early successes attract new investments → new investments lead to greater success

But as micro-finance investments grow and as micro-enterprise organizations grow in scale, it becomes more and more difficult to ensure that all the people involved (new investors, loan managers, operational staff) share the same humanitarian and altruistic values as the early pioneers in the field.

The positive feedback created by the success of this creative strategy attracts individuals who are willing to exploit the social aspects of the business for the sake of profits. Inevitably greed, exploitation, and scale enter and end up cheapening these efforts to do good.

Recently, harassment and bullying microfinance of borrowers by lenders in Andhra Pradesh in India has gotten so out of hand that the region has seen a rise in suicides. According to the Hindustan Times, the state government is planning on introducing new legislation to address the issue.

R. Subramanyam the principal secretary for rural development of the Andhra government told the Hindustan Times, “The government cannot be a mute spectator (to these atrocities). We are moving fast to bring in legislation, a draft of which is ready, to reign in these institutions.”

India’s Money Lender’s (regulation) Act (introduced in April of this year) governs traditional lending institutions but does not cover non-banking micro-finance institutions (MFIs). While the new legislation will be limited to Andhra, since the region has approximately 40 percent of all MFIs, it is likely that similar laws will be put in place throughout the rest of the country. While such legislation is necessary to prevent the exploitation of the country’s poor entrepreneurs, these changes will create additional challenges for US-based non-profits, missions agencies, and business as mission companies operating in the country.

As “doing good” continues to become further integrated into our social and business lives, doing actual good will continue to get harder. It is important that individuals and organizations that are serious about finding innovative ways to do good and serve others think strategically about the best ways to overcome these new challenges.

You probably didn’t know that. I didn’t tell many people I was going; no real reason for keeping it quiet. I was just being selfish.

I’m in Guatemala for four days. I flew in yesterday (Thursday). I fly out on Sunday.

Friday and Saturday I’m working with a local ministry called Potter’s House Association to do what we in the consulting world like to call “discovery”. Which really means I’m here to figure out how I’m going to help this ministry.

See, Potter’s House serves the scavenger families of the Guatemala City garbage dump. Guatemala City has a population of approximately 3.2 million people. Guatemala City’s garbage dump is the largest in Central America, covering over 40 acres.

It is estimated that 42 percent of the Guatemalan population lives below the poverty line and half of that (21 percent) is living in “extreme poverty”.

Much of the poor population living in Guatemala City makes a living by scavenging in the dump. Individuals and families spend their days looking through the river of garbage that flows into the dump in the hopes of finding something of value that they can sell. A large portion of these scavengers are children.

The health conditions in the dump are dire. There are no regulations about what can and can not be discarded there so they are constantly exposed to hazardous conditions – toxic fumes, medical waste…

Many kids go without an education and have little hopes of escaping the poverty cycle.

These people live what I would consider a miserable existence. Hardship and fear and struggle at levels I have never experienced. These people are Potter’s House’s “Treasures”.

Potter’s House is committed to helping their Treasures by providing personal development, education, health, micro-enterprise, and community support programs.

And I want to help them do that.

Potter’s House invited me here, so I came. I came to help them do what they do better. But that’s for later when I get back to my office and am able to process all that I see and do on this trip.

The real reason I came is so that I could have my heart broken.

I came to have my heart broken by seeing God’s children living in and off of the things I so quickly and liberally discard. I came to be humbled by the hearts of the 44 men and women who are Potter’s House, who give and serve in ways that I can’t fathom.

I came because this is what I want my work to do, to make it possible that some child might have another option than to live in filth. I need to be part of this ministry, even if it’s just for two days, before I can be of any real help.

I don’t know what my work will end up looking like. But I know that it involves telling Potter’s House’s story. This story of the struggles and the hope here in this city needs to be told. It needs to be shared so that it can break through the comfort and isolation that encases our hearts and keeps us from truly living.

I’m here to have my heart broken because my heart needs to be continually broken. That way it can be continually healed. That way I won’t forget who has healed my heart.

You need that too. I want to help you have that. I want to tell you stories that will break your heart. That’s what I want to do for you.

Today I am going to meet people who live in garbage. Ask me tonight and I’m sure I’ll have a story to tell you.

• Jon Acuff of StuffChristiansLike.net is inspired by his 6 year old daughter’s sense of injustice that there are hungry children around the world;
• Jon, still reeling from how many people have come to enjoy and support SCL gets an idea: leverage the power of the community to do something big for a charity;
• Jon reaches out to the community for inspiration as to what charity to work with;
• Jon settles on Samaritan’s Purse and works with them to coordinate the building of a kindergarten in rural Vietnam… all Jon needs is to raise $30,000.

Which brings us to today. This morning Jon shares his idea, asks the readers to support the project and raise the $30,000. Jon sets a goal of raising the funds by December 31 of this year.

