BUSI 607 Week 5 Business and Missions Paper Example

Business as a Witness Where Missions Are Restricted: Key Points From Eldred's God Is at Work

Introduction

Ken Eldred's God Is at Work makes a claim that many Christians in business find both encouraging and challenging: that business itself, conducted well and with Christian purpose, can transform people and nations, particularly in places where traditional missionary work is limited or forbidden (Eldred, 2009). Eldred writes as an entrepreneur who built several companies and became involved in supporting Christian-owned businesses in developing countries. His argument is not that business should replace churches or missionaries, but that business has a distinctive role in God's work, one that becomes especially important where governments restrict religious activity, where cultures are hostile to outside religious messages or where poverty makes economic development a precondition for much else.

This paper summarizes Eldred's key points about using business to promote Christianity and Christian values in such settings, explains the model of Kingdom business and its three forms of capital, connects the argument to research on trust and economic development and to the concepts of this course, and considers the cautions that the model requires. The central conclusion is that Eldred's model asks Christian businesspeople to be excellent at business and transparent about their values at the same time, and that these two demands reinforce rather than compete with each other.

Kingdom Business Defined

At the center of Eldred's argument is the idea of Kingdom business, a for-profit commercial enterprise, operated by Christians, typically in a developing or restricted country, that is designed to be profitable and to meet economic, social and spiritual needs. Eldred insists that such businesses be real businesses. They must produce goods or services people want, operate at a profit and compete on their merits. A business that loses money depends on outside subsidies, cannot employ people sustainably and fails to demonstrate the value of the principles it claims to represent.

Eldred distinguishes Kingdom business from two related approaches. The first is tentmaking, a term drawn from the apostle Paul's practice of supporting himself by making tents while he preached (Acts 18:3), in which a Christian takes a job abroad primarily to fund or gain access for personal ministry. The second is the use of a business as a platform or cover, a company that exists on paper to obtain visas while its staff spend their time on religious activity. Eldred does not condemn tentmaking, but he argues that Kingdom business is different because the business itself is part of the mission. Its employees, customers and suppliers experience Christian values in the way the company is run, in fair wages, honest dealing and care for people. He is more critical of platform businesses, which can damage trust and put local partners at risk when their nature becomes known.

Others writing on business as mission make similar distinctions. Rundle and Steffen (2011) describe "Great Commission companies" as businesses designed to serve local needs while advancing the church's mission, and they stress that such companies must be commercially viable and transparent. Johnson (2009) similarly argues that business as mission requires excellence in business as well as in ministry and that the two cannot be separated without weakening both. The common thread is that the business must be genuine, because a pretend business cannot model honest work.

Three Forms of Capital

Eldred describes the outcomes of Kingdom business in terms of three kinds of capital. Economic capital is the familiar kind: profits, wages, investment and the productive capacity that lifts families out of poverty. Social capital refers to the relationships, networks and cooperative habits that allow people to work together. Spiritual capital, Eldred's most distinctive idea, refers to the trust, honesty, integrity and moral commitments rooted in faith. He argues that spiritual capital underlies the other two, because markets and organizations function only when people can trust one another, and that countries trapped in poverty and corruption often lack it.

Research in economics lends support to the link Eldred draws between trust and prosperity, though it does not use his theological language. Knack and Keefer (1997) found, across a sample of countries, that higher levels of trust and stronger norms of civic cooperation were associated with stronger economic performance. Guiso et al. (2003) studied the relationship between religion and economic attitudes and found that religious belief was associated, on average, with attitudes conducive to economic growth, such as greater trust in others, respect for the law and support for market institutions, with differences across religious traditions. These studies cannot establish that faith causes prosperity, but they are consistent with Eldred's argument that values such as honesty and trustworthiness have economic as well as moral importance.

For a Kingdom business, building spiritual capital means modeling integrity in every transaction: paying taxes, refusing bribes, keeping promises to customers and suppliers and treating employees fairly. In countries where corruption is common, such practices can be costly in the short run, but Eldred argues that they create a reputation for trustworthiness that becomes a competitive advantage and a witness to the source of those values.

