business as mission across nations
TRANSCRIPT
How has it transformed communities
Presented by:
Dr. Vahagn Asatryan
Business as mission across nations
© 2013, Dr. Vahagn Asatryan
Program
Part 1 – God and my mission Part 2 – The God of Business Part 3 – Godly business Practice
Business as mission
The Great Commission 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35
Section I: God and my mission
"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: `I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me.
Isaiah 44:6
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8
Creator and creation
Created all things
Sustains them
Sovereign ruler over all creation
Perfect relationship
Sin or Injustice: The Fall
Humans chose to go against God’s standard
Sin includes any thought, word, or action that goes against His commands
Salvation / Redemption
“God’s justice against sinful man was satisfied by the sacrifice of Jesus, the Christ. By faith in him, we can be saved.” (see Mark 15:34).
The Holy Life
Christians are called to glorify God through faith
On calling
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters,[a] make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:3
The Virtuous Life
God is more glorified with us developing good characters—becoming good men / women - than with us doing random good deeds.
God wants to help us develop virtuous characters, which is to say characters that reflect a bit of His perfect self.
The godly life, therefore, is also a virtuous life.
The tree of merchants
1. You shall have no other gods before me
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol
3. You shall not misuse the name of God
4. Keep the Sabbath day holy before God
5. Honour your father and mother
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour
10. You shall not covet
The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17)
Survey B
God’s purpose for business
PART II The God of Business
What is the purpose of business?
Parable of ten minas (Luke 19:11-27)
What is the purpose of business?
- to develop the world and to enable man to honour God and bring Him glory.
The wheels of Prosperity
Parable of the Good Samaritan
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:30-31
Who is my neighbour?
Stakeholder = neighbour
Individuals or small groups with the power to respond to, negotiate with, and change the strategic future of the business.
Stakeholder relationship framework
WOF Group – widows, orphans,
and foreigners
WOF Group – widows, orphans,
and foreigners
Questions?
The fable of a fox and a scorpion
Section III – Virtuous practice
VIRTUE
A virtue is a trait or quality deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of good moral character. Personal virtues are characteristics valued as promoting individual and collective well being.
Virtuous circle
GODGOD
Imitating God’s Moral Character
Virtues represent qualities of God found also in humans.
Do you see virtuous people in your business? How are they different?
Justice
“To treat each thing, person or situation correctly or rightly.”
Justice means treating….
a superior as a superior,
an equal as an equal (equality) and
a subordinate as a subordinate.
Question
How might you encourage your managers to practice justice?
How might you encourage your subordinates to act fairly, justly, and caringly?
VIRTUE
Employee
Customer
Community
Supplier
Partner
Govnt.
Special Group:
Widows, Orphans,
Strangers
Other
VIRTU™ Matrix Exercise
*Note: For each of these Matrix Exercises:
1)identify a stakeholder, and
2)identify or imagine an example that illustrates the application of the virtue toward that stakeholder.
JUSTICE
Employee
Reell Engineering redesigned the assembly line based on Teach-Equip-Trust (TET) style of management in which employees were taught inspection procedures, equipped with quality instruments and trusted to do things right on their own assembly line. Employees decreased setup times for new products, reduced the need for quality inspection, increased overall quality and required less supervision. By reducing these costs, the company not only was able to set pay rates at a level closer to a living wage, but also created a richer work experience by making employees accountable for developing their knowledge and skills. When work is designed to use $7 of talent, it is difficult to pay people anything more than that amount. When an employee is hired with no experience and no skills, the company pays the worker the market rate ($7 per hour or whatever it is at the time), but then makes a commitment to move that employee to the target or living wage ($11 per hour) through training and skill development. Responsibilities of employees here as well. Employees are not merely recipients of justice, but they are also an integral part of the process of creating right relationships in how they choose to pursue their work.
Customer
Community
Supplier
Partner
Govnt.
Special Group: Widows,
Orphans, Strangers
Other
HONESTY
“To say, write or more broadly communicate truth where it is relevant that one so communicate it.”
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Exodus 20:16
“O you who believe! Fear God and be with those who are truthful.” (Surah 9:119)
Questions
What are some apparent disadvantages of honesty in the marketplace / business? All things considered, are these really disadvantages?
Describe someone honest in your (business) life. Why did you pick that person?
HONESTY
Employee
Customer A translation services company was contracted to translate materials for a
workshop in a foreign country. The parties agreed to the pay-per-page model.
The amount of work significantly exceeded the original agreement. The text
contained graphs, pictures, and charts - lots of "white space". The agency
charged for the equivalent of the actual "text" pages.
Community
Supplier
Partner
Govnt.
Special Group:
Widows, Orphans,
Strangers
Other
Self-control
“Restraining one’s emotions or appetites in keeping with justice or what is right. This is positive inaction.”
