From a Christian perspective, what is the purpose of business? From the top business schools to the renowned economists of our day, the conventional wisdom is that the purpose of business is to maximize shareholder value. While this paradigm has brought many of the world’s poor out of extreme poverty, capitalism, without values, has created a voracious appetite of personal ambition that can extinguish the very good it fosters. One must simply look at the likes of Enron, the tech bubble, the financial crisis of 2008, and quotes by well-known socialist politicians calling capitalism “unsustainable” and “irredeemable” (Burke 2019). Capitalism is a system that nurtures economic success, but in and of itself lacks the principles that make it virtuous.

The purpose of business must be answered with the cross in mind. The redemptive purpose of business is to be a catalyst for flourishing. Flourishing, the economist Anne Bradley explains, is “God’s Kingdom on earth.” It’s us living in God’s abundance, “as an image bearer of our creator.” Flourishing means becoming everything we were created to be. Flourishing is what the Old Testament calls a blessed life, shalom. Shalom, or human flourishing, was fully manifested for a brief period in human history. This period was after the creation of man but before man chose to be his own moral authority. Genesis 2:15-18 lays out this flourishing scenario for us.

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’ The Lord God said ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’”

This passage lays out three essential elements required for flourishing: material provision, authentic relationships, and a purpose for living.

The first is material provision. God placed man in the garden to work it and take care of it (verse 15). And the result of work is material provision – food, clothing, and shelter. These physical necessities of life we call “economic capital.”

The second is relationships. Seeing that it was not good for the man to be alone, God created a helper (verse 18). We were created to live in community, to live with deep, authentic relationships with our fellow man. It happens when like-minded people pursue the common good. This we call “social capital.”

The third element is a strong purpose for living, a Moral Code, without which man cannot peacefully and successfully live in a free and open society. In verses 16 and 17 God defines the difference between knowing good and evil which is essential if we are to flourish. The complexities of living in community with market-driven economic transactions, interdependent relationships, private property, and competing interests cannot be beneficially managed without a rule of law, a Moral Code, a Purpose for living for something greater than yourself. This is called “spiritual capital.”

Over the last twenty years our company, Capital III, has come to fully embrace this triple bottom line approach to business. The philosophy or business model that we employ to ensure that our company creates economic, social, and spiritual capital is called Enterprise Stewardship.

Enterprise Stewardship

An enterprise is “a business venture, especially one requiring boldness and energy.” Stewardship is “the trusted management and protection of another’s property.” It then follows that “Enterprise Stewardship” is “managing with boldness and energy the business ventures God has entrusted to us.”

When a business is operating with these principles in mind, the business can be a catalyst for flourishing and the common good. This redeemed enterprise is operating at the intersection of economic, social, and spiritual capital creation. The most thrilling part of embracing this concept of Enterprise Stewardship is that it gives each of us a significant part in solving the world’s greatest problem: the poverty that is simultaneously economic, social, and spiritual.

Economic Capital

Economic capital is the material benefit derived from the stewardship of our LIFE (Labor, Influence, Financial resources, Expertise). It is the result of work that creates wealth that when accumulated results in capital. The major question surrounding economic capital is this.

How should we as business people, allocate the economic capital (wealth accumulation) created by our businesses? More specifically, how much should we retain to grow the business? Should we maximize the bottom line or maximize the benefit to our employees? How much should be allocated for dividends to the shareholders? What is an appropriate ROI? How much of our business profits should be invested in Social and Spiritual capital? How much should we invest in job creation? How much is enough?

The answers to these questions are not easy or straightforward, but they are questions we must address if we are to fulfill our role as stewards. As we do this, we must remember that the primary purpose of economic capital creation is to foster the enjoyment and fulfillment of work itself, not to focus solely on the outcome, profit. Our work is worship but we should not worship our work. “So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?” (Ecclesiastes 3:22).

Social Capital

Social capital is comprised of the mutual benefits (economic, relational, emotional, political, spiritual, etc.) derived by a group of like-minded people pursuing a common cause. The key driver is relationships with the vision to promote the common good.

