Tag Archive for: creation care

Reflections on Sacrifice, Faithfulness and Transformation

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by Mats Tunehag

 

I was asked recently to reflect on the idea of “transformational sacrifice”. What do sacrifice and transformation mean in a Jewish-Christian tradition; our roots and context? What follows are some reflections on the topic, linked to our roots and tradition, which of course includes Holy Scripture.

Sacrifice is intentional and voluntary, not an unintended or surprising consequence of action taken. That may be a price we pay for a decision made.

The meaning and practice of sacrifice have evolved before, during and after the temple in Jerusalem, and also before and after Christ. But some common denominators are:

Sacrifice is for God and the common good; it has a cost, and it can be transformational.

King David said: “I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing.”

We use this kind of ‘cost language’ in phrases like:

She sacrificed her career for her family.

They sacrificed comfort for justice.

Soldiers sacrificed for their country.

Redemptive Action vs. Empty Ritual

Those examples indicate that some things are worth sacrificing and suffering for, love involves cost, a greater good may require giving up comfort, and costly sacrifice can be redemptive.

Sacrifice can thus mean giving up something valuable, enduring loss or cost, for the sake of someone else, for a higher purpose, based on justice, and mercy, for the common good.

However, sacrifice isn’t inherently good. Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and Micah criticized when sacrifice became an empty ritual, filled with hypocrisy, overlooking injustice and exploitation of the poor.

Instead, sacrifice should be covenantal, relating to God as well as to us, as individuals and communities. It should be connected with the things that God calls us to—that is, justice, mercy, love and service.

Transformational Sacrifice?

In both Jewish and Christian traditions, sacrifice is often understood as transformational, not merely as loss, but as something that can change things. It can be internal (we are transformed) and external (the circumstances are transformed). The transformation may be spiritual, moral, relational, social, political, economical, or cultural.

There are many kinds of sacrificial transformational agents: Parents sacrificing sleep, time, and comfort for children, entrepreneurs sacrificing security to build an impactful company, and missionaries leaving familiarity to make Christ known.

But there are no guarantees that a sacrifice, even with good and right motives, will bring about a good and lasting transformation. Or it may happen, many years or even generations down the road.

An Old Testament example of sacrifice is Abraham going to sacrifice his son Isaac, the embodiment of the fulfillment of the promise God gave to him. It certainly transformed them, especially in relationship to God, and in trusting God. It also had implications for generations to come.

There are also stories of sacrifices with fraudulent and evil intentions that bring about an encounter with God and positive transformations down the road.

The story of Joseph being sold by his brothers is an example of “bad sacrifice” which can transform lives and show how God can redeem the past for future blessings. Joseph’s brothers were willing to sacrifice their father’s favorite son, but God transformed that situation, one that caused Joseph and Jacob to suffer greatly, into a national rescue plan for Egypt, and eventually also a restoration of a dysfunctional family and the birth of the nation of Israel.

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present outcome, that many people would be kept alive [as they are this day].” (Genesis 50:20, AMP)

The Church has many saints who made significant sacrifices, which continues to have a transformational impact down the centuries. Dietrich Bonhoeffer resisted Nazism and was executed. He spoke of a “costly grace.” His sacrifice transformed later Christian thinking about: discipleship, resistance to evil, public faith, and ethics.

In the long struggle to abolish the slave trade, many abolitionists in William Wilberforce’s time sacrificed wealth, and status, drawing deeply from biblical ideas of human dignity and moral responsibility. Their tireless work over decades brought about transformation; the abolition of the slave trade and slavery in the British empire. Their transformational sacrifice reshaped societies and laws even beyond the empire and their generation.

More recently Martin Luther King Jr. framed nonviolent struggle in profoundly biblical terms during the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. He personally paid a heavy price over the years, and ultimately it cost him his life. But the sacrificial endurance became transformative for generations to come. MLK and others in the movement were willing to suffer to expose injustice, and it changed public attitudes and legislation.

Faithfulness as Our Motivator for Sacrifice

I don’t see “sacrifices” in terms of a cost-benefit analysis; it is about following God and being true to your mission and calling.

Yes, I have sacrificed financial stability and security for decades. Regrets? No! But I would never or hardly ever get on a plane again if there wasn’t a sense of calling and mission.

But life has to be lived forward and can only be understood (to some extent) in hindsight.

As the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

We must act now, relying on faith and courage to navigate the future, without complete understanding the potential impact our sacrifices may have.

Consequently, we do not know what the future holds, nor the impact our choices will have. But we trust God (or at least try!) and keep walking forward.

It mustn’t be a “do ut des” approach. It is a Latin phrase meaning “I give so that you might give”. The phrase stems from ancient Roman law and religious practices, such as offering sacrifices for divine favor.

Today we may talk about an arrangement based on reciprocity, such as business deals, negotiations, or relationships, often used synonymously with a “quid pro quo”. Life with God is not transactional, but relational, a covenantal relationship.

Chronos and Kairos

There are two words in Greek for time.

Chronos is quantitative, sequential and of course is the root of the word chronological. We operate in the chronos, we plan and evaluate in the chronological time, also in business.

Kairos is qualitative, the supreme moment, the right time. This is for example used for God’s intervention, in the fullness of time. We cannot control this, but we can set the stage for it to some extent.

For a longer introduction, please read this blog post.

We are to be faithful in the chronos, serve God and the common good with professionalism, excellence and integrity, trusting God for impact, for the kairos moments, which may be very transformative.

