Edited - 18th October 1996
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"Faith & Work" Booklet No.1

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People in Business - People in Need

How Can Local Churches Help?

David J. Murray, Faith & Work Project, Maine Consulting Services

1. Introduction

This booklet grew out of a talk which I was invited to give to the Russian Regional Consultation of the Oxford Conference on Christian Faith and Economics, held in Moscow in November 1993. The title now given to it may seem rather strange. Someone might ask, "What does it mean? Are you trying to persuade Christian business people to give more generously to the needy?" No, that isn't the idea, even though it might be a highly laudable purpose. It is about people working in business organisations and how churches might help meet their needs.

The booklet is meant to be relevant to owners of businesses, to all who work in all areas and at all levels in all kinds of business, and to those who serve them in their churches. But what is a business? For this purpose I'd like to broaden out the term to embrace not-for-profit service organisations as well as those working to create wealth.

"But surely," someone complains, "People in business are not needy. They're the better off section of society. People with jobs are not the ones in real need. The pain of the present generation is felt by those for whom the system has not provided any gainful employment." I will admit to a very considerable element of truth in that complaint. Without doubt the economies of Europe, both West and East, are not at present serving well the interests of many of the people. Unemployment is a serious and growing scourge. It is not, however, the subject of my present paper.

My concern here is with people who are in employment and yet are needy, and this includes people from top to bottom and side to side of all organisations, at widely differing levels both of status and of income. The world is changing rapidly around people everywhere at all levels, and the consequent level of emotional and spiritual need is enormous.

In the formerly communist world bewilderingly unfamiliar economic systems are being introduced. People are utterly confused. In much of the Western world entire economic sectors are being reshaped; competition from other areas of the globe is decimating once powerful industries; new technologies are making traditional skills and roles obsolete; new demands from new customers with new needs are leading to the radical reshaping of once-stable organisations.

Conventional values and beliefs are under attack. Managers and staff frequently face moral dilemmas, and struggle to find ways of behaving and processes for arriving at decisions which square with their consciences. Many who are battling to survive in difficult marketplaces are at a loss where to turn for relevant moral and spiritual guidance. Large numbers who in economic terms, at least on the surface, appear to be very comfortable are struggling with inner dilemma and uncertainty.

When this paper was first prepared I was asked to speak on how churches can assist and support people in the business community. So as to stay within the space and time allowed I chose to concentrate on one theme, the role of the individual local church, rather than on church institutions and para-church organisations. Within that I focused on how a local church might provide moral and spiritual support to its members, rather than on how it might itself become involved in ventures with a business flavour to them.

I do not come to the subject with an academic perspective. My past thirty years have been spent (in approximately equal portions) firstly in a variety of specialist and managerial roles in manufacturing industry and secondly as a management consultant chiefly concerned with organisation change and more recently with business ethics. The paper will draw on practical experiences and insights gained from the whole of that period, and also from thirty years as a Christian lay preacher and teacher in an English nonconformist church environment. This background does, I trust, prevent me from indulging in naive moralising about the evils of business organisations (although neither will I deny that at times constructive criticism is called for).

These pages are intended to be applicable to people in small businesses as well as large, to those in publicly owned enterprises as well as private, and not only to those who own and/or manage businesses but to all who work within them - in whatever capacity and at whatever level.

My intention is to ask and to answer a series of questions:

* What is a local church's valid role in this area?

* What issues should the local church be addressing?

* How should concern for people in business be reflected in its teaching ministry?

* What support can it provide as a caring community?

Not all of the suggestions put forward, especially in Sections 4 and 5, will be suitable for all local churches. Each has its own particular mix of membership and resources, and its local spiritual priorities. None should seek simply to be a clone of another. Each should discover God's will for its own ministry. Having said this, the proposals are presented for serious consideration by churches, and I believe that in most circumstances at least some of them will prove to be appropriate.

2. The Local Church's Brief for Business People

I start from two assumptions: firstly, that a person's faith should affect the entirety of his or her life; and secondly, that life should be lived as a single, integrated whole and not as a set of watertight compartments (such as spiritual and secular, home and business) with their own distinct and often contradictory values, each divorced from the other.

The typical working man or woman is engaged in activities related to business for between a third and a half of each week's waking hours. For those who own their businesses or occupy senior positions this proportion is likely to be very considerably higher. Are we to say that our faith, and the principles of behaviour derived from it, are to be left behind us for such a major slice of our lives? Surely not!