Working Where Religious Activity Is Restricted

Eldred gives particular attention to countries where the government restricts missionary activity, sometimes called creative access countries. In such places, a foreign Christian cannot obtain a visa to work as a missionary, and public evangelism may be illegal. A legitimate business, by contrast, is often welcomed because it brings investment, jobs and skills. Eldred argues that Christians running genuine businesses in these countries can live out their faith daily, build relationships with employees and neighbors and answer questions about their faith when asked, while creating real economic value.

This approach raises an ethical question that any honest treatment must address: is it deceptive to enter a country as a business with spiritual aims the government would not welcome? Eldred's answer, as I understand it, rests on the distinction between a genuine business and a front. A real business that obeys the law, pays its taxes and serves its customers is doing exactly what it claims to do, and the faith of its owners shapes how it does so, much as the values of any owners shape their companies. The problem arises when a business is a pretense, or when its owners engage in activities that violate host country law. Paul's instruction to be subject to governing authorities (Romans 13:1) and Peter's example of obeying God rather than human authorities when commanded to stop preaching (Acts 5:29) both bear on this tension, and Christians in such settings must make careful judgments about where the limits lie.

A further concern is the safety of local employees and believers. In some countries, local Christians face severe penalties that foreign owners do not. Eldred's emphasis on transparency, integrity and respect for local relationships implies that foreign Christians must not expose local partners to risks they have not chosen. Kingdom business is sustainable only if it protects the people it is meant to serve.

Applying the Model to International Business

Eldred's model connects directly to the topics of this course. On entry modes, a Kingdom business faces the same choices as any foreign investor, from selling through agents to owning a local company outright, but with an added consideration: the degree of control needed to shape the company's culture and values. A wholly owned subsidiary or a joint venture with a like-minded local partner allows the firm to set its own standards for wages, integrity and employee care, which licensing would not.

On workforce planning and development, Kingdom business places unusual emphasis on training local employees and developing local managers, both because this builds economic capital in the community and because it reflects the dignity of work and of the workers. On supply chains, the model calls for fair dealing with suppliers and attention to working conditions throughout the chain, consistent with the biblical concern for just treatment of laborers (James 5:4). In each case, the practices that Eldred recommends for spiritual reasons are also those that research on international management associates with strong local relationships and long-term performance.

Cautions and Limitations

Eldred's model is ambitious, and it faces practical risks. Many small businesses in developing countries fail, and a Kingdom business that collapses may harm its employees and the reputation of the faith it represents. Dual goals can also create confusion: managers may compromise business discipline in the name of ministry, or compromise integrity in the name of profitability. Van Duzer (2010) argues that business serves God's purposes primarily by providing goods and services that enable communities to flourish and by offering meaningful work, which suggests that the business purpose deserves full weight rather than serving as a means to another end. Kingdom business is most credible when the business would be worth doing even if it had no explicitly spiritual aims.

Conclusion

Eldred's God Is at Work argues that business, done excellently and with integrity, can be a powerful means of advancing Christian faith and values, especially in places where traditional missions are restricted. Its key points are that Kingdom businesses must be real and profitable, that they create spiritual, social and economic capital, that spiritual capital in the form of trust and integrity underpins economic development and that Christians must operate transparently and lawfully, protecting local partners. Research on trust and economic performance supports the economic side of his argument. For a Christian considering international business, the book's lasting lesson is that the way a company is run, how it pays, sells, buys and treats people, is itself a form of witness.

References

Eldred, K. A. (2009). God is at work: Transforming people and nations through business. Regal Books.

Guiso, L., Sapienza, P., & Zingales, L. (2003). People's opium? Religion and economic attitudes. Journal of Monetary Economics, 50(1), 225-282. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3932(02)00202-7

Johnson, C. N. (2009). Business as mission: A comprehensive guide to theory and practice. IVP Academic.

Knack, S., & Keefer, P. (1997). Does social capital have an economic payoff? A cross-country investigation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(4), 1251-1288. https://doi.org/10.1162/003355300555475

Rundle, S., & Steffen, T. (2011). Great Commission companies: The emerging role of business in missions (Rev. ed.). IVP Books.

Van Duzer, J. (2010). Why business matters to God (and what still needs to be fixed). IVP Academic.