“And as for him who fears to stand in the presence of his Lord and forbids his own soul from its whims and caprices then surely Paradise is the abode” (Surah 79:40-41)
“Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control” Prov. 25:28
Group work
Do you know someone at work whose lack of temperance affects performance?
What about the balance of work and family life?
Can a healthy balance be achieved between maximizing profits and temperance? How?
TEMPERANCE / SELF-CONTROL
Employee
Customer A Christian bank has strong market share in niche lending area. The bank is making above
average profit. Regulators asked why the Bank had not increased interest rates charged on small
loans. Board discussed difference between charging what "can" and what "should". Decided to
keep rates lower to provide benefit to borrowers realizing this meant lower rates to
savers/suppliers.
Community
SupplierBoeing corporation deliberately rotates buyers as to avoid potential for conflict of interest or self-
dealing or corruption.
Partner
Govnt.
Special Group:
Widows, Orphans,
Strangers
Other
Forgiveness
Forgiveness as such is a type of sacrificial love and so goes beyond (though always through) justice. As such it is non-obligatory and very praiseworthy.
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other,
just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Ephesians 4:32
“Take to forgiveness and enjoin good and turn aside from the ignorant.” (Surah 7:199)
Group work
How can forgiveness be relevant to business operations?
What were the positive outcomes of forgiveness? What are the consequences of non-forgiveness (that
you may have observed or suffered in business)?
FORGIVENESS
Employee
Customer
Community
Supplier
Partner
John owned a Painting Business which was run as a partnership between himself and another man, Jacob. They mostly painted commercial industrial buildings such as factories, new office buildings, etc. After many years of working together, John’s business partner stopped showing up for work, ... in the middle of working on a large contract. Jacob's continual absence made it impossible for their company to finish the job on time and as a result, the building contractor who hired them for that job is no longer willing to work with John’s company. Instead of starting a fight with his partner, however, John exercised forgiveness because he truly cared for his partner. John was not able to find the partner for more than two weeks, but was still able to forgive him and actually helped his partner deal with family troubles that he was having at the time.
Govnt.
Special Group: Widows,
Orphans, Strangers
Other
Generosity
Two senses:
Generosity as justice is when the strong benefits the weak (the strong could mean the financially strong, the educationally strong, the physically strong, etc.). And the weak would be the corresponding person or thing).
Generosity as love is when a person (strong, equal or weak) doesn't have any obligation to help a person (usually financially, materially or time-wise), but still chooses to do so.
“A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes will be refreshed.” Proverbs 11:25
“Never shall you attain righteousness unless you spend on others out of what you yourselves truly love; and whatever you spend – certainly, God knows.” (Surah 3:92)
Group work
Who is a model of generosity for you now in your community or organization? What can you write or say about this person?
What kind of gifts and talents has God blessed you with? How can you share them with your stakeholders?
GENEROUSITY
Employee
Jacks Landscaping, a landscape construction company based in Richmond Hill, ON provides employees with proper compensation both in the winter and summer months. It is a rare practice in the industry to compensate employees a set pay even during the winter months with regard to snow removal. Employees are still paid whether it snows or not, which is very uncommon in the industry. Not only compensation, but Jack's Landscaping provides employee bbq's, outings, and employee support as a way to show generosity.
Customer
Community
Supplier
Partner
Govnt.
Special Group:
Widows,
Orphans,
Strangers
Milton Hershey was considered to be a fool by his wealthy contemporaries. His chocolate company brought him millions of dollars, but he used most of it to invest in a school for homeless children (now known as the ) and other charitable causes.
Other
Humility
When the weak (a person lacking something) recognizes his or her weakness (lack) especially in the presence of the strong (or a person who doesn't have the corresponding lack).
A man who recognizes he's not God is humble in this sense. An employee who recognizes he's not the boss is humble in this sense.
“He has showed you, O man, what is good? And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
“Call to your sustainer humbly, and in the secrecy of your hearts.”
Quran 7:55
Group work
How does humility relate to business activity?
What does it mean to be humble in business?
How would you encourage your younger manager and/or employee to pursue humility?
HUMILITY
Employee
Customer
Community
Supplier
Partner
Govnt.
Special
Group:
Widows,
Orphans,
Strangers
Other
Case study
ON THE EMPLOYEE: Janice is a highly educated top executive in charge of research and development. John is her underpaid assistant, struggling to support his family. His performance evaluations have always been more than adequate. As one of his research projects, John designs a creative software package that addresses major concerns within the company. He shares this program with Janice, hoping it will bring him a much needed promotion and raise. Janice’s boss has asked her to design an innovative and efficient program. But pressures of her position keep her from setting aside sufficient time to do the requested work. Janice, eager to successfully complete the job her boss assigned, is thinking of presenting John’s program to her boss and passing it off as her own. If John objects, she can threaten to lower his performance evaluations or possibly even fire him. But Janice doesn’t pass it off as her own.
THE END (JUST THE BEGINNING)…