Daniel and his three friends, doing “civil service as mission” were faithful in the chronos (Daniel 1-2), and God used them in kairos moments. We don’t see any “do ut des calculations” in their actions and attitudes, but God used their lives—and sacrifices—to transform King Nebuchadnezzar personally, and also make God known among the many peoples and languages within the empire.

We don’t know, nor can we control, the impact our sacrifices may have.

The Why and How of BAM Sacrifice

In business as mission, we talk about creating business solutions to the world’s pressing issues. Indeed, it is one of our BHAGs, or “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” for the BAM movement.

We do business for God’s glory, the gospel and the common good.

Should solving the world’s greatest problems be a motivator for our sacrifice!? Maybe. But if it is, how should we approach it?

I have observed an increased engagement in using business to address global issues like human trafficking, unreached peoples, environmental challenges, rampant youth unemployment, et cetera. This is honorable and often good.

But I also observe, especially from the West, a “Deus ex machina” approach. Deus ex machina, literally “God from the machine” in Latin, refers back to ancient Greek and Roman drama; when the plot thickened, and there was an unresolvable issue, a man-made mess, the gods and demigods appeared from above and fixed it, and disappeared again. It was a plot device, still used in books and movies today, used to resolve seemingly unresolvable issues.

Some of us have money, connections and solutions. These can be good things, but we must be careful. We are often blind to where we are steeped in post-colonial attitudes or a modernity paradigm. It is too easy to use triumphalist language and come with mechanical solutions to other peoples’ problems.

Instead, as we seek “shalom”, a wholeness for all relationships, we must recognize Shalom as Presence, the incarnational model of God.

Jesus came and dwelt among us, and He gives us His Shalom, the Holy Spirit, to live in and among us. As my good friend Michelle shared in her devotional at the BAM Global Leaders Forum in Manila in March 2026: Jesus offered his presence, and He didn’t fix all the problems.

We know as parents, or grandparents, that our kids or grandkids want, above all, our time and our presence. We cannot compensate for our absence with toys or things—they want us, our presence, a relationship. And then time and space to develop that relationship are essential. Such relationships are truly transformational and foundational for healthy human life, and they are in no way about speed or efficiency.

So, what should we possibly consider giving up—sacrificing—as we do BAM? Speed? Triumphalist language? Trusting our money, connections and solutions? Impersonal Deus ex machina strategies?

How can we, like Jesus, offer presence instead? We may have to sacrifice more time than we imagined. We may have to sacrifice some of our plans and strategies.

 

Mats Tunehag is the Chairman of BAM Global, and he is a global thought leader on Business as Mission, BAM. Since the 1990’s he has created numerous networks of leaders from business, church, missions and academia from all continents. He has served as an advisor to groups involved in business, investment, freedom businesses, research and partnership development. He is the chief architect of the ‘Business as Mission Manifesto’ and the ‘Wealth Creation Manifesto’, which is a conceptual framework for the global BAM movement. See: matstunehag.com/about/ for more about Mats.

 

Download Mats free e-book >> Business for All Seasons

 

 

 

Photo by Guillaume de Germain on Unsplash

 

Business as Mission and Innovation

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by Mats Tunehag

 

We create and innovate based on worldview and values. Worldview is the lens through which we interpret reality, and values guide our thoughts and actions. Thus, innovation from a Christian perspective must be seen through Judeo-Christian lenses, and be guided by values deeply rooted in Holy Scripture and the history of the church. We should innovate in line with our tradition, recognizing that we are to co-create, and innovate, with God and for the common good.

Biblical Foundation for Innovation

Only God creates ex nihilo, out of nothing, but he calls us to be good stewards of all things created. That includes both material and immaterial things, mind and matter.

The book of Genesis presents a created order that is good, but unfinished—inviting human participation, which includes innovation.

Innovation should serve something larger than itself. It mustn’t be innovation for the sake of innovation, nor should it be just about benefits for me, my family, my business, my tribe or my nation. It should be innovation as faithful creativity, serving people and honoring God, not novelty for its own sake. And there are ethical boundaries: Innovation is judged by fruit: does it serve life, justice, dignity, and love of neighbor?

Scripture provides instructive contrasts. Noah’s ark—a massive innovative engineering project—aligned with God’s purposes and brought salvation to humanity. The Tower of Babel, equally impressive in its innovation, was motivated by pride and led to societal breakdown. The difference lies not in technical achievement but in purpose and alignment with God’s will.

We acknowledge that business is God’s gift to transform the world. Business as Mission, BAM, is about harnessing that gift to serve people, align it with God’s purposes, be good stewards of the planet and make a profit—among all nations.

BAM innovation is problem-oriented, geared towards solving unmet needs and problems, like environmental degradation, poverty, human trafficking, unreached peoples, etc. Innovation is beyond efficiency for a firm, profitability and scalability. We see BAM enterprises as a space where God’s reconciling work becomes visible. In this framework, innovation becomes a missional discipline—a way of loving God and neighbor through economic activity.

Besides asking: “What is scalable and profitable?” BAM also asks: “What genuinely serves people and communities?” BAM resists the modern myth that innovation must be disruptive or extractive. BAM related innovations consider environmental, social, and generational impact. We are also mindful of that not all innovation is good business—and not all good business is innovative.