Throughout the day, we watched as the donations came pouring in. No one expected to raise this much money so quickly.

This evening, sometime around 10:30 pm Eastern timezone, the total donations given in support of this project surpassed $30,000.

The Stuff Christians Like blog community raised over $30,000 for charity in 18 hours.

The StuffChristiansLike.net online community raises over $30,000 for charity in one day!

I’m am so excited to process this, synthesize what happened and share any insights. But for right now, I’m just going to sit back and enjoy the power of what Christ has done and how God has been and will continue to be glorified through it.

[Update:] We’re not done. The tremendous momentum built up yesterday can’t be just cut off, so Jon and Samaritan’s Purse are asking everyone to continue their support and raise another $30,000! That’s right, the goal is now to build two kindergartens for the people of Vietnam. Let’s do it!

Read the updated post here: http://stuffchristianslike.net/2009/11/lets-build-a-2nd-kindergarten/

Click here to donate: https://www.firstgiving.com/scl

And be sure to follow the #SCLVIETNAM conversations on Twitter.

For me, high school was the first time I ever witnessed a fight. I’d seen fights on TV and in movies but in high school I actually experienced a number of fights close up. I remember vividly how I felt every time I witnessed a fight. I felt scared. I felt kind of sick. I’ve talked before how violence is unnatural and it affects us profoundly whenever we are exposed to it. That is what I experienced those times I was around when a fight would break out.

I say all this because in the past week, I’ve witnessed in the Christian blogosphere a number of “fights,” examples of Christians trash-talking other Christians. And just like in high school, the commenters on those blogs crowd around yelling (in essence) “Fight! Fight! Fight!” I’m not going to link to any examples because I don’t want to perpetuate these fights. But if you read Christian blogs you know what I’m talking about.

What I witnessed this week left me with that same sick feeling I felt in high school. I honestly thought to myself, “How can you write such things and still proclaim to love Jesus?” I know deep down that all Christians are flawed and left to our own devices our sinful nature will inevitably screw everything up, even the profound blessing that God’s Kingdom. But still…

So this morning when I read about the kindergarten project on Stuff Christians Like my spirit was immediately lifted. “Yes! This is what it means to be a Christian!” I thought (mental fist pumping and everything). So I immediately blogged about it, added my support via the comments (made a few jokes as well; it’s a satire blog after all.) and have been tracking the status of the fundraising all day.

As of the time this post is published, the Stuff Christians Like community has raised $18,486.79 dollars to build a kindergarten in Vietnam. $18,486.79 dollars!!!Now you have to realize something, this has only been going on for six or so hours. That’s $3,081 per hour!!! We’re already at over 60 percent of our goal! On the first day!

This is what it means to be a Christian!

This is the immeasurable, incomprehensible, incomparable power of Jesus Christ at work redeeming this world.

If you haven’t already (I say as if I have readers), please please PLEASE go to the donation page and help. Be encouraged by your Christian brothers and sisters actually loving others and not just talking about loving others. This is a chance to love and serve the poor, to bless the children of Vietnam and to proclaim the glory of God before the nations. Please be a part!

The link for the donation page is here: http://www.firstgiving.com/SCL

The project on Stuff Christians Like is here: http://stuffchristianslike.net/2009/11/this-cant-be-real/

And some additional details of the project can be found here: http://twentytwowords.com/2009/11/09/22-questions-to-jon-acuff-about-raising-30k-to-build-a-school-in-vietnam/

Go!

The one of the main things I like about Jon (other than his ability to pull off the “down-filled vest” look) is that he gets that the point of all of this is not just to have a blog, not just to be funny. The point is to use what God has given us to love and serve others all over the world and in doing so, proclaim Christ as King to the nations. We are to use our influence to glorify God and advance the Kingdom.

Jon gets that. (In case you’re thinking it’s not that big of a deal, go read his blog. The reasons Christians “like” all that “stuff” is because we don’t always get it.) So that’s why I like Jon. And the vest thing. And because he knows there’s more to books than just the content on the pages. But I digress.

While at Cultivate Jon mentioned that God has put something huge on his heart and that he was beginning to work on this new project and hoping to use the scale and reach of SCL to make it happen. Today Jon announced that the Stuff Christians Like blog community is building a school in Vietnam.

Cool, right?

Jon is asking his readers to join with him and Samaritan’s Purse to build a school in Vietnam. Kind of like this one:

Want to help bild a school like this one for the kids in Vietnam?

If you want to be part of something big, bless the people of Vietnam, and have a few laughs along the way, head over to Stuff Christians Like, read about the project and add your support by either donating or sharing this with your friends. Thanks.

