

Climb Down the Corporate Ladder. Live a Flourishing Life

In 2018, I left the world of private equity, but I did not yet know two critical pieces of information about me:

1. My Identity

2. My Why

So, I spent one year in the banking world and realized that it was not for me, and then I spent one year helping a friend build an executive team for his family business. It was during this second year that I started writing a book, which was something I had thought about for about a decade, but only seriously considered for five years.

For five years, I literally prayed that God would take away the desire to write a book because I knew how difficult it was to write a book and get it published. It seemed every time I would pray, God would give me more clarity rather than release me from writing. So, I stopped praying about it! Three years before I started writing, God gave me what became the “The Flourishing Life Model,” which is the book’s core. During the early months of 2021, I wrote what became the introduction to my bestselling book, unSatisfied: When Less is More. I finished the manuscript in January of 2022, and after my editor beat it up significantly, we finished the editing process in July; it was released in October 2022.

While writing the book, I sensed God was telling me it was time to pursue what He had called me to when I was a teenager – to write, speak, teach, train, and equip others. I launched Uniquely Normal, LLC in July of 2021 out of the “collision” of passion, gifts, and skills, value contribution to others, and calling. While my first book was being wrapped up, I started writing my second book (release date of late 2023), which builds upon the foundation of the first book. The second book focuses on building healthy, flourishing leaders and leadership teams who desire to build healthy, flourishing organizations intentionally.

Don’t Leave a Legacy Alone

When I burned my proverbial ships over thirty years after the initial calling and went all-in into this new adventure, I did not have full clarity on what I was to do; however, I believed God was calling me to surrender, trust, and have faith in Him. I launched the business with a four-pillar foundation: writing, speaking, coaching, and consulting. As I was launching, an 83-year-old mentor and friend encouraged me not to go on this journey alone. I asked him what he meant because I could not afford to hire anyone. He advised me to start a Personal Board of Directors. I did, and he became my first member. I asked my wife and two other men if they would be willing to meet with me for a half-day every quarter. The key criteria for serving were the following:

1. Love God

2. Love me, my wife, my kids

3. Speak the truth–especially the hard truth

4. Experience launching and running businesses for Kingdom impact.

I can honestly say that without my wife and these three men with me on this journey, I would have most likely abandoned this journey already. They speak the truth, encourage, counsel, challenge, love, hold accountable, and kick me in the rear end when I need it. Having these individuals in my corner has saved me from going off the rails, steered me away from questionable decisions, and kept me moving forward–even when it feels like I am trudging through wet concrete. I encourage every investor, business owner, and leader – regardless of the type of organization – to consider putting together a Personal Board of Directors.

Becoming a Good and Faithful Servant is a Lifelong Journey

My natural way of “doing” is to “do” while giving a perfunctory prayer of “And you are going to bless this, right God?” Today, I am focusing on living intentionally by focusing on being, belonging, and becoming while seeking Him to determine my doing. Scary? At times, however, I have never experienced as much peace, satisfaction, purpose, and joy as I do now…while making less money in my career than I ever have! Jesus has also been clarifying my “why.” My “why,” my purpose, is to provide inspiration and hope to catalyze others to intentionally pursue a flourishing life who are encouraging others to do the same.

What about you:

• What is your identity?

• Who are you?

• What is your “why”?

• What is your purpose?

• What are you pursuing?

• Who is it for?

There is only one you in the world. You only get one life and one story to write. You have a choice: your story can be intentional–writing the story with the ending you desire; or your story can be unintentional–writing the story that may conclude with the ending you dread. I hope that you can confidently say that you have been a good and faithful servant in whatever God has called you to.

So, what story are you writing?

When writing your own story, it can feel overwhelming. It seems like all the pressure is on us to grow a business, love our families, and serve our communities. But really, it’s all God’s.

Check out this video that puts life, money, and success into perspective. Enjoy!

by Jerry Gray

I have worked as national sales consultant for Praxis Mutual Funds for nearly a quarter century. This experience has put me on the frontline of sharing the power of faith-based investing with advisors across the country. Faith-based investing is an investment practice that aims to provide competitive investor returns while aligning investments with their core values. This summer, my career will come to a close, providing me with a moment to reflect. Through the years, I have witnessed tremendous change in the faith-based and sustainable investment field and learned many lessons along the way. Here are five things every advisor should know about faith-based investing.

1. Change is the only constant.

When I began my work at Praxis, we were like John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness. People thought we were odd and doubted our funds would perform well. Despite the fact that faith-based investors were among the original modern sustainable investors, when I started my career, the practice of integrating faith and finances was still unfamiliar. Furthermore, Praxis’ preferred approach of index investing was not widely adopted.

