When the Imago Dei Defines a Business Culture

From The Green Room: Barry-Wehmiller is a multimillion dollar global engineering/manufacturing company you’ve probably never heard of and yet “touch” multiple times each week. Close to 95% of all the cardboard used in the U.S. is made on a BW machine (that’s virtually every cereal box at your grocery store). 80% of the world’s medicines […]

Building Houses As If They Mattered

From Christianity Today: In his attention to sustainability, community, and integrity, Chicago-based Perry Bigelow builds houses that foster their inhabitants’ flourishing. Perry Bigelow, a Chicago homebuilder, is not perfect. He’s humble and knows he needs to rely daily on the mercies of Christ …. He was the kingdom-oriented businessman I was hoping to find in […]

Good Eats and Evangelism: A Whole-Gospel Restaurant Serving Pittsburgh’s Soul

From Christianity Today: Chef Nikki Heckmann’s Bistro To Go offers tasty ingredients to revitalize Pittsburgh’s North Side neighborhood. On any given day between 11am and 7pm, locals can watch Nikki Heckmann ply her craft at Bistro To Go, the eclectic café the chef launched in 2007 in the North Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Just peer […]

How can we encourage safe and encouraging work environments?

From Made to Flourish It was a new thought for me: How a job could provide healing for trauma survivors. I was talking with Dorothy Taft, executive director of The Market Project, whose mission is to create profitable businesses that offer stable employment for survivors of trafficking and exploitation. In 2016 the organization established Nguvu Dairy […]

The Cutting Edge of Marketplace Ministries

How businesses are doing more ministry than ever. By Amy L. Sherman With all the twists and turns that led to his vocation, Chuck Proudfit might never have gotten there without the quest for more efficient toilet paper. He was fresh out of college working for Procter & Gamble at the time. The company had scooped up […]

WHY, HOW, and WHERE of Generous Giving

From Institute for Studies of Religion: Generosity is unnatural. Therefore, a generous lifestyle must be learned and its habits acquired. Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion will host this symposium to assess how we might go about better understanding the causes and contributing factors that enable individuals to become generous givers. This important symposium was […]

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Should Christians Engage in Politics?

With all the chaos in Washington, DC these days, I‘m often asked whether Christians should be involved in the public square.  My response is that times like these are a call to action for those who follow Jesus.  Christian voices are needed in Washington, in our local communities, and on our online platforms more than ever.
 
Plato said that the wise who refuse to take part in government suffer to live under the government of worse men.  I think that sentiment applies to all forms of citizen engagement.  Our silence will be filled by voices we may not want to hear.  It’s quite noble to compete for the good society wherever we’re called to serve.
 
And if the news is pulling your down, it might be time to recall those inspiring examples who made a difference before us.  No story is more encouraging than William Wilberforce who used his seat in Parliament to abolish the British slave trade.  He also gave us a blueprint for COMMONWEALTH in the many social impact ventures that he and his friends formed through the Clapham Sect.  For more on his story, you can read Eric Metaxas’ terrific biography or watch the film based on his book (both called Amazing Grace).
 
Chuck Colson liked to say that the Kingdom of God will not arrive on Air Force One.  It’s great news indeed that we are privileged to help bring it forward through our spheres of influence and our acts of service.