Core Values and Principles

Innovation occurs across all business dimensions—products, services, marketing, sales, management, and human resources. BAM companies innovate in these same areas, but emphasize innovations grounded in biblical values for God-honoring purposes. Key values include:

Stewardship: Innovation is an act of stewardship: developing goods, services, systems, and institutions that enable life to flourish.

Shalom: Innovation oriented toward the common good, shalom rather than shareholder primacy alone.

Avodah: The integration of work, worship, and service, recognizing that our innovations are acts of worship when aligned with God’s purposes.

The Great Commission: Making Christ known as we innovate and conduct business to the ends of the earth.

Human Dignity: Asking whether innovation promotes creativity, dignity, and freedom.

Beauty: The Church teaches that God is truth, goodness, and beauty. Bezalel’s calling and anointing by the Spirit in Exodus 31 demonstrates that beauty and excellence are not luxuries but expressions of God’s Spirit at work.

Tikkun Olam: This Jewish concept means “to repair and heal the world”. BAM innovation observes what is dysfunctional, unjust, oppressive, and polluting in a broken marketplace, then co-creates with God to bridge the gap from what is to what ought to be. The Lord’s Prayer itself is a tikkun olam prayer, bridging heaven and earth by bringing the King and his Kingdom into the marketplace toward holistic human flourishing.

Innovation & Change of Paradigm

Business as Mission is not a technique, but rather a worldview and a lifestyle. To that end BAM Global gives a priority to clarify and impart a Biblical worldview as it relates to business, people, societies and the Great Commission. Although the underpinning BAM concepts are old, there is still a need for a paradigm shift in many circles. In this sense, BAM innovation involves changing not just products or processes, but the framework itself.

Innovations often happen where people, institutions and ideas intersect and interact, and where there is an openness to innovate and explore initiatives that can enhance human flourishing. To that end BAM Global has convened dozens of forums and think tank groups, to reframe and catalyze business solutions to some of the world’s greatest problems. That has resulted in about 40 reports, dozens of BAM networks on all continents, operating in over 20 languages. These innovation forums and hubs have been instrumental to the exponential growth of the global business as mission movement in the last 25 years.

The incarnation shows God entering specific cultural, economic, and historical realities. BAM innovation must be contextual—responding to real local needs rather than importing foreign models, or be a pursuit of one-size fits all. This aligns with historical patterns: durable innovation grows from within cultures, not above them.

Innovation Metrics & Characteristics

We aim at redefining success metrics when needed. BAM innovation should  expands the scorecard and include financial sustainability, social and environmental impact, and spiritual and relational fruit. Innovation is evaluated by shalom, not just ROI, Return of Investment.

So, we pray that BAM innovation will be characterized by:

Rootedness – anchored in Scripture and tradition

Relationality – shaped by proximity to people and place

Redemptive intent – healing and transforming rather than exploiting

Long-term faithfulness – patience over speed

Questions for BAM Innovators

With these principles and values in mind, consider these essential questions:

  • Does this innovation serve needs?
  • Does it pay attention to the underserved peoples of the world?
  • Does it respect limits—ecological, social, moral?
  • Does it strengthen community?
  • Does it allow people to exercise agency and dignity?
  • Does it align with love of neighbor?
  • Does it honor God?


Mats Tunehag is the Chairman of BAM Global, and he is a global thought leader on Business as Mission, BAM. Since the 1990’s he has created numerous networks of leaders from business, church, missions and academia from all continents. He has served as an advisor to groups involved in business, investment, freedom businesses, research and partnership development. He is the chief architect of the ‘Business as Mission Manifesto’ and the ‘Wealth Creation Manifesto’, which is a conceptual framework for the global BAM movement. See: matstunehag.com/about/ for more about Mats.

 

Download Mats free e-book >> Business for All Seasons

 

 

 

 

Business for All Seasons: On a Tikkun Olam Mission

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by Mats Tunehag


Mats Tunehag has just published a new free ebook “Business for All Seasons“, this is an excerpt.

 

What does it mean to be a Christian in the marketplace? There is a spectrum from just being a Christian in business and investing, to having a Christian impact through business and investments. The spectrum does not imply a judgmental attitude, but rather provokes a question on how we can learn and grow, and become more God-driven in the marketplace. It is a journey. I can be a Christian in business, just trying to survive and make money. My Christian faith has little to no influence on how I do business or make decisions about investments. Others may try to apply some Biblical values in business practices and avoid investing in unethical companies. Further down the spectrum one may explore how business and investments can have a Christian impact on multiple bottom-lines for multiple stakeholders. And how do we reflect God’s global thrust, to be a blessing and a witness to all peoples and nations, including through our work in business?

At this end of the spectrum, we are doing business and investing with a tikkun olam mission. What is that? Tikkun olam is a Jewish concept of repairing the world, bringing healing to the world, by co-creating with God, also through business and investing.

Tikkun Olam is observing how things are, realizing it is not as it should be. Things are broken, and need repair, people are hurting and need healing. A transformation is desired. Tikkun olam means co-creating with God, and bridging the gap between the world which is, and to a world as it ought to be. A few mundane examples: the kid’s room is messy, and it should be tidied up. A road is full of potholes and needs to be fixed. A smart phone has only 1% battery left, and needs to be recharged. What is versus what it ought to be, and action should be taken by someone.We know from history that businesses can be strong agents of change and transformation. And financial capital is an essential part of that. Peter Drucker says: “Every single social and global issue of our day is a business opportunity in disguise.” But tikkun olam is beyond being a secular or individualistic ‘do-gooder’. It is about co-creating with God, which implies submitting to his will. The Lord’s prayer is a tikkun olam prayer: May your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. On earth—as it is. God’s kingdom—as it ought to be.

