Christian Business Concepts
Christian Business Concepts
#137 Building a Better World-How Christian Businesses Shape Our Culture
Welcome to the Christian Business Concepts with your host, harold Milby. Christian Business Concepts is dedicated to guiding companies and business owners in becoming effective, efficient and successful through God's Word and godly principles. Now, here's your host, harold Milby.
Speaker 2:Wonderful job, kelly. Great introduction. Thank you and welcome everyone to this week's Christian Business Concepts podcast. I'm your host, harold Milby, and I am so excited that you've downloaded this podcast and, whether you're a first-time listener or a long-time listener, I hope and pray that today you're encouraged, you're enlightened and you are empowered by today's podcast. Enlightened and you are empowered by today's podcast. You know our goal here is for those of you that are first-time listeners is to help Christian leaders, to help business owners, department managers, organizational leaders and anyone else really try to find true godly success by applying biblical business principles. So just want you to be aware of what we're about and what we do here each week. Please help us grow the CBC family and the community, and you can do that by sharing this podcast with four or five other people and by posting the link. You know, take that link and you can post that on your Facebook page, on your LinkedIn page, and share it with others, and I'd greatly appreciate that. We love your support, we love the fact that you listen each week many of you. So thank you so much. This week I just want to give a big shout out to Frankfurt, germany, for downloading so many episodes. We appreciate those of you there in Germany who are listening to Christian Business Concepts and we appreciate you and all of you that are a part of the CBC family Now this week's Christian Business Spotlight.
Speaker 2:I just want to talk a little bit about ServiceMaster. They're a company here in the United States, but they also are a worldwide and international company. They have several global brands, but ServiceMaster, you know they have, you know kind of a commercial cleaning division, pest control, home services, but you know they were founded by Marion Wade and ServiceMaster operates under very strong Christian values. It also includes brands like Marymaids, terminex, and all of these companies really reflect a commitment to integrity and service, you know, thus the name ServiceMaster and they really foster a faith-based environment there. They emphasize ethical treatment of their employees and their customers, which I believe helps them to retain really good customers. They have a really good retention rate for employees there and they're engaged in their community. You know the company supports local charities and community service initiatives. They contribute to social welfare in multiple countries and they just have great standards. They really prioritize ethical practices and ServiceMaster influences the entire service industry because they have such high standards of customer service, customer care, employee welfare. It really causes other companies to have to raise the bar to compete in some of those same markets.
Speaker 2:So great job, servicemaster. We're so glad that you're out there, we're so glad that you're doing the work and you're doing it under the hospice of Christian principles, and we appreciate you. Keep up the good work and we hope that your business continues to be blessed. Appreciate you, keep up the good work and we hope that your business continues to be blessed.
Speaker 2:So today I want to talk a little bit about why does running a business with Christian values matter in today's world? As you know, my heart's desire is to see more and more Christian businesses started, that raise up, that are Christian-run and not just Christian-owned. There's a difference between those two, and I believe that one of the main reasons that God wants Christian businesses in this world that we live in today is because we're all called to be salt and light. We're to be the light. The Bible talks about not taking your light and putting it under a bushel. It talks about we are to be the salt of the earth, and if the salt loses its flavor, then it's no good, and so it's important that we have that opportunity to really reach out there, and so I want to talk today about the impact that Christian businesses have on our culture and on our society.
Speaker 2:You know Christian businesses, they create jobs, they support local economies, they provide goods and services that meet real needs, and they often engage in a lot of great community outreach, like supporting charities, mentoring youth and really by upholding high ethical standards, they really set an example that can reduce corruption and promote fairness in the marketplace. And culturally, christian businesses challenge the status quo. You know. They promote family values, which doesn't always happen in businesses and most of those Christian businesses. They prioritize a work, what I would consider to be a work-life balance, and they counter materialism. They're not about materialism. They show that they have a purpose and they show that that purpose matters more than profit. And so they show the world that success and faith can exist together. They can coexist. You don't have to have just faith or just success. You can have success and faith and they can work, work together. You know, one of the great examples of that in the Bible is Joseph In Genesis, chapter 41 through 47, you can read that on your own. I encourage you to do that and really look at it from a different perspective.