The New Testament assumes that every area of living will be changed by a person's relationship to Christ and the Gospel. St. Paul writes of people being transformed by the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:2). In many of his letters exhortations to righteous living are intertwined with the exposition of doctrines of salvation, and these often include references to the commercial and employment systems of his day. Many of the Old Testament Proverbs refer to conduct in the business and commerce of that era. The Lord Jesus constructed several of his parables around businessmen buying and selling, and employing people. James cautions his readers against planning a business venture without taking account of the fact that God is supreme and may well intervene to squash human plans and schemes (James 4:13-17).

There are many descriptions in the New Testament of characteristics to be expected in lives changed by Christ. Paul gives us an outline of the "Fruit of the Spirit" in his letter to the Galatians (Gal.5:22-24), and reminds the Christians at Colosse that their renewed humanity should demonstrate mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearance, forgiveness and love (Col. 3:12-15).

Peter describes for us the virtues of the divine life which should be visible in believers (2 Peter 1:5-7), whilst James points us to the "Wisdom which is from above" as being pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Nowhere is there the slightest suggestion that these apply only to certain selected compartments of our lives.

In my consultancy work on business ethics during recent years I have frequently pondered the fact that although it is not usually difficult to identify the areas of ethical dilemma in a profession, an industry or an organisation, or to develop principles and policies of good conduct, it is a different matter entirely to change behaviour in real terms.

Two critical aspects of this are inclination and ability. A small minority of people have little inclination to apply even the most basic civilised standards of personal conduct to business practice. They see it as a distinct sphere of human life to which different standards apply, a war-zone in which anything goes. It is my belief, though, that the great majority of people (both Christian and non-Christian) reject this view of the business world.

The problem usually is not so much one of people lacking the inclination to behave morally; it is more a matter of finding the inner power (Romans 7:19). Christ, however, gives not merely a set of principles to apply or rules to follow, but also a strength to transform. It must be the duty of the church to teach and to encourage the application of Christ's strength, the power of the Holy Spirit, the energy flowing from our Lord's resurrection, to every area of our human existence and endeavour - including that substantial proportion of life spent in the workplace.

My primary concern in the remainder of this paper will be to consider how a local church can help in making all of this a reality, how it might assist its individual members in developing a spirituality which is directly relevant to the factory and to the office, demonstrating to the world that Christianity is a much bigger thing than a Sunday ritual.

A church has a multiplicity of roles, prominent among which, as well as being a worshipping body, are those of: (i) a teaching ministry, and (ii) a caring community. Sections 4 and 5 will concentrate on these in turn. In each section I will put forward some practical suggestions. Before looking at any of these, however, we should examine more closely some of the areas in which people in business are in need of moral and spiritual support.

3. Areas of Needed Support

Three questions to ask when thinking of introducing any kind of new activity into a church calendar are, "Who is this for?", "What specific needs will it meet?" and "Why is it needed now?" - in other words, a basic "market survey" (in the non-commercial sense) to establish a clearer understanding of the needs. What follows does not pretend to have been rigorously researched but is one individual's view, based on extensive discussion in several countries during recent years. I believe these pages describe areas in which many local churches could realistically provide practical help and pastoral support to their members in relation to their working lives.

3a) Pressure of Circumstances

The first category of need is not one of ethical dilemma, but one of living under pressure. It may be an employee under threat of redundancy; or a manager so hard pressed that he is conscious of not devoting time and attention to wife and family; or a professional required by changing patterns of customer demand to adopt new working arrangements or move to a location that he never could have anticipated when he was first trained; or a finance director harassed by her company's bank and with debtors who are genuinely unable to pay. When financial hardship hits a community and many people are unemployed there are often churches which are deeply caring toward those suffering; but what about the pressures faced by people apparently prosperous? They are of a different kind, and not always easy to detect from the outside. The pain is frequently hidden behind a mask of seeming success.

A particularly severe form of pressure is that of failure. It may be the failure of an entire business, or it may be the loss of promotion due to inadequate performance. It may be a serious pollution incident or an accident in the factory. How do we as Christians in the local church respond to those going through such trauma? Are we like so many in the business world who can see failure only as something to suspect, or even to condemn, as a trigger for scapegoat hunting and the attribution of blame?

Do we view business failure as moral failure? Or can we see it as an opportunity to learn for the future? Surely a caring church community should be better than Job's so-called, "Comforters," and help those whose careers have suffered serious setback, especially those who cannot see it to have been through any fault of their own; to help them draw benefit from the suffering and to rise again - to go forward trusting in the God who brought Job back to success after the loss of everything.