Tikkun olam is a Jewish concept of repairing the world, bringing healing to the world, by co-creating with God, also through business and investing.

The American Jesuit theologian Roger Haight writes in ‘Spirituality Seeking Theology’ (2014): “God has entrusted creation to human beings not merely as caretakers of a past condition but as co-creators with God of the future.” Thus, we are not just Christian business people or investors in the marketplace. No, we are on a tikkun olam mission, with our time, talents and treasures, that His Kingdom may be preached, demonstrated and extended as we do business and investing. As God calls and equips us to do business and to invest, we should ask tikkun olam questions. What are some needs and challenges that can be addressed through my business? How can my investments make a difference to social and global issues?

The list can obviously be made long and diverse, and no-one can address all challenges we face locally or globally. But together we can invest and build businesses and eco-systems which can tackle many needs.

God wants people and nations to flourish socially, economically, culturally, spiritually, environmentally, intellectually, et cetera. It is about restoring human dignity, also through business. The antitheses to human dignity and flourishing is poverty, unemployment, wars, lack of clean water, human trafficking, labor exploitation, food insecurity, and no gospel access. That is what often is, but it is not how it ought to be. That is why we do business and investing with a tikkun olam mission. To repair the world, with God and for the common good—for God’s glory.

More about Business for All Seasons

Business for All Seasons is a small book with a large ambition: to help Christians think more clearly and act more courageously in the marketplace. It gathers twenty short chapters* all circling the same conviction: business and investing are not side activities to “real” ministry, but central avenues through which God restores people, and transform communities and nations.

The title nods to A Man for All Seasons, the story of Sir Thomas More, who chose faithfulness to conscience over comfort, reputation, and even his life. In a different arena, men and women in business face their own pressures: to separate faith from work, to chase profit without purpose, or to accept broken systems as inevitable. This book is written for those who want to follow God in boardrooms, shop floors, farms, and investment committees, even when that is costly.

It also echoes Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and the hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Business, like nature, moves through springtimes of vision and start-up energy, summers of growth, autumns of transition and harvest, and winters of pruning, disappointment, or waiting. Yet the seasons are not neatly separated; they overlap and interact. Through them all, God’s faithfulness does not change. “Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest… join with all nature in manifold witness to Thy great faithfulness.” These pages invite you to see your work and investments in that larger, steady light.

You will not find a technical manual on portfolio construction or a step-by-step guide to starting a company. Instead, each chapter offers a theological lens, a story, or a set of questions that can reshape how you view capital, risk, success, and calling. We will look at themes like tikkun olam—repairing a broken world with God; wealth creation as a holy calling; investing for generations rather than quarters; how business can confront human trafficking instead of profiting from exploitation; and why there is no biblical “pyramid” that makes pastors more spiritual than entrepreneurs or investors.

Throughout the book runs the language of four bottom lines. Business as Mission seeks holistic impact—financial, social, environmental, and spiritual—because the Kingdom of God touches every dimension of life. Like the four seasons, these bottom lines are distinct yet inseparable. Sound investments can create dignifying jobs, protect creation, strengthen families, and open space for the good news of Jesus to be both seen and heard.

Whether you are an investor, entrepreneur, pastor, student, or simply someone wondering how your work fits into God’s purposes, my hope is that this book will do three things: affirm that your place in the marketplace truly matters to God; stretch your imagination for what faithful business can do in the world; and encourage you to keep going—through all the seasons—with integrity, courage, and joy.

These are not final answers but invitations into ongoing conversations and practice. My prayer is that as you read and reflect, you will hear God’s call afresh to steward your time, talents, and treasures for the good of people and the glory of God—becoming, in your own sphere, a “business person for all seasons.”

Download pdf here >> Free e-book: Business for All Seasons


Mats Tunehag is the Chairman of BAM Global, and he is a global thought leader on Business as Mission, BAM. Since the 1990’s he has created numerous networks of leaders from business, church, missions and academia from all continents. He has served as an advisor to groups involved in business, investment, freedom businesses, research and partnership development. He is the chief architect of the ‘Business as Mission Manifesto’ and the ‘Wealth Creation Manifesto’, which is a conceptual framework for the global BAM movement. See: matstunehag.com/about/ for more about Mats.

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge and Hope: How Business Can Help the Planet and Its People Flourish [Video]

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To celebrate Earth Day 2024, we’re reposting this classic presentation by Mark Polet from a past BAM Global event on how environmental impact intersects with spiritual, economic, and social impacts.

The people we want to reach are facing the greatest environmental, even existential challenges. BAMers are on the ground already in the areas of greatest need. This presentation explores how to meet these challenges with the Hope we share and the technical capabilities we can access.

Respond to the challenge… Join us at the BAM Global Summit on Thursday 9th May!

 

>> Download a free report series on BAM and Creation Care here

 

>>More on Creation Care on The BAM Review blog here

Read more

Why We’re Passionate about Caring for God’s Creation [Photo Journal]

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Every BAM company is an environmental company. They are having an impact on the environment and the environment is having an impact on them. – Mark Polet

In December we ran a series on BAM and Creation Care on The BAM Review and on social media we asked readers to share their favourite photos of the environment to show us why creation care is at the heart of BAM!