Link to Jon’s post on Stuff Christian’s Like: http://stuffchristianslike.net/2009/11/this-cant-be-real/

The topic for this year (climate change) is not something I’m passionate about – BUT – that does not mean it is not an important issue. In fact, environmentalism is part of our Christian calling and every Kingdom strategist needs to consider how their work as part of redeeming creation, impacts creation.

Environmentalism is part of our Christian calling

Like everything else, this fact can been taken to an extreme which loses sight of God’s intention for us. Environmentalism, or put another way, Stewardship of Creation is part of our calling. Most Evangelicals ignore this by focusing solely on the Great Commission. In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus commands his disciples, “¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

In Genesis, when God created man He said “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26). Man’s first commission from God was to have dominion over the earth, what is known as the Cultural Mandate. Christ’s coming did not negate this call, thus caring for the earth is part of our service to God.

Environmentalism is glorifying to God

What? I know, right? But consider this: inherent in all creation is a reflection of God’s glory. It is especially evident in the beauty found in nature. Man’s reaction to the beauty of nature (and art, music, etc), (regardless of that man’s cognitive acknowledgment of the existence of God) is a sub-conscious reaction to nature glorifying God. Tim Keller describes this this way:

“Why does nature move everybody?” Why may even the most hardened atheist find that a forest dawn prompts tears, laughter, or joy? Keller dismisses explanations offered by evolutionary psychology and suggests that we are moved as we sense creation’s song of praise to its Creator, a glorious fulfillment of its God-given nature. We are moved, Keller says, because we wish to join that chorus and cannot. He points to the Cross as the way by which we can regain that song.” — “How Tim Keller Found Manhattan”, Christianity Today

Thus, if our ultimate aim is to bring glory to God, then (whether intentionally or not) it is sinful not to protect the environment. Dismissing environmentalism or climate change is equivalent to dismissing the derivative glory of God int he natural world.

Environmentalism honors and serves other human beings

Sure global warming may seem like a fad. But I challenge you to look at the quality of life of people around the world who live in areas with rampant pollution. Pay extra attention to the fact that it is often the poor and marginalized who are living in these areas, lacking nutrition, exposed to dangers and health hazards, breathing dirty air, drinking unclean water. As a Christian, if you are called to love, serve, care for, and protect the causes of the poor, the sick, the needy and the marginalized, how then can you ignore the environmental issues that have such a tremendous impact on their lives?

Dismissing climate change is sinful

With respect to climate change in particular, maybe there isn’t enough evidence to convince you that climate change is a threat. Or to draw the conclusion that the industrial practices of the developed nations are having significant impact on the global climate. Say you find it hard to believe that driving to work is going to cause the oceans to rise. Let’s assume that you’re unable to say that climate change is anything more than a hypothesis. … that is okay. I’m in the same boat as you.

Even so, if we start at the end, focusing on the potential outcomes of climate change and the effects it may have on the people of this world (which is what it means to love others as your self – to PUT THEIR NEEDS FIRST). There is a relationship between climate and the availability of food and water in all regions of the world. Currently, many people around the world do not have access to food or clean water. This is a world problem that we do not have a handle on. And it is not likely that changes to the global climate will improve the situation.

So as a Christian, called by your God to love and serve others, to be Jesus in this world, we can not be passive when it comes to any threat to God’s creation. And I believe that treating the issue with disdain, as many of us do, is arrogant and disrespectful to God.

Kingdom Strategists need to take the lead on Environmentalism

In spite of all of these points, the world is corrupted by sin and to some extent environmental destruction and climate change are inevitable. As Kingdom Strategists our duty is not to throw our hands up and say “Oh well.” But rather to show the world that there is hope and that hope is rooted in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

Our approach to environmental issues should demonstrate Kingdom Excellence, presenting the world (Christian or not) with the first-fruits of Christ’s redemption. Our goal with respect to environmental issues needs to be: How can we give people a taste of Heaven here and now? We need to open people’s eyes to the truth that God cares about this world because it is His creation. We have been place in dominion over the whole earth and all the creatures that inhabit it.

If you truly desire to love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, then environmentalism and climate change must be something you care about.

http://i.pbase.com/g3/70/417470/2/53389438.Untitled1copy.jpg

http://pilgrimagetozion.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/sunrise-1.jpg

http://gigapica.geenstijl.nl/2009/05/mooi_milieu.html

My research shows that interest in Business as Mission is typically in response to three (3) drivers:

• Response to global trends
• Challenges facing the organization
• Perceived benefits of Business as Mission

In this article, I will discuss the first driver, identifying key factors facing missions organizations and making recommendations on how much weight these issues should be given when considering BAM. In Part 2 I will discuss how organizational challenges can make BAM an attractive solution and how to maintain objectivity in your evaluation. Finally, in Part 3 I will discuss some of the perceived benefits that BAM creates and hopefully point out some limitations in this type of thinking that, if ignored, could harm your BAM efforts.