Speaker 2:But Joseph is sold into slavery. He's later imprisoned and yet he rises to become the governor of Egypt under Pharaoh. He's like Pharaoh's number two man and through God-given wisdom he was able to really, I guess he managed. He managed Egypt's resources during seven years of abundance and then, more importantly, he managed that abundance so that there were seven years of famine that came next, and he was able to manage that as well. And so, as you look at that, you see a few things here with Joseph's life. First, you see stewardship. A few things here with Joseph's life. First, you see stewardship. Joseph faithfully managed Egypt's grain and he stored that surplus grain during the plentiful years, during those seven years of plenty, to prepare for that famine. And he was very strategic in his planning. He had a very detailed system to distribute the food and distribute it equitably, saving countless lives. If it wasn't for Joseph, there would have been many people that would have starved to death.
Speaker 2:And he was a man of integrity. He had a lot of personal hardships, you know, because of what he went through, but he served with honesty and he credited God for his success and you'll find that in Genesis, chapter 41, verse 16. But he gave God the glory for it and he had a great impact on society that day. You know, he prevented widespread starvation, he stabilized Egypt and he even helped the surrounding regions that were outside of Egypt and his policies really supported economic strength and resilience and Egypt, because of it, became a hub for food distribution and it attracted a lot of nations to trade with him. And it attracted a lot of nations to trade with him. And then he even preserved the lives of his own family, which enabled the growth of the Israelite nation.
Speaker 2:He was a great example when we talk about culture in the local culture. He showed faithfulness, he showed reliance on God. He showed faithfulness, he showed reliance on God. You know, he influenced not just his family but he influenced the Egyptian officials. He influenced visitors that came, tourists that came into Egypt. His ethical leadership it really challenged and again you can read this in Genesis but he challenged a lot of the corrupt practices and he really set a great standard for how to govern and it was all rooted in God's divine wisdom.
Speaker 2:And so you know, I believe Christian business leaders like Joseph can use a lot of what I would consider to be strategic stewardship and integrity to address a lot of the needs in society and create that economic stability. And so I want to look at some keys or some key Christian values in business and there's several of these and I've spoken about some of these. But integrity and compassion and stewardship, servant leadership those are some of the values. And what about impact on the business operations themselves? Because you don't just make an impact as a Christian business on society and culture, but you also make an impact, a very positive impact, on the business itself, and some of that's going to be on decision-making. You're going to make better decisions. You'll have better employee engagement. And what about customer trust? You know you'll have customer trust.
Speaker 2:You know Chick-fil-A is a fast food chain. You've heard us talk about Chick-fil-A on this podcast many times. But they're founded on Christian principles and they demonstrate how that they can have that impact on our culture and our society as a faith-based company. Their commitment, you know, a long time ago, to close on Sundays. That allows their employees to rest, it allows them to worship and it reflects their values for family and faith, you know. But they also Chick-fil-A also invests in community programs. They do a lot of scholarships for employees. They support local charities. They're a great company and we have a lot of positive things to say about Chick-fil-A.
Speaker 2:So I think that there's some things that we can do as Christian business leaders, as Christian business owners. There's a lot of things that we can do to drive this positive change in our culture. You know, to change our society. You know to change our society, and I believe that Christian business leaders can affect those things intentionally and integrate our faith into these strategies and operations of our businesses. So how can we do that? Well, you know, here's just a few practical steps to move that forward, to move that ball forward right.
Speaker 2:So first thing is to make sure that you have defined a faith-based mission, make sure that you've got a faith-based mission, develop a mission statement that reflects those Christian values you know. An example might be to serve our community with integrity, providing quality products while honoring God in all we do. That's a great mission statement, but something like that. Next thing you can do is foster an ethical workplace. So you want to make sure that you have policies in place that promote fairness, diversity and respect and make sure that you provide, I think, ethics training. It's really important that you do that, because there's so many people that don't really understand what good ethics are and how to have them. It's amazing to me, and you see it in the workplace all the time. I think you need to have training for that and do it purposefully so that they can align with those Christian principles.
Speaker 2:And then engage engage with the community, you know. Make sure that you partner with, like local churches and nonprofit organizations to help address a lot of the community needs that you have. And you don't have to start big, you can start small, you can start really small, but just start, just do something to engage with the community. You can sponsor some events or initiatives that maybe promote family or promotes education or health or something like that. But be involved, engage with the community. And then make sure that you prioritize employee well-being, you know. Make sure you maybe offer some flexible work. You know work schedules, so that you can help them support their family, better their family life. You know, and provide spiritual resources. You know there's nothing wrong with having workplace chaplains or prayer groups. This is something that's protected in the Constitution and it's something that you can do.
