Picture credit: Bible Society / Andrew Boyd
BFBS Chairman James Featherby was a business lawyer in the City of London during the financial crisis that brought the world’s monetary system to its knees. But that trial by fire forged important lessons of integrity for church leaders.
Mr Featherby told leaders from across Africa gathered for ABLI:
‘That crisis damaged millions and brought bankruptcy to a number of countries. I was part of that system, though my law firm was working with the British government to sort out the crisis.
‘Many people were becoming extremely rich. But calling individuals to behave well is not enough. The City was full of great people doing great jobs that were asked of them. Many were Christians. Yet the financial crisis still happened. It was really the system that was corrupt.'
The first step, he said, must be to turn anger and indignation against injustice into something constructive.
Reprocess our anger
‘We need to reprocess our anger. We need to equip our members to think Christianity in the workplace, instead of just seeing it as a place of inevitable greed and compromise.
‘The world thinks anger is necessary for justice, and that forgiveness will dissipate that anger. The Christian disagrees and replies: “No, I will forgive and I will struggle for justice. I may still be angry, but my struggle for justice will be purified by forgiveness, and thereby become more effective.”
‘Forgiveness and graciousness must take all anger out of our hearts.
Failings in the Church
‘The financial crisis highlighted significant failings in the Church in the UK. For decades, we had been preaching personal holiness. But we hadn’t been equipping men and women of faith in the workplace.
‘We had the opposite problem to the prosperity gospel – we thought it was a sin to be successful.
‘In the vacuum left by teaching from the church, we have assumed morality is bad for business. The truth is, morality is the foundation on which sustainable business is built.
‘My challenge is, how do our churches support Christians in the workplace? Do they support them? How do we help them deal with the challenges and opportunities that the workplace presents?'
The Church had to own the problems of society, he said, not just rail against them.
Own the problem
Mr Featherby turned to an example from China, where terrorists slaughtered passengers at a railway station.
‘In 2014, Chinese terrorists committed an atrocity. They knifed and killed 34 people in Kunming.
‘Within moments the church was out in the public square, surrounding the railway station, owning the problem.
‘They repented of what they were doing to each other. There was no condemnation or judgment. They wept and mourned. They were standing in the gap between earth and heaven. They were lifting earth to heaven and bringing heaven down to earth.
‘Christians in China took the sins of the culture upon themselves in their churches, feeling the pain of it, lamenting it and acting as a lightning rod to disperse the pain and the power of it.
‘The church must recognise that the problems of society are our problems, not their problems. There is no us and them.
‘I see the role of the church as owning the problem of corruption, and lamenting and repenting over our culture’s failings.’
Next, he said, Christian leaders needed to seek wise counsel from others who could bring a fresh perspective.
Fresh eyes
‘We are all caught in the same corruption box and we all need a way out of it.
‘It’s really helpful to have external input into your problems. It is painful but necessary to have an outside perspective.
‘In the City, we didn’t see the need for change or the extent to which we had become disconnected from society. It was very painful to have the world and his aunt crawling over what we did and criticising us.’
At times like these, we need the wise counsel of faithful friends: ‘critical friends who will hold up our culture to the light of Scripture and God’s word.’
Having owned the problem, he said, we can then search for our own fresh solutions, for our own answers with God. And that will mean taking a risk and embracing change.
Alternatives to corruption?
‘The role of the church is to help people find alternative practices and different ways. God will show us the way out.
‘In my story of a corrupted system, the City just didn’t know how to serve the common good. You just couldn’t fit that into a spreadsheet. We had become so materialistic that we couldn’t find those answers. But others could.
‘Before, if I had asked in the City about morality and the common good, it would have been a bad smell in the room.
‘But then others started asking questions: what’s the purpose of business? Is it just to make money? Or can it serve society?
‘These questions, asked mainly by the young, have changed the conversation. They started setting up alternative models of practice.
‘Two small movements had a dramatic effect: social impact businesses, which aimed to profit people and the planet, and responsible investment, where shareholders demanded sustainable behaviour.
‘Often we fear that if we change things, everything will collapse. But it has been helpful in the City to find other models that challenge our way of doing things. They are like salt. They season what is going on and shine a light.’
How we speak into such difficult issues is key to our success, he said. Having the right tone of voice is crucial.
Tone of voice
‘The world speaks in terms of shame and blame, anger and division. Blame is the most disempowering emotion. And the person it disempowers most is you. The Bible has a different way of dealing with anger:
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people… clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” – Colossians 4:5.
“Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” – James 3:17
‘These are the powerful weapons of God. You don’t use power to fight power, you use the cross,' said Mr Featherby.
Finally, he called on church leaders to come together and address the vexing issue of corruption.
Come together
‘Unity is forged out of doing things together. I encourage church leaders to convene and discuss this issue. We have a fantastic opportunity to forge unity across all the churches in the countries we come from.
‘God’s power comes out of unity. While the church is locked in a power struggle for members, the church will not tackle corruption. But from unity, great things will happen.’
In summary, he said: ‘The Church must own the problem of integrity in business. It is not somebody else’s problem, it is our problem. We must look for alternative practices, however small.’
ENDS
Picture credit: Bible Society / Andrew Boyd
Andrew Boyd