This is why creation is worth caring for through our business as mission initiatives:

“The Tea garden I photographed means everything to me. It is where I started life as a school-going child, and my salvation experience came through in one such Tea garden. Moreover, I love mountains. I really love nature! I firmly believe they’re the best gift of God’s love and communication to us and to me in particular!! If we as humanity miss out on noticing and especially taking care of the good nature by protecting its habitat, we lose everything. I have done my best to engage in practices that encourage wildlife, for example a peacock, which is our national bird and of great importance roams around our house and we as a family notice them and even allow them the space they need in our premises too!!” – Callistus Read more

Restoring Barren Soils and Barren Hearts: Announcing [Re]Generation

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Every BAM company is an environmental company. They are having an impact on the environment and the environment is having an impact on them. – Mark Polet

This month we are delighted to share a series on BAM and Creation Care on The BAM Review. While COP28 is focused on the crucial issue of climate in UAE right now, we know that creation care is much broader and that it’s God’s idea! As Christians in business, with a missional intention, we have a unique opportunity to be leaders creating positive environmental impact through enterprise. In their final post, Mark and Anugraha challenge us towards restoration and [Re]Generation.

By Mark Polet, with Anugraha Gaikwad

In our work, Challenge and Hope, we have made the link between regions with poor air quality and water stress to those who still need to hear the Good News.

Acute environmental damage and degradation is often to be found in places suffering dire poverty and in places relatively unreached with the gospel. This presents BAM practitioners and investors the challenge and opportunity to respond holistically with environmental solutions at the heart of their business model. Business as Mission companies serve people who face great environmental, even existential, challenges. BAM practitioners are on the ground already in many areas of the greatest need and are positioned to respond. [1]

Since then, Mark’s work in Central Asia has also shown that a similar link exists between barren soils and barren hearts, though, at this point the analysis is still qualitative.

Christ brings back flourishing to creation and to our hearts at the same time. All creation is restored through Him (see Colossians 1:15-20). Our passion is to restore barren lands even as we restore barren hearts.

In 2021, at the BAM Global Congress online, we celebrated those who have used their God-given talents to develop environmental technologies in the BAM space from Canada to Australia, and from Indonesia to India (watch Mark’s presentation from the Congress below). We called this the Environmental Technology Initiative.

Now, we are pleased to announce [Re]Generation: “Restoring the biome so generations can flourish.”  The flourishing is both spiritual and ecological. This new initiative will likely extend beyond business as mission in order to fulfill the restoration, but BAM is an important component.

Our goal is to integrate ecological restoration with the restoration of the heart. The exciting thing is that there are BAM companies already involved from micro-irrigation to regenerative agriculture, from soil science and ecological design. As well, interested professionals from related fields such as landscape architects and ecologists are ready to help. It is as if the Lord has already laid out the pieces there for us to assemble — to His Glory. Read more

How are We Doing? Integrating BAM and Creation Care

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Every BAM company is an environmental company. They are having an impact on the environment and the environment is having an impact on them. – Mark Polet

This month we are delighted to share a series on BAM and Creation Care on The BAM Review. While COP28 is focused on the crucial issue of climate in UAE right now, we know that creation care is much broader and that it’s God’s idea! As Christians in business, with a missional intention, we have a unique opportunity to be leaders creating positive environmental impact through enterprise. In this second post, Mark and Anugraha explore how we are doing. 

By Anugraha Gaikwad with Mark Polet

It takes courage to start a business, especially in a new land among new people and culture. It takes even more courage to keep going and not pull down the shutter amidst the adversities and challenges. One does not necessarily have to hold a degree in business management or international relationships to start a business when the Lord asks you to. One must simply have a heart of compassion and humility and take the first steps. [1]

How are you doing?

Many of you are already doing that all over God’s good earth. Some of you are in areas prone to flash floods and landslides, while others are in areas stressed with depleting water levels, heavy smog, or poor soils. Some of you may lack the resources, institutions, or facilities to completely process your waste, while some may find it too expensive to change to more environmentally sustainable ways. So, how are you doing? In this blog, we will talk about the BAM journey to care for God’s creation, people and planet. We hope to provide some inspiration for those who are looking for ways to care for the garden God created, for us to work and tend.

In January 2020, BAM practitioners were polled about their environmental practices and the challenges therein. In the poll, 72% BAMers state that environmental stewardship is part of their business. However, a considerable 73% of the respondents have been unable to develop an Environmental Management System (EMS) in their organisation [2]. Where are you in your journey of environmental stewardship and what support do you need? Reach out to us in the comments via email to let us know.

Loving others and caring for creation

The most successful businesses are those that fail a lot, as they keep trying something new that hasn’t been done before. Be the kind of business that does what others won’t and can’t do.  If your neighbours face food and nutritional insecurity or lack clean drinking water, you could be the company to step into the gap. That is exactly what will make your organisation distinguished and sought after in the marketplace! It will not only create opportunities to care for the resources the Lord has blessed you with around your company, but will also make an impact on the people you work with by giving them dignity in the work they do and will be an opportunity to act out the love of our Father for your neighbours. Read more

Flourishing Creation: Our Why for Environmental Impact through BAM

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Every BAM company is an environmental company. They are having an impact on the environment and the environment is having an impact on them. – Mark Polet

This month we are delighted to share a series on BAM and Creation Care on The BAM Review. While COP28 is focused on the crucial issue of climate in UAE right now, we know that creation care is much broader and that it’s God’s idea! As Christians in business, with a missional intention, we have a unique opportunity to be leaders creating positive environmental impact through enterprise. In this first post, Mark and Anugraha share the WHY.