Social capital demands mutual trust, common beliefs, and shared rules. In one sense, it’s all the things economic capital can’t buy. Social capital manifests itself in the form of safe communities, good race relations, happy employees, an unpolluted environment, fine art, great music, patriotism, unified families, bipartisan politics, and a genuine love for our fellow human beings.

Social capital is created when we obey the Great Commandment; “Love your neighbor as we love ourselves” (Matt.22:39). This then begs the next great capital allocation question.

How do we love our employees as we love ourselves? Or in other words, how do we promote the common good in our businesses? How do we help our employees become all that God wants them to become? Do we truly offer the best benefits and pay? Are we a place where relationships reign supreme? Are we the best place to work? Will our employees wholeheartedly agree that we live up to the values and virtues we espouse? Are we willing to spend the economic capital necessary to create social capital?

Social capital creation is essential if we are to live out the Great Commandment and love our neighbors (employees) as we love ourselves.

Spiritual Capital

Spiritual capital defines the moral code by which we live and ultimately is the purpose for living. It defines our why. For those of us who are Christians, it requires our whole-hearted allegiance to living faithful lives devoted to growing in our personal relationship to Jesus Christ and obedience to His Word.

Spiritual capital is essential because it lays down the rules by which we create economic and social capital. Capitalism without a moral code results in greed. Capitalism with God, results in generosity. Government without a moral code results in totalitarianism. Government with God, results in political freedom. When God is taken out of our culture it creates a moral vacuum that must be filled. Most often this vacuum is filled with GOVERNMENT (rules and regulations) instead of GOD (self-governance) often leading to a loss of religious, political, and economic freedom. If Spiritual capital is essential for flourishing, here then is the question for those of us in business.

How do we, using the platform of business, take part in living out the Great Commission? How do we winsomely share the love of Jesus with our team members? How do we create a spirit of comradery without establishing a quid pro quo? How to we honor God in all we do? How do we publicly profess the name of Jesus to all we encounter?

Spiritual capital creation should be our answer to sharing the Great Commission.

How then should we do business?

You cannot have a redeemed business, enterprise stewardship, without having a redeemed steward as the leader. Over the years we have come to embrace the four P’s that are essential for a successful business. These are Principles, People, Products, and Profit. Without all four fully functioning in a cohesive manner, the enterprise will not attain its potential impact for good. Consequently, we have developed our values around the four critical components of business and they are reflected below:

Principles – Honor God

People – Serve People

Product – Pursue Excellence

Profit – Steward Capital

The most effective tool we use in our business is simply to ask these four questions whenever we have a major business decision.

Will the initiative Honor God?
Will it allow us to truly Serve People?
Can we do it with Excellence?
Are we being good stewards by making this decision (investment)?

The enterprise is operated and evaluated according to the four P’s (Principles, People, Product, and Profit) which are governed by our four values (Honor God, Serve People, Pursue Excellence, and Steward Capital).

How then do we lead and evaluate the steward(s)? We do this by associating a character trait to each of our four values. We call these character traits the four C’s. And their corresponding value is shown below.

Honor God – Character

Serve People – Connection

Pursue Excellence – Competence

Steward Capital – Commitment

If one is to be a faithful steward they must be a person of Character (they Honor God), they should exercise the gift of Connection (they Serve People), they should be Competent in their respective talent (they Pursue Excellence), and they are Committed to managing well the resources at their disposal (they Steward Capital).

SUMMARY

Enterprise Stewardship is a tool to be used to redeem business. It can have great impact as a catalyst for economic, social, and spiritual capital creation. But business cannot be redeemed without a redeemed steward who will commit to Honoring God, Serving People, Pursuing Excellence, and Stewarding Capital as they live as stewards with great Character, Connection, Competence, and Commitment. Below is a graphic representing the Enterprise Stewardship model.

—

Citations:

Bradley, A. (2015, July 2). Flourishing. [Institute for Faith, Work & Economics]. Retrieved from https://tifwe.org/flourishing/

Burke, M. (2019, March 10). Ocasio-Cortez: 'Capitalism is irredeemable' Retrieved March 24, 2019, from https://thehill.com/homenews/house/433394-ocasio-cortez-capitalism-is-irredeemable