Fast forward to today, and sustainable investing and environmental, social and governance (ESG) are buzzwords in the investing industry. Since the first publication of the biennial US SIF Foundation Trends report in 1995, the sustainable investing industry has grown more than 25-fold, from assets totaling $639 billion to $17.1 trillion in 2020. BlackRock’s Larry Fink’s annual letters to CEOs have increasingly referenced ESG, including citing climate as an investment risk and even calling sustainability “God’s work.” What’s more, index investing is now widely embraced for its low cost and consistent performance.

Advisors should expect the industry to continue evolving as the world changes.

2. Authenticity matters. 

Not all sustainable or faith-based investing funds were created equally. As the practice has gained in popularity, more firms are “bolting on” additional sustainable offerings – some less authentic than others. Advisors should do their research and look for established players with solid track records. Beyond the traditional performance ratings, look at the funds’ record on shareholder engagement and community investing. And no, rubber stamping of proxy ballots does not count as engagement.

3. Be ready to meet clients at any point on their stewardship journeys. 

Clients may not be interested in ESG or faith-based investing at this moment, but they might be in a year, or five. Maybe their grandkids will get them into it, or they will stumble upon an article describing the practice and approach you with questions. The moment they are ready, you’d better be too.

This is an exciting time for the industry. Competitive performance is achievable, and more people are interested in integrating their deeply held beliefs with their finances.

4. Find commonalities in values.

People are increasingly interested in integrating their values into all aspects of their lives. If a client recycles and tries to bike more, they might also be interested in having their investments reflect their commitment to environmental stewardship. The financial crisis of 2008 made people more conscious about their core values. I believe the same has happened this past year with COVID and the other important conversations around injustice that our country has experienced.

Even investors coming from communities that seem drastically different may have more values in common than you think. There is a reason why the Praxis Impact Bond Fund is consistently one of our most popular. The fund has routinely invested in a way that supports developing economies – a goal that many investors value.

As a fund family that serves communities holding a variety of belief systems, we have learned that we can make the largest impact when we look for shared core values. This lesson would serve advisors well who are interested in meeting their clients’ diverse beliefs and interests. It can be helpful to frame conversations around core values rather than more narrow hot-button issues or labels that can distract from the actual impact an investment could have.

5. Don’t overthink it. 

BRI, ESG, SRI*… The alphabet soup of sustainable investing can be overwhelming. Clients hire advisors to figure out the confusing part and provide them what they need to know to make informed investing decisions that fit their values. They do not come to you to get into the weeds. Build an understanding of their desired investing principles but remember that you control the conversation and don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be.

Conclusion

At Praxis Mutual Funds, we believe that God owns it all and we are simply stewards. Every day, we ask ourselves how we can best steward those resources. This goes beyond how we treat our physical neighbors to include financial decisions that impact our “neighbors” around the world and even the planet itself. For me, it has been an honor to share this message with advisors and their clients over the past 23 years. Being a part of your journey helping clients integrate finance and faith is an opportunity to make a meaningful impact on their portfolios and their lives.

by John Coleman

This spring, a tiny investment firm made waves by disrupting one of the world’s largest companies. Five months earlier, the upstart investment manager Engine No. 1 began lobbying Exxon to more aggressively confront climate change. Though Engine No. 1 owned only 0.02% of the shares of the energy giant, it convinced the asset managers who control massive holdings of almost every publicly traded firm in the world—Blackrock, State Street, and Vanguard—to back its play; and on May 26th the little activist investor gained two board seats at Exxon and a mandate to radically revamp one of the largest organizations in the world.

Activist investing is, of course, nothing new. Christians helped to ignite the trend when in 1971, holding just 0.004% of General Motors shares, the Episcopal Church offered a resolution at GM’s annual meeting to cease manufacturing operations in apartheid South Africa. The move was supported by GM’s lone black board member, Dr. Leon Sullivan, a pastor of the Zion Baptist Church in Philadelphia. It was ultimately defeated, garnering only 1.29% of the vote, but ended up shifting G.M.’s policies in South Africa resulting in the adoption by IBM and GM of the “Sullivan Principles” in 1976. Today, public battles over the direction of companies are often fought between activist groups, investors, and company management teams over issues as diverse as racial justice, voting rights, climate change, and gun control.