By Mark Polet, with Anugraha Gaikwad

 

He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. – Mark 16:15

In the busyness of business it is often easy to lose sight of how our salvation is intimately tied with the flourishing of creation. The integration of good environmental discipline into a thriving business is an act of worship.

 

“The heavens proclaim the glory of God.

    The skies display his craftsmanship.

Day after day they continue to speak;

    night after night they make him known.

They speak without a sound or word;

    their voice is never heard.

Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,

    and their words to all the world.” Psalm 19:1-4

 

Praise the Lord from the earth,

You sea monsters and all deeps;

Fire and hail, snow and clouds,

Stormy wind, fulfilling God’s word;

Mountains and all hills,

Fruit trees and all cedars;

Beasts and all cattle;

Creeping things and winged fowl…

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

For God’s name alone is exalted;

God’s glory is above earth and heaven.” Psalm 148: 7–10, 13

 

We worship. Creation worships. We are singing in the same choir!

Every raw material you use in your business comes from that creation. You share that fact with every living being. Read more

The Power of Business to Take Good Care of our Planet

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This month we are exploring different motives a missional entrepreneur may have for pursuing business as mission as their strategy of choice. In this fourth post, we are exploring the power of business to have a positive environmental impact and care for creation.

ALL businesses are environmental businesses and we need the BAM community to be leading the way in recognising this! That was the conclusion of the first published report from the BAM and Creation Care report series and the first major theme of the recent BAM and Creation Care Consultation:

That every BAM entity has the opportunity to grow in their care of creation.

While all BAM companies can become better environmental stewards, there has been a second major theme to the BAM and Creation Care Consultation:

The opportunity for some Christian entrepreneurs and investors to create new BAM companies that address critical environmental problems with innovative business solutions and new technologies.

Acute environmental damage and degradation is often to be found in places suffering dire poverty and in places relatively unreached with the gospel. This presents BAM practitioners and investors with the challenge and opportunity to respond holistically with environmental solutions at the heart of their business model.

This second theme will be the focus of the soon to be published third paper in the BAM and Creation Care series, ‘Challenge and Hope‘. This blog is an advance excerpt from this new paper, but if you can’t wait to read it, you can watch a video presentation of this content right now – see video below!

A New Perspective on God’s Good Earth

We want to take you on a journey of challenge and hope on God’s good Earth. And to do that we are going to start at the moon…

It has been 52 years since the crew of Apollo 8 circled the moon and took the now famous picture of the Earth rising over the desolate lunar surface. It is estimated a quarter of the earth’s population saw the Apollo 8 broadcasts, and the photo itself was an inspiration for the first Earth Day in 1970.

The Earth from Apollo 8 (Anders & Weigang)

The photo still evokes a sense of wonder. This little blue jewel framed by the lifeless moon and the vastness of space. Our precious, fragile, home.

On Christmas Eve, 1968, as the Apollo 8 astronauts rounded the moon for the ninth time, they read the first ten verses from the Book of Genesis back to Earth. They ended their reading with, “God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.”  Read more

Waste Not: Environmental Stewardship for BAM Practitioners

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by Mark Polet

“And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” John 6:12-14

I want to focus on the text above of ‘so that nothing may be lost, (wasted)’. Jesus is following a tradition in central and west Asia of not wasting any food. To throw away food here in central Asia, even today, is a singularly bad thing.

Terri making Samanak

Terri and I just returned from working for a like-minded cleaning company that employs almost 150 people; the cleaning staff is mostly women. Lately in this capital city, shopping centres have opened up, bringing a western norm into contact with an Eurasian sensibility. These centres include food courts of which some of you are familiar. The company we serve has the contract to clean the shopping centre, which includes cleaning up the food court and the wasted food left on the plates.

Some of the cleaning women just cannot throw away this food; they break down in tears when they see it wasted. They are following Jesus’ command to the letter. Even when our colleague Enova tells them it is not their fault, that it is the customer that has to answer to God, the cleaning women just cannot dispose of the food. In some cases, they have had to be moved to other duties.

This waste, so new to this culture, is even more offensive when you consider the challenge it is to make a living here, now exacerbated by: poor wheat harvests in Eurasia last year; the inability to plant wheat in the midst of a war in Eurasia’s bread basket, the Ukraine; the lower value of the ruble, which has dragged down the local currency as well; and the loss of remittances sent home by the local men working in Russia and the Ukraine.

Perhaps we can learn from our central Asian colleagues in applying the principle of “Waste Not” to our BAM enterprises as part of our environmental commitment. The first step is to quantify you inputs and your outputs (including those outputs currently classified as waste).  Read more

Challenge and Hope: How Business Can Help the Planet and Its People Flourish [Video]

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Video Presentation by Mark Polet

The people we want to reach are facing the greatest environmental, even existential challenges. BAMers are on the ground already in the areas of greatest need. This presentation explores how to meet these challenges with the Hope we share and the technical capabilities we can access.

>>More on Creation Care on The BAM Review blog here

Read more

Colonising Earth with the Life of Heaven: Creation Care & Mission

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by Caroline Pomeroy

Last month I visited a lively Anglican church in my local town. It was ‘Mission Sunday’ and to illustrate this to the children, the leader stuck post-it notes onto a giant inflatable globe, each yellow note signifying one of the church’s mission partners. He then asked people to remind him what Mark 16:15 says. ‘Go and evangelise all the people in the world’ was the first response…

These few minutes highlighted two things for me – first, a popular misconception about what the Good News means; and secondly the challenges of doing global mission in a climate crisis.