Speaker 2:Let me tell you your community watches how you treat your employees. Listen, I worked for a company for a very short period of time and the owner treated the employees horribly, and me included. I was the number two guy for this person and I got to tell you he treated people in a horrible way and he had a very horrible reputation. I remember I was trying to hire people and we had such a bad reputation of how employees were treated it was very difficult to get people even interested in talking about coming to work for us. So the community watches how you treat your employees. So make sure you have priorities in place to take care of them. And then another thing that you can do is practice what I would consider to be responsible stewardship. In other words, make sure you have some really good sustainable practices that kind of reduce the environmental impact that you may have as a company. Make sure that you have financial transparency, make sure you're accountable, because, again, people are watching and so that's important for our testimony. Again, we're to be light and salt.
Speaker 2:The Bible says you know, if you look at a person by the name of Lydia in the New Testament, she's a great example of a great entrepreneur, and I think you could look at that through Acts, chapter 16, verses 13 through 15, and even in verse 40. Lydia was a seller of purple cloth and Philippi, and she was a very successful businesswoman and she was actually the very first European convert to Christianity and after her conversion she opened her home up to the Apostle Paul and a lot of the people that traveled with him and she supported financially, she supported the early church and she had this thriving trade in purple cloth and it was a very luxury good back in that time. So she was pretty smart, she had some good business acumen and she was very generous. So she provided hospitality, she offered her home as a base for those who traveled in Christian ministry and her conversion led her really to align her business and her resources with the purposes of the kingdom. So her home kind of became a hub for the Philippian church and she really fostered community and spiritual growth and her business provided economic support and she became a very prominent woman and her influence and see, that's kind of what happens. You know, as you are a Christian and you have a Christian business, you begin to have influence and that influence encourages other women, other men, other people to engage not just in business but to engage in faith, to engage in leadership and to engage in Christianity. So Lydia is really a good example of that. So what are some lessons for Christian business leaders through Lydia. Well, I think it shows you that businesses can be a platform for generosity and ministry and you can use profits and influence to build a community and spread the gospel. So I think that's a good lesson for Christian businesses.
Speaker 2:Now, as you try to influence, as you try to impact your society, as you try to impact the culture, you're going to face some challenges. I mean, you just do. The early church faced a lot of challenges and we, as men and women of God, we're going to face challenges, and it won't be any different trying to run a Christian business or a Christian department. So some of those challenges are balancing your faith with inclusiveness. We've got to navigate how to express those Christian values with yet respecting all these different beliefs among your employees and customers. So you've got to be inclusive. You've got to show the love of Jesus, even to your employees and to your customers. So, though you have this business that you're running by faith, you still, even though you're trying to express your values, your godly values, you still have to respect others.
Speaker 2:And then, of course, again as I said, there's that public perception. You know faith-based businesses, you may face criticism sometimes or boycotts. Let's look at Hobby Lobby, who's been boycotted. Chick-fil-a's been boycotted because of their beliefs. So you know what does that say? Well, first of all, it means you've got to be resilient. But the other thing is that it just means and tells you how careful you have to be in the way you communicate. It's not just what you say, it's how you say it, and so it's very important that you have a good communication into the public arena and when you communicate things.
Speaker 2:And then, of course, there's that profit versus purpose battle or challenge. You know, sometimes maintaining that profitability and yet prioritizing values can be very, very challenging, especially if you're in a competitive market. It really can, but you need to stay the course and make sure that you keep that purpose. Now, what are some strategies to overcome those challenges? I think that's a great question. So what can you do? Well, make sure again, as I just said, make sure you have transparent communication and make sure that you have very inclusive policies where you include others. And then this is very important to me, and you hear me say this a lot but seek wise counsel. Make sure you have wise people, godly wisdom that people have around you that can help you and give you direction and guidance at times. So here's an action plan for you. Let's go over that real quick.
Speaker 2:So, first of all, what you want to do is just take a look at what you're currently doing, take a look at your current practices. Just do a values audit. Just make sure that you evaluate how well that your business is reflecting Christian principles. I think that's important. I think you need to identify areas where you can improve maybe employee policies or community engagement. I would say most Christian companies that are out there do not engage the community like they should and like they can, because that's where you can have a great impact. The next thing you need to do is set goals. Make sure you have very specific they're very measurable goals for integrating your faith into your business. So, for example, you may say well, we're going to launch a community outreach program within six months Great goal. Or we're going to increase our employee satisfaction scores by 10% in one year. Those are great goals. Those are just examples.