1. Business as Mission in response to global trends

The following sets of global trends are contributing to the increasing popularity of Business as Mission as a missional strategy. This list is limited in scope focusing on what are the most prevalent trends that are currently affecting missions organizations. Additionally, this list primarily focuses on North American sending organizations. We do not discuss generational challenges here because the implications of the trend in the business context are not understood well enough by organizations that they are looking to BAM as a potential response.

The six main trends we’ve identified are:

Impediments to traditional missions:

• Governmental opposition to Christian work within world’s most populous countries (the 10/40 Window).
• Declining financial and prayer support for North American based missionaries.

Changes to the international landscape:

• Increased integration of international markets and trade (globalization).
• Increased importance of the differences between nations (internationalization).
• Devaluation of the United States dollar against world currencies.
• Widespread poverty and under-employment throughout the world.

I believe that Business as Mission has the potential to satisfy the needs that are being created in the global missions environment by these macro-trends. However, BAM’s contributions to each of these areas are secondary benefits. What I mean by that is the primary benefit of BAM is it creates a context, an audience of employees, customers, and community, for the business leaders to love, serve, minister to and evangelize.

Secondary benefits like job-creation, creative access, profit generation can not be the primary focus of BAM efforts. Using BAM solely as a means for addressing these could undermine the effort required to start and run the business. You face the risk of underestimating the importance of the building blocks of the business model and thus jeopardizing the sustainability of the business. Missions organizations must be cautious not to over-prioritize any of these objectives.

As an organization that is thinking that Business as Mission can address these trends/issues, you are not mistaken. BAM does touch these areas; however, you cannot neglect the following considerations for each trend that, if ignored or misunderstood, could hurt your BAM efforts.

Impediments to traditional missions:

Closed access countries

How BAM helps:
Countries that are closed and/or hostile toward Christian missionary activities are generally welcoming to foreign business investment. Economic contribution is desired by the host government and thus the condition for them giving permission to enter.

Considerations:
Entry into closed access countries is a singular event. Economic contribution requires significant and continuous investment in business activities and thus is an on-going process. A disconnect in thinking about access can lead to misalignment of intentions for missional Christians who view business as an entry strategy.

Declining financial/prayer support

How BAM helps:
Leveraging business as a means for advancing the Kingdom engages western business men and women in a sphere of their life that has historically been a point of contention among the church. As a result, Business as Mission can create an effective means for accessing the resources (prayer, finances, skills, experience, networks) of these individuals.

Considerations:
Donor requests presented as Business as Mission opportunities can reduce the credibility of an missions organization among Christian business men and women. The Business as Mission concept will attract Christian business men and women who desire to use their skills, experience, and networks. Using Business as Mission to solicit donor requests can elicit negative reactions associated with how the church has limited Christian businesspeople in the past.

Changes to the international landscape:

Globalization

How BAM helps:
As global marketplaces are integrating, the opportunity is created to reach individuals within their business/work sphere.

Considerations:
Globalization is a controversial topic and integrating Business as Mission can be interpreted as an endorsement for globalization.

Internationalization

How BAM helps:
Business as Mission is enhanced by internationalization as local workers typically have language skills and cultural knowledge that improves the chances for business success.

Considerations:
There is a predominant assumption (particularly among western Christians) that Business as Mission requires a western resource to go abroad to start/operate a business. Having a western presence in the business is not always appropriate nor does it necessarily create an advantage.

USD devaluation

How BAM helps:
Changes in currency values can be leveraged to maximize the profitability of business activities.

Considerations:
Competitive advantages created by differences in currency valuation can be eroded by shifts in currency markets (e.g. the challenges facing outsourcing companies in India in mid-2008). It is important to take this risk into consideration when evaluating business models.

Poverty/under employment

How BAM helps:
Profitable businesses can contribute to both to job creation and wealth creation within their communities.

Considerations:
Job/wealth considerations are secondary benefits and can not be the primary focus of the business. Job creation without market justification creates a tax on the performance of the company that can threaten sustainability. Additionally, transferring wealth created by the business limits the resources available to reinvest in the business.

Recommendations

Responding to trends is a legitimate rationale for considering Business as Mission, but it can not be the only consideration. To ensure success of any Business as Mission strategy, you must determine whether or not it fits within the main objectives of the organization as defined by your Values, Vision/Mission and Strategic Objectives.

Additionally, global trends are constantly changing. This creates the potential risk that the underlying factors that currently support investment in Business as Mission may not be sustained. As you move forward in integrating Business as Mission, you need to be intentional about reviewing the global environment in order to anticipate shifts in these trends. Additionally, you need to be flexible and responsive so that your efforts are not vulnerable to potential shifts.