Good News to All Creation

At the end of Mark’s gospel, Jesus calls the first disciples to ‘… go and preach the good news to all creation.’ Although opinions differ on the exact interpretation of this phrase, a reading of other versions of the Great Commission – and indeed the whole of the bible – implies that there is more to the Good News than just saving human souls. In Matthew 28:19 the disciples are told to ‘… go and make disciples…’. A disciple is someone who loves God and loves their neighbour. So the process of disciple-making must include the practical outworking of loving God and neighbour. But how can we say we love our neighbours if, as a result of the way we live and do business, our global neighbours’ crops are failing due to climate change; our future neighbours’ homes will be under water by the end of the century; and our non-human neighbours’ habitat is disappearing due our demand for palm oil or coffee?

In Genesis chapters 1 and 2, Adam and Eve, made in God’s likeness, are given authority to ‘rule over’ creation on God’s behalf.  But just as Jesus, the Servant King, exercises loving dominion over His kingdom, this first Great Commission in Genesis 1-2 is about dominion, not domination. Humankind is called to serve and preserve the earth and all its creatures, not to dominate and exploit them.  Read more

Why Should We Care About Creation Care?

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by Mats Tunehag

We know we are to be good stewards of creation. Those are God’s instructions to humans in Genesis 1 & 2 – especially Gen.1:28, often known as the ‘creation mandate’ (also ‘cultural mandate).

In the Business as Mission (BAM) movement we typically talk about the quadruple bottom line of social, spiritual, environmental and economic impact:

In and through business we want to:

  • serve people,
  • align with God’s purposes,
  • be good stewards of the planet,
  • and make a profit.

But how are we doing in the BAM community with stewardship of the planet? How are BAM companies leading the way in positive environmental change?

We know from our work in the BAM Global Network that creation care and environmental stewardship is a relatively weak area for BAM companies, and and that BAM practitioners feel under-resourced and overwhelmed by this challenge. Creation care is a topic in much need of further exploration in the BAM movement, which is why we are focusing on BAM and Creation Care again on The BAM Review this month. Read more

A Cup of Cold Water: Business and the Stewardship of Creation

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by Mark Polet

It is now three years since the Global Consultation on The Role of Wealth Creation for Holistic Transformation and subsequent publications. During August and September 2020, we’ve published a series of articles on wealth creation, reflecting on the eleven affirmations in the Wealth Creation Manifesto, which now exists in 17 languages.

The purpose of this blog is to reflect and comment on the eleventh affirmation of the Wealth Creation Manifesto:

11. Creation care is not optional. Stewardship of creation and business solutions to environmental challenges should be an integral part of wealth creation through business.

The Wealth Creation Manifesto is an integrated whole, and so I would like to continue from Dr. Rod St. Hill’s blog on affirmations 7 and 8. Rod argues that the BAM movement is committed to the quadruple bottom line – economic, social, environmental and spiritual. He then quotes Amartya Sen, saying threats to environmental sustainability is an ‘unfreedom’ that must be overcome to foster development.

Creation is a gift from God. Eons ago, God created everything we need right now for our businesses. What are we going to do with the gift?’ Specifically, how do we “set the captives free” [1] answering the challenge given by Rod St. Hill?’

Read more

Turn Off the Lights to Share the Light: Why Good Environmental Practice is Great Business Practice

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by Mark Polet

There is a misconception that good environmental management always costs money. Well, sometimes it does seem to cost when externalities are not costed fully (waste management, air and water pollution control) or when the company is not managed properly (contamination). 

Turn Off the Lights so You can Share the Light

However, there is another area of sound business management where good environmental management saves money. It’s called efficiency.

In short, turn off the lights.

It is easy for all of us to fall into complacency or just get too busy to really manage our costs, especially in the challenging places where you work. That is why we are looking for quick wins. The first quick win my colleagues and I have noted in working for Kingdom Companies is energy efficiency.

Turn off the lights when you leave! I find it remarkable how many times energy is wasted in companies, even where energy availability is inconsistent. We have seen whole factories lit up with not a soul in them.

Manage your air conditioning.  25°C (77°F) is often recommended, no cooler. If  you have your suit jacket on while you work at your desk, something may be wrong.

BAM is in the relationship business, and enrolling staff in Creation Care is one more step in discipleship.

Watch for phantom power costs. Turn off appliances when not in use. 

Many electronic appliances (i.e. monitor screens) are still drawing power even when ‘off’. If at all possible, shut off at the main plug.

Read more

Messy Site, Messy Company: Aiming for Environmental Excellence

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by Mark Polet

When it comes to running a good business, cleanliness really is next to godliness.

I want to explore with you why you who are pursuing excellence in business need to weave good environmental practice into your operations.

Messy Site, Messy Company

Good environmental practice is not a stand alone activity. Good environmental practice is woven into all aspects of the company. Because poor environmental practice is often quite visible in a disorderly site and disorganized operations, it is often the most evident warning bell to any investor or customer that something is wrong with this firm.

Why do I stay that? After over forty years of assessing companies for environmental excellence, including Kingdom-Oriented firms, there is one correlation in my experience that always holds.

If the site is a mess, the accounting is a mess.

