The Sauntering Pilgrim

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36).”

A revolution in business is quietly taking place today, and it has the potential – if it roots and spreads – to transform the economic and social world in which we live. It also has the potential to bring the church to greater faithfulness in our covenant with God and greater effectiveness in our stewardship of the gospel and our ministries in the name and spirit of Christ.

If asked what companies are for, most of us would come up with the same answer: to make money. It’s written into our corporation law that if a company doesn’t do anything else, it must at least make a profit for its owners, its shareholders. But now, that’s changing.

Four years ago, 181 CEOs, members of the networking group Business Roundtable, updated their statement of purpose with a new commitment to “all stakeholders.” Not just to people who own the $18 trillion of stock in these companies, but also to the employees, customers, suppliers, and communities – to everyone who has a stake in how these companies fare.

“Each of our stakeholders is essential,” said the chief executives of Disney, Starbucks, American Airlines and dozens more. “We commit to deliver value to all of them, for the future success of our companies, our communities, and our country.” Business Roundtable’s CEO members are now explicitly accepting that responsibility to the wider community, saying they want to be part of an economy “that serves all Americans.”

The movement is spreading internationally. Rita Marques, co-founder of a travel startup in Portugal, said, “It doesn’t make any sense to make profit at the expense of social good or the environment.” So the company helps match up volunteers with charities, and sends them on trips where they collect litter from the ocean, rescue wasted food from fields, or help the homeless. For that founder, business had no appeal if it wasn’t for something. “It has to be meaningful,” she said.

Professor Colin Mayer of the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School specializes in the role of purpose in business. He argues that incentivizing companies to prioritize ever bigger profits, in his words, “does not work, has never worked and will never work.” Deep down, he argues, we all know money alone can’t make the world go round, and that what brings us real fulfilment is what he calls “worthwhile endeavor.” In other words: purpose. So more countries have been allowing businesses to be set up as so-called benefit corporations, with commitments to benefit society built into their legal status.

The B Corp certification scheme, launched in 2007 by U.S. nonprofit B Lab, aims to do that here. To get the B Corp stamp of approval, companies must complete an impact assessment every three years, covering everything from pay and working conditions to use of renewable energy, representation of minorities, and management targets. Companies also have to update their founding legal documents with a firm commitment to work for the benefit of the wider world, and to consider employees, suppliers, and others in every decision.

All of that brings me to today’s reading from Matthew’s gospel (Matt. 9:35–10:8), where Jesus puts his disciples to work doing what they were called to do. “When [Jesus] saw the crowds,” Matthew tells us, “he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (v. 9:36). So he sent his disciples out, telling them, “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons” (v. 10:8).

And don’t do it for your own benefit, he told them; start with compassion for others. Do it for the benefit of those whom you meet who are in need, the harassed and helpless, those with no one to lead them to green pastures, to life in all its fullness. “You received without payment,” he said; now “give without payment.”

What if we were to do what the benefit corporations are doing? Holy Trinity’s current strategic plan identifies four strategic values: a caring faith community, excellence in preaching, worship and music, and membership and financial stability. Although it makes room for ministries that reach beyond the congregation – and there are important ways in which we’re doing that – the plan itself appears to do what business has traditionally done, which is to serve primarily the shareholders, the owners, the members of the congregation.

How would our strategic plan be different if we were to develop it with full participation of all our stakeholders: congregation members and ELCA partners, yes, but also with our neighbors in the community; with social service organizations and community action groups; and especially with our neighbors who are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, like needful people with no one to advocate for them and lead them to abundant life? How would our congregation and its ministries be different if all our stakeholders were to have a seat at the table when our ministries are planned?

And what if we were to begin with a serious self-assessment that we would repeat every three years. What if we were to create an impact assessment looking at how we are supporting the faith practices, spiritual growth, and ministries of our members. It would also look at how we are being faithful and effective stewards of the resources entrusted to us.

And it would include a realistic, open-eyed assessment of the impact our ministries are having on the community and world in which we live. It would answer the questions: how are we demonstrating compassion for our harassed and helpless neighbors who are living like sheep without a shepherd, and how are we including them in every decision we make about how we are being part of the body of Christ?

My early life was largely shaped by stories my grandmother told, stories of family and neighbors and the world of those days. The stories we tell today, not by words only but by actions of mercy and justice, are shaping our world. What stories do our neighbors hear us telling? ▪