3b) Structures

People frequently become concerned about the ethics of the structures within which they work. This can be a difficult issue for many Christians. They may feel very strongly that the economic system within which they have to work, the constitutional form of their particular organisation, the organisational structure and decision processes or the policies of their department, are unfair or otherwise immoral. And yet, they have to earn a living!

Of course, what appears to one person to be an unchallengeable structure may to another be an easily adjustable arrangement; this depends very much on the level at which a person works. Christians in senior positions may be able to change, or at least to influence, the arrangements and policies of their organisations, for example to make them more humane. For people with no means of influencing the situation, however, there may be a painful clash of conscience. "Is it right for me to continue working in an organisation where I can have no sympathy with the prevailing values and behaviour?" "Can I with a clear conscience contribute to the prosperity of an industry producing goods and services which are in my view profoundly antisocial?" "Can I work in an organisation where I know that major contracts are won on the basis of corrupt payments?"

Some might say that such sensitivity is an unaffordable luxury, and that one is not accountable for the conduct of superiors, or of colleagues, or even of subordinates. Others might argue strongly against any association with structural evil. I will not offer any naively simple answers, but simply argue that in the local church as a caring community we should respond positively to the fact that some consciences are more sensitive than others. This has always been true, from the beginning (Romans 14:1-15:6). In times of structural change such as are being experienced now in many areas of the world (both Eastern and Western economies) hard questions will often arise as people adjust to unfamiliar ways. We live in a non-ideal world, in which no economic system or commercial structure can be flawless. For many people it may be extremely painful to come to terms with (and to learn to control) the imperfections and potential abuses of a new arrangement, just as it was to suffer the more familiar flaws of the old.

3c) Behaviour

At all levels in all organisations there are pressures to conform, even where standards of conduct are unacceptable to one's conscience. Dishonesty toward customers, false records in quality control, deliberate failure to pay suppliers on time, exaggerated claims in advertising, artificial "fixing" of prices or pay levels, unfair treatment of employees; these are just some examples of practices which usually honest and decent people can be under pressure to join in, to support, or at least to tolerate.

On the other hand some apparently ethical dilemmas may in fact be questions of preferred working style. For example, many people who prefer to operate in a strongly collegiate atmosphere, with open sharing and mutual support between colleagues, find it extremely difficult to work in an environment where individual performance is emphasised. It is a clash with their personal value system; although another equally devoted Christian may be quite comfortable, and indeed may feel positively stimulated, in the tougher, more competitively demanding atmosphere. Each of our individual business value systems contains a combination of personal preference and our view of commercial appropriateness as well the strictly ethical. We should be aware of these distinctions, but should never dismiss as merely oversensitive those who are struggling to come to terms with what to them are uncomfortable patterns of working.

There are, however, behaviour questions that are very clearly ethical in nature and with these the Christian surely ought to be able to look to his or her church for help. Who will give encouragement to the person on the receiving end of unfair discrimination? Who understands and gives caring thought to the challenges faced by the loyal, young, sexually energetic wife or husband compelled by a job to be far away from a loving spouse for days or weeks or even months? Where is the spiritual guidance for the office supervisor who has just become conscious of the domineering attitude she displays toward her subordinates? What advice is available to the sales representative under strong pressure to engage in commercially corrupt practices to win important contracts?

How well are those serving the local church equipped to advise and support in such situations? Do people think of their pastors or other church leaders as logical people to approach and find not only a sympathetic but also an understanding ear? What use is made of the experience of mature members of the church community in providing support to others wrestling with such challenges?

3d) Decisions and Dilemmas

I was talking some time ago to a hospital chaplain about the pressures under which some managers were working, implementing the market-based reforms in the UK healthcare system. He asked, "Who is there to support them as they face types of decision, many involving ethical dilemmas, which they've never met before and for which they were never trained? Where can they share their burden?"

Managers, and many other staff, face a wide variety of difficult decisions, and frequently do not have the luxury of extensive research before making them. They have to act on the basis of the limited information available to them, surrounded by considerable ambiguity and uncertainty. These are difficult enough when the uncertainties are about technology or finance or logistics. When significant human and ethical issues are also involved they become even more problematical. Here are four types of difficult question:

Yes or No? Should we be doing this? Whatever the other arguments, are there ethical considerations that tell us under no circumstances to get involved?

We ought to, but .... We feel we ought to take action, but someone will be hurt if we do.

Which should come first? We have several things to do, but can't do them all at once. What should be the moral considerations in our sequencing decisions?

We can't do them all.... There's no possible way we can do it all. We'll have to make some hard choices.