Adjacent to the activist sphere, “impact investing,” investing which prioritizes a missional objective over returns, has swept the world—resulting in micro-finance to help entrepreneurs in developing nations, infrastructure for water and electricity in neglected areas, and other social initiatives from Malawi and Indonesia to the inner cities of Atlanta and Detroit. And ESG investing—which prioritizes holding companies accountable for positive “environmental, social, and governance” policies is now mandated by almost every large pension plan, endowment, foundation, and sovereign wealth fund in the world. One study has found nearly $38 trillion in assets are already ESG compliant globally, growing to $55 trillion over the next 4 years. And that number underestimates the percent of assets invested in public and private companies that have an explicit social agenda.

Long prior to the Episcopal Church’s righteous stand against apartheid, the religious faithful recognized the need for this kind of values-based investing. Muslim Shariah compliant funds have been around since the 1960s, based on principles espoused in the Quran. Jewish law in Biblical times mandated certain provisions related to ethical investing.

And Christians have a long history of recognizing the importance of the impact our money can have. In the 1800s, John Wesley encouraged Methodists to avoid profiting at the expense of their neighbors, avoiding investments in alcohol, tobacco, weapons, and gambling. Quakers and Methodists both vigorously opposed the slave trade. And these decisions were grounded in Biblical principles.

The story of the Five Talents in Matthew 25 famously extolls the virtues of investing wisely and of growing and stewarding the resources God has given us. Ecclesiastes 7:2 reflects on the need to diversify, stating, “Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.” The Bible’s most frequent demands, of course, are to give generously and to resist a love of money. But there’s also a call for those with material resources to use them for God’s kingdom more broadly.

Now Christians are slowly reawakening to a principle much of the rest of society has already embraced: All investing is impact investing. Every dollar we put to work has impact, positive or negative, on the world around us. Large asset managers vote passive shares held by tens of millions of people around the world, often with defined agendas shareholders of those funds know little about. Hedge funds take over company boards and force change. And small venture and private equity firms own and guide the businesses in our local communities. Every day, the holdings of individual men and women in 529 and 401k plans, individual accounts, defined benefit plans, and donor advised funds are quietly shaping the culture and agenda of corporations, start-ups, and small businesses around the world. And right now, your dollars are at work for these purposes whether you know it or not.

But Investing is hard. And few individuals or institutions have the capacity to analyze every investing decision they make for its social impact. So, what can the average Christian institution or individual do? A few thoughts:

1. Make conscious decisions about your investing strategy and values. You or your institution (e.g., pension plan, endowment, employer) likely have a giving strategy or a corporate mission. You also operate by a set of values. What are the values you hope to reinforce with your investing? And what is your strategy for impact? Take a moment to actually write down a mission and values for your investment dollars and contemplate those areas (e.g., international development, healthcare, education, etc.) in which you hope to have the greatest effect. This is particularly important for charitable dollars. We are often very thoughtful about our giving strategy. But many charitable foundations distribute as few as 5% of their assets annually without being similarly thoughtful about the impact of the 95% that remains invested. Learning to consider the impact of the 90% of our dollars which are invested versus the 10% or less which are given is an essential path to more holistic social impact.

2. Support firms and leaders aligned with your values. Few individuals or institutions have the capacity to both pursue market returns and vigilantly monitor the impact of the money they deploy. But you do have the option to invest through advisors and investment consultants and with asset managers or companies you can trust on your behalf—those which are mission-aligned and dedicated ensuring both financial success and impact. Trusting our capital to values-aligned parties can offer a shortcut to more careful investment choices. Today, a host of wealth managers and investment managers exist which are specifically faith-aligned. Leveraging them can allow you to have greater confidence that your values are being reflected in your investment decisions without you having to study every position you take.

3. Use your voice. Most shareholder voting in America is guided by a few large firms—proxy voters like ISS and Glass Lewis and passive investors like Blackrock and Vanguard. As Engine No. 1 shows—marshaling the votes of those organizations can dramatically change a company’s direction. Talk to your index provider, investment manager, or advisor about issues important to you. If you hold individual stocks, use your shares to vote on important issues and make your voice heard. And if you’re an investor in venture or private equity funds, you can encourage your funds to represent your values with the companies they back—many of which may operate in your own community and over which these firms have great influence or control.

In all of this, the perfect need not be the enemy of the good. We may decide not to weigh in on certain issues and to allow pluralism in beliefs on certain subjects in our portfolios. No company or investment firm will hold exactly our values, nor should they. But we can at least be conscious of the most important values our portfolios proactively represent. Almost all of us have a stake in global markets, and those stakes can have purpose. They can also be used to forward agendas and causes misaligned with your most fundamental beliefs. If all investing is impact investing, what impact will you have?

John Coleman is a Managing Partner at Sovereign’s Capital. You can sign up for his newsletter here.