Now we must find an approach to economic justice that works in fair weather and foul, but that will require brilliance, vision and political leadership. Another Keynes is needed. It is only within such a global system that it is possible for individuals, businesses and societies to dethrone Mammon, and to give all for the pearl of great price.

Archbishop Justin Welby Dethroning Mammon (Bloomsbury, 2016)

CAN there be such a thing as a Christian business? Is an ethical business different from a Christian business? Is there an opportunity for business leaders that is an “octave” above personal witness? (Here, we use octave in the sense of playing the same notes but breaking through more clearly.)

Peter urges us “to look forward to the day of the Lord and to hasten its coming” (2 Peter 3.11-12a), an idea of advancing the Kingdom through our actions which prompts us to explore businesses that do just that.

In the past, monasteries, for example, were places for work and prayer, with daily patterns to ensure that each balanced the other. The Victorian philanthropists represent another golden age of faith and business. George Cadbury, for example, was passionate about gardens for children and set an example in keeping fit, while teaching at the adult institutes he established.

From this, we identify two directions of travel. The first strives for ever-improving efficiency and effectiveness. The second is values-based and allows companies intentionally to pursue virtue. It’s a simplification that lets us address beliefs and practices separately.

ALTHOUGH it may not always be onward and upward, the staircase metaphor in the figure above shows how both journeys must combine to sustain a company’s Kingdom ambitions. Thus, steps of personal faith are rewarded with understanding — as St Anselm said: “I believe so that I may understand” — and a basis for classification emerges.

Ad-hoc businesses do what they can and may well rely on the good will or enterprise of their employees to make them work. Management does its best and tends to get through in the end.

Excellent businesses work systematically to improve their operations and workforce management, their engagement with clients and suppliers, and their ability to execute strategic plans.

Intentional companies are often set up for the greater good rather than profit margins. When the virtuous goals outweigh other considerations, such companies are anchored in the top left-hand quadrant.

Finally, there is a virtuous ideal that fully reflects ethical aims and delivers them through a finely tuned business engine.

An intentional business still needs to embrace operational best practice if it is to survive sustainably, while an excellent business needs to become as systematic in pursuing virtue as it is in pursuing excellence if both are to reach the virtuous ideal.

SO, WHAT trajectory works best, and from which starting point for which companies? Can ad-hoc, intentional, and excellent businesses transition easily to the virtuous quadrant — for us, that is, the Kingdom — or will they need to take a step back? Clearly one size does not fit all, and there is also the question of slippage (which has proved incredibly difficult for many organisations to resist).

While many businesses trace their origins to Christian founders, most have experienced a creeping trajectory towards greater secularisation, in which they slip back down the vertical axis. This is also true in the charity sector, where non-Christian governance has sometimes gradually eroded an original Christian calling.

This is not the exclusive preserve of faith-based initiatives, with increasing numbers of business leaders wanting to make the world a better place, including B Corp, and Business in the Community. Widely used templates of business excellence, such as the US Malcolm Baldrige Award, and the European European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model, suggest that business best practice inherently demands mature social responsibility.

In succeeding chapters, we examine business through a Christian lens and connect three business virtues — process, purpose, and people — to faith, hope, and love, respectively. This framework helps business owners and managers to measure where they are, and plan where they want to go next.

This is an abridged version of Chapter 2 from How to Merge Kingdom and Business: The most excellent way (E212) by Phil Hanson and Terry Young, published by Grove Books in its Ethics series at £4.95; 978-1-78827-363-3. grovebooks.co.uk