In most of these the manager is faced with a situation in which there is no ideal. Whatever choice is made, someone is going to come off better and someone else is going to be disadvantaged or disconcerted to some degree.

4. The Teaching Ministry

Already in Section 2 I have indicated my belief that the practical outworkings of the Gospel in human conduct should be as visible in business as in any other area of life. Very few churches, however, appear to treat this seriously in a positive way.

It is not for a church to prescribe precisely how business should be conducted. It is also important not to espouse any one particular business structure or style. What I am appealing for is constructive teaching in a local church context about Christian moral values and principles in working life - with guidance about how to think through their practical application, not prescriptive remedies or inflexible rules.

Seminars and Bible Studies: A church, or a group of churches in a locality, could run a series of special seminars or study sessions on the life of faith in the business world. This could start with the basics, such as Biblical doctrine surrounding the concept of work itself, its importance, its value, and its relationship to the dignity of mankind as made in the image of a creator God. It might continue with consideration of human relationships in a work environment - not only between employees and employed, or between colleagues, but also with customers and suppliers, and other aspects of human contact. It could continue further to examine quandaries that people face in their daily working lives, where there is no simple answer, and to advise on approaches to resolving difficult situations - not by a rule-book approach which outlines the "correct" answer to every problem, but by teaching people to "think Christianly" about hard decisions.

Such events might be oriented toward longer-term strategic issues faced by senior managers, or toward the disciplinary problems of the shop-floor supervisor, or to the daily pressures of clerical staff; or they may be shaped in some other way. This must depend on the mix of people involved and their range of interests. One church (in Paris) holds a series of Saturday meetings spread through the year. In a town in southern England several churches combine to run a programme of breakfast meetings with invited speakers dealing with major current issues from a Christian perspective.

Regular Preaching: How often does preaching in the local church refer to people's business lives? Quite apart from teaching specifically designed to cover such matters in depth, how often do the illustrative stories in sermons relate to Monday to Friday at the office? Does the preaching and teaching seem always to refer to other people's lives, but not to the realities of working in the factory? Or does it imply that true spirituality makes such mundane matters irrelevant, or will ensure that they can be handled almost automatically by right instinct rather than by careful consideration?

Written material: Many churches conduct a literature ministry of some kind. Some have a church library for the sharing of books; others operate church bookstalls with good Biblical teaching on many themes. In terms of practical living the topics most commonly covered include marriage, parenting and personal development - but I don't recollect seeing either a church bookstall or a church library with any substantial amount of material on Christian living at work. Why not? Is it that appropriate material is not available?

There may have been some truth in that in the past, but at least in the English language (which is what I know best) this is no longer the case. Having said that, there is still a need for further high quality material to be published, in formats which make the subject accessible to people of very different types, backgrounds and learning-styles.

Pointers to Other Resources: Along with literature it may be helpful to have available a list of organisations which specialise in this field, what resources they make available, and how to contact them.

5. The Caring Community

Counselling - Mentoring: In Section 3 we looked at just a few of the major areas in which many Christians in business need help. It may at first sight appear that men and women in leadership positions are tough, resilient individuals in little need of support. The external appearance very often masks feelings of uncertainty and insufficiency. Just as there may in a church be people with particular skills in advising on issues surrounding marriage, family, coping with sickness, and many other areas of life (and these may be recognised pastors or "ordinary" members of the church who possess the necessary skills) could not one or more mature, respected individuals be made available to consult for advice and guidance about matters related to working life?

Sharing: Should not a local church. made up of people who declare themselves to be brothers and sisters in Christ provide an environment in which problems can be shared? There will of course be situations in which essential privacy must be maintained. Not every individual is sufficiently understanding or sufficiently mature to be taken totally into one's confidence. Is there not, however, scope for people working in broadly similar environments to come together to talk through their uncertainties and frustrations in the light of Scripture, and to share in prayer for one another? In central London I am aware of one group which meets weekly in a room behind a church for a sandwich lunch, and to share their current concerns and pressures as they feel able.

Prayer: In many churches the leaders of the nation and of the world are prayed for publicly (without partisan politics) as instructed by Scripture. Similarly one hears members of the "humane" professions such as medicine and teaching prayed for in public services. And yet, it is comparatively rare to hear similar prayers for the leaders of business organisations. They need our prayers just as much the doctors and the public administrators. During times of change they especially need our prayers, and not only the prominent leaders. The decisions of managers affect the lives of so many other people for good or ill. Should we not be praying in our Sunday congregations for divine wisdom and help in the Monday to Saturday lives of all the members of our churches, in the real worlds in which they live?