A Christian business should be a source of strength in the community it serves. More awareness needs to be focused on the important roles that they play in the community and marketplace. Christian businessmen, standing at the junction of faith and business need to achieve more than just interjecting faith into the workplace, we can show Christian love and servant leadership by taking the lead to resolve social problems.
Many faith-based businesses get lumped together with social entrepreneurs, businesses that channel some or all of their profits into programs to help the homeless, relief organizations in third world countries and other philanthropic causes.
Social Entrepreneurs
The idea of being a socially responsible business is on the upswing, but learning to live right and helping those in need, is a concept that Christian-owned businesses have followed for a long time. A recent report in Business Week estimated the revenues of purpose driven companies has skyrocketed to about $40 billion.
Nutriset, a private company in France was founded by former African aid worker Michel Lescanne, his company has been selling food products to combat hunger and malnutrition since 1986.
Kirsten Tobey, and Kristin Richmond of Revolution Foods, talked to teachers, principals, parents, and students in public schools across the Bay Area, and discovered that they were concerned with better quality meals in schools. So the pair devised a concept to deliver nutritious and healthy lunches.
Christian Businesses That Are Making A Profit And A Difference
Chocolate manufacturer Milton S. Hershey and his wife, Catherine, staunch Christians started the Milton Hershey School in 1909 and donated his fortune for the ''maintenance, support and education'' of poor orphan boys.
Christian businessman Julius Walls Jr. is a minister and CEO of Greystone bakery a $5-million-a year-business that makes gourmet cakes which are served at the some of the finest restaurants in New York city.
Greystone bakery has become a role model for companies that want to mix social action into their business model. The bakery plows its profits into the Greyston Foundation, a non-profit arm that runs programs for needy families in it's surrounding neighborhood, whether or not they work for the bakery.
The foundation is funded through the bakery, grants, other business ventures, and private donations. It provides jobs, offers a computer class for school-age kids, and a clinic for people who are HIV positive.
Your Christian Business Can Make A Difference In Your Community
"The followers of Jesus will begin to demonstrate a new set of horizons for human life to their neighbors and even to their enemies—the horizons of shalom, the horizons of true humanity living in dependence on God. " Andy Crouch-Culture Making
If you want your Christian business to make a difference in your community, follow the lead of these successful businessmen that are changing lives and the way businesses use their profits.
Mohammd Yanus Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Garmeen Bank. The bank that pioneered micro-loans.
Bill Strickland's, Manchester Bidwell Corporation has changed the lives of thousands of disadvantaged urban teens and welfare mothers with his world-class arts centers and career training centers.
Jordan Kassalow, the founder of VisionSpring. A foundation that helps women create businesses to sell eye glasses to those who can rarely afford them, but need them the most.
In the 21st Century Christian businesses are poised to grow in size, influence and the ability to make positive impact in local communities. They can't shrink away from the true mission of every Christian, to do good, (Isaiah), and make this world a better place.
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