Speaker 2:And then the next step is to implement changes. So make sure that you implement changes you can update your mission statement from time to time if you have to and make sure that they include policies that reflect Christian values and then train your leadership, train your staff on ethical practices and servant leadership, and the next thing that you do is you monitor things, monitor and then adjust if you have to. You know, regularly take a look at and review your progress and see how you're doing, see if you're meeting your goals, get feedback from employees, get feedback from customers, get feedback from your community partners, and then you can kind of look at that and review it and then make adjustments. You know, and change the way your approach is and then share your story. Make sure you communicate your journey. Communicate and you can impact that through your marketing and your social media. Anytime you speak, you want to try to inspire other Christian business leaders by sharing your successes and lessons that you've learned, even from some of your failures.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of great resources out there. I'm going to mention just a couple here as we have time. There's a couple of books. One's called the Servant Leader by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges Great book. Here's another great book that I've read by David Stewart. It's called Doing Business by the Good Book Doing Business by the Good Book Great resources.
Speaker 2:There's a couple of organizations that I would share with you. One is called C12 Group. That's a Christian business kind of a peer advisory group C12. Great group, peer advisory group, c12, great group. And then there's Fellowship of Companies for Christ International, fcci. That's another great organization that you can get involved in so you can check them out online. And then there's, you know, events that you can be a part of. There's a lot of Christian business leadership conferences that come around. I would encourage you to look up some of those. You know. Check with your local chamber of commerce. You'll be surprised that they'll know about faith-based initiatives. So that's something that you can consider as well, you know.
Speaker 2:Another example that we can read about is Boaz. You'll find that in Ruth, chapter 2 through 4. You know, boaz was a very wealthy business owner. He was a landowner in Bethlehem and he really demonstrated compassion and integrity in how he treated Ruth, who was this foreign widow who came, and he really adhered to God's laws, and one of the laws was how that you left the corners of your fields and you left them for the poor so that they could go in and they could harvest those corners of your crops in those fields. And so he had a lot of compassion when he allowed Ruth to glean in those fields and so he had a lot of compassion when he allowed Ruth to glean in those fields and he made sure of her safety and he made sure she was provided for. He showed a lot of integrity because he followed the law of God, he was a servant leader, he treated his workers and Ruth with a lot of respect and so he had a great impact on society because he provided for people that you would consider today that'd be considered marginalized, like Ruth and Naomi, and he helped to reduce poverty in his community. And he helped to reduce poverty in his community and his actions led to really the preservation of Naomi's family line, which really became part of the lineage of King David and Jesus. And you can read that in Ruth, chapter 4, verses 18 through 22. So you know, boaz was a great example of that and he teaches us that ethical leadership and care for those marginalized people can really transform communities, because he did and he aligned those business practices with God's heart for justice.
Speaker 2:And keep in mind the early church the early church was full of generosity and they shared resources, and so I think that that's important. You know, because you know you'll find in Acts, chapter 4, how the believers sold their assets to meet the needs of the poor so that nobody lacked anything. They really focused on the community around them and they were great stewards, and you know it just really. They impacted that society by alleviating poverty and they also took care of widows and orphans. Again, these are marginalized people that a lot of people don't think about, and so the early church did that as much as they could, and I just think that's important.
Speaker 2:So I believe that Christian business leaders have a really unique opportunity to transform our society and our culture, and that's our heart, I can't say it enough, it just is our heart at CBC. That's what we want to see happen and I believe God wants to do that as well. And you know, we can integrate our Christian values into our company, into the operations of our company, and we can create workplaces that honor God, that support our communities and that inspire positive change. And today, you know, what we've tried to do is kind of provide a roadmap, you know, for helping you achieve these goals and to help you equip your leaders and to navigate the challenges that you have. And you know, I think when you apply these principles and use these examples, I believe that you can make a lasting impact in your local culture and local society.
Speaker 2:Lord, I just want to thank you today for all of those who have listened to this podcast and, lord, I pray you will inspire them to apply the principles that we've discussed here today to have a powerful and a spiritual influence in their culture and in their society. Lord, I pray that you'd raise up more Christian businesses and Christian business leaders who are driven, who have a strong desire to see their position and to show your grace to others that are inside their business and outside their business. And, lord, I pray this in the name of Jesus, amen and amen. Well, I thank God for you. I thank God that you listened to this podcast and I just hope that you'll continue to grow and grow and bring a greater reality of godly faith and grace in your business as each day goes by. Well, that's all the time we have for today, so until next time. Remember Jesus is Lord and he wants you blessed.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning into this week's Christian Business Concepts podcast. Lord, and he wants you blessed.