Good environmental practice is not a stand alone activity. Good environmental practice is woven into all aspects of the company.

A messy site means messed up books. I have reviewed firms across a score of industry groups. At times I will come across a  company that has an unkempt site. Sometimes it is debris lying around; other times it is  far worse, with spills contaminating the soil. In all cases, I find as I continue my audit that their financial records are equally messy, and their regulatory compliance is spotty at best. The management of their supply chain was poor. The amount of waste they generate, both in lost productivity and actual, physical waste, is evident.  Read more

Should Environmental Concerns Be a Priority for a Christian Business Owner?

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In June this year, the Lausanne Movement gathered more than 700 Christian leaders from 109 nations in Manila for its Global Workplace Forum. Among the many topics discussed was where creation care should rank among other Christian concerns like evangelism and discipleship.

Should environmental concerns be a major priority for a Christian business owner? Here are the answers of Lausanne leaders:

 

Ed Brown, executive director of Care of Creation and Lausanne Catalyst for Creation Care (United States):

Yes! Without question, for two reasons. The first is uniquely Christian: obedience. Taking care of God’s world by responsibly caring for God’s creatures (Genesis 1) and by “tending the garden” (Genesis 2) was our first assignment from God. Lausanne’s Cape Town Commitment appropriately calls caring for God’s world “a gospel issue under the lordship of Christ.” This first task has never been taken away from us. Christian business owners are to be more than sound financial stewards and Christlike shepherds of our workforce; we’re called to be keepers of God’s garden.

The second is not uniquely Christian, but important nonetheless: survival. Business owners need to be concerned for the survival of the business, but also for the survival of the human race, including their community, customer base, and their own children and grandchildren. Yes, profit is needed for economic survival, but profit can’t be made in a collapsing world. Economic activity is a root cause of the environmental crisis, and wise businesspeople recognize that environmental collapse threatens their own business’ future, as well as the lives of their own grandchildren. Those who can run their businesses in ways that do not damage God’s creation will both survive and prosper.

 

Las Newman, Lausanne’s Global Associate Director for Regions (Jamaica):

Yes. Good business makes good sense. How can a Christian business operator witness for Christ and at the same time abuse his workers, short-change his customers, ignore environmental standards, contribute to environmental pollution, and affect the ecological balance of nature? Good business depends on three things: profitability that ensures return on investment for growth and development; care for the welfare of the people who help to produce such return on investment (i.e., workers and customers); and good environment for business that enhances the quality of human life and honors the Lord. Business operators in the aviation, food handling, transportation, tourism, earth extractive, manufacturing, and retail industries, among others, now recognize the importance of corporate social responsibility and include a green policy agenda to their business, including support of the arts.  Read more

What If? Business Solutions to Environmental Problems

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by Mark Polet

In the conversation around environmental impact for social enterprises, impact businesses, and indeed, BAM companies, there are two strands that integrate and weave around one another – like strands of DNA.

The first strand, addressed in my previous post, is that every impact business should be an environmental company, complying with the ethic and regulations around good environmental practice, acknowledging that we are stewards of God’s creation.

The other strand is the provision of environmental technology and solutions as a business opportunity in itself. Positive environmental impact can be achieved, not only through operational choices that care for creation and steward natural resources, but by the very product or service offered by the business.

Environmental Challenges are Business Opportunities

Peter Drucker said, “Every single social and global issue of our day is a business opportunity in disguise.” This is particularly true of the myriad environmental issues to be faced in our day.  Read more

Tikkun Olam: How Companies Can Repair the World

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by Mark Polet

My good friend, Eric, and I recently walked a portion of the Camino de Santiago in Spain together with another of our friends. We were walking through the rolling plains near León, where we could see the pastures and fields for kilometres in every direction, bracketed on three sides by the coastal mountains, the Pyrénées and the hills of Galicia. God’s creation lay before us like an open book. Perhaps inspired by such a scene, Eric told me about the Hebrew concept of Tikkun Olam, ‘Repair the World’.

Repair the World

Romans 8 is pretty clear that the liberation and restoration of creation is integrated with our redemption. We in the impact business space have the profound privilege of repairing the world economically, spiritually, socially and environmentally, carrying out the commandment of ‘Working in the Garden,’ (Gen 2:15).

Let’s focus on how we as Impact Business leaders can ‘Repair the World’ from an environmental perspective. In 41 years of service, I have had the privilege helping companies from over 21 different industry types fulfil their environmental obligations, and in some cases, show environmental excellence.  Read more

Who Cares About Creation Care?

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by Mats Tunehag

We know we are to be good stewards of creation. Those are God’s instructions to humans in Genesis 1 & 2 – especially Gen.1:28, often known as the ‘creation mandate’ (also ‘cultural mandate).

In the Business as Mission (BAM) movement we typically talk about the quadruple bottom line of social, spiritual, environmental and economic impact:

In and through business we want to:

  • serve people,
  • align with God’s purposes,
  • be good stewards of the planet,
  • and make a profit.

But how are we doing in the BAM community with stewardship of the planet? How are BAM companies leading the way in positive environmental change?

We know from our work in the BAM Global Network that creation care and environmental stewardship is a relatively weak area for BAM companies, and and that BAM practitioners feel under-resourced and overwhelmed by this challenge. Creation care is a topic in much need of further exploration in the BAM movement. This is why we are launching a blog series focused on BAM and Creation Care on The BAM Review in the coming month.  Read more

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