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I sure hope so since we spend so much of our life doing it! In the Downtown Professionals Group I lead each Wednesday we are looking at a book written by Seattle Pacific University professor Jeff Van Duzer entitled "Why Business Matters to God". In it Van Duzer explores this question: Is there intrinsic value in our work in business, and not just instrumental value? In other words, does my work actually have intrinsic value to God or is it merely a means to create wealth for me to give away in generous proportions? Van Dozer believes there is intrinsic value to the work we do, and in his book narrows his focus to his field of study, business.
The material is so rich thus far that I thought sharing it only with the our Downtown Professionals Group wouldn't be fair. So I'm going to sketch for you a summary of chapter 1, and I'm going to encourage you all to buy the book. If you are looking for an accessible, thoughtful, and practical book on how your faith and work intersect this book is for you.
In Chapter 1 Van Duzer begins with the creation story in Genesis 1 and 2, how are we to understand ourselves and the task God has given us. I'm going to go down the list of insights provided.
- The material world matters to God. When businesses produce material things that enhance the welfare of the community, they are engaged in work that matters to God.
Human beings are called to steward God's creation. In effect, Adam and Eve were invited to enjoy the "income" from God's trust without invading the "principal". God remained the owner. Adam and Ever however were given a role to play, steward, or trustee. Human beings were called to steward God's creation on God's behalf. For example in a family trust, the trustee must not use the trust to "self deal" the trust has his/her undivided loyalty. The trustee is to maximize the return on trust assets for the benefit of the trust beneficiaries. By analogy we are not to just declare we are God's stewards, we need to know what our goal (or purpose) is when managing the business and what limitations we need to observe to manage the business in accordance with God's desires.
Human beings are made in the Image of God. We are to reflect those characteristics of God that have already been described in the Genesis account. Namely, the image God made (male and female) are inherently relational and designed to be workers/creators. Any theology of business must be relational and communitarian in character. Relationships in community must precede labor and productivity. We are also called to work with an inherent capacity for and need to be engaged in creative activity. In business terms God made the initial capital investment. He richly endowed the earth with resources. Adam and Eve were the initial manager called to creatively organize (name the animal) and manage these resources (take dominion), to enhance the productivity of the Garden (be fruitful and multiply) in a sustainable (guard creation) manner. When humans engage in creative, meaningful work that grows out of relationships and gives back to the community they become more human.
Humans are made to live within limits. We are made in the image of God, but not made to be gods. Especially when we are wildly successful in business, then can be easy to forget!
God delights in variety. Even before human beings were created, God created a wide array of creatures and enjoyed the breadth of creation in all it's variety. Then with the creation of his image there is diversity as well, male and female.
The Garden was incomplete. The command to subdue and rule over the earth was given before the fall of Genesis 3. Naming the animals, classifying, bringing to order... there tasks given by God to humanity as a blessing. It would be incorrect to say that the Garden was complete, that had they avoided the forbidden fruit humankind would have lived to the end of time in an idyllic garden setting. God still did not cause the fields to flourish because no humans were yet available to work the fields. Genesis 2:4-5 speaks of "no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground;and there was no man to work the ground." As originally designed the Garden of Eden was not God's intended endpoint. God anticipated partnering with human beings to cause the Garden to flourish. As stewards we are not aiming for a fixed endpoint, just for a further and more robust flourishing, an ever growing and deepening intimacy. God did not deliver a finished product, rather provided a setting in which human beings, working with and enabled by God, could cause the created order to flourish.
Which of those insights resonates with you the most? I like #6. God intended from the beginning, to involve us in the task of cultivating and growing and caring for the world he made. Van Duzer goes on to apply this "creation mandate" to the specific area of business. What role does it play in the creation mandate? He makes the case that certain institutions are better suited for certain tasks of the creation mandate, and that in our 21st century context, two roles of business in the creation mandate can be identified.
- Business appears to be uniquely well situated to "work the fields, to cause the land to be fruitful, and to fill the earth"– what we might in modern parlance characterize as "create wealth".
Business is also the dominant institution equipped to provide organized opportunities for meaningful and creative work.
Van Duzer goes on to say : From this I would conclude that at this time in history, there are two legitimate, first order, intrinsic purposes of business: as stewards of God's creation, business leaders should manage their businesses (1) to provide the community with goods and services that will enable it to flourish, and (2) to provide opportunities for meaningful work that will allow employees to express their God-given creativity. One goal focused outward and the other inward.
Three Observations Van Duzer then lays out:
- This purpose of business makes the particular goods and services to be produced a relevant consideration. Are they good and services that God would want to make available to the world at this time? There is no single litmus test. Instead of asking which will maximize my ROI? We ask instead 'Given the core competencies of my organization and the assets under its control, how can I best direct the organization to serve? Which products or services could we produce that would best enable my community to flourish?'
The model of Genesis is not a "maximize profits" model. The Genesis model places profit in a proper perspective. It becomes the means to service rather than the purpose of the enterprise itself. While profits matter, and the "margin is the mission", it is not the end, but the means to an end, rooted in our task as stewards and image bearers of God and His world.
Business is to be in the business of "value creation" or "creating wealth". Put simply, successful business find ways through innovation to make more or better things from less. The call to produce goods and serves that enable flourishing is a call to participate in this innovative and industrious work.
I spend a lot of time talking with folks who are trying to connect their faith with their work. I think Van Duzer is going to help us think through these issues with theological integrity and practical application. Your thoughts?