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Inspiration for the New Year from Benedict XVI, Rwanda & the UK

Dec 30th, 2011 by

Pope Benedict XVI spoke in October 2011 on “The History of God’s Goodness from Creation to Salvation”.  He makes a brilliant exposition of Psalm 136. One excerpt will serve as a New Year’s greeting. We need to be reminded about God’s love and faithfulness as shown throughout history, to you and me and many others. God of the past and the present also holds our future. It is all His Story:

“Memory strongly sustains hope. Memory tells us: God exists, God is good, his mercy endures for ever. So it is that memory unfolds, even in the darkest day or time, showing the way towards the future. It represents “great lights” and is our guiding star. We too have good memories of the goodness, of God’s merciful love that endures for ever.“

Let me also share some stories and articles about people who inspire me and may also be an encouragement to you for the coming year.

Tom Allen is a good friend who was my host in Rwanda in October. The “Rwanda story” that most people know is limited to the horrific 1994 genocide in which 1 million people were slaughtered in 100 days.  But Tom writes: “The “Rwanda story” I experience every day is one of reconciliation and rebuilding of a nation.”

His life journey is well worth getting a glimpse of: Why I Ditched Corporate Life And Moved To Rwanda

Bridget Adams is another good friend and we met again in Watford, UK a few weeks ago. Her life journey is also fascinating; a physics graduate, started out as a scientist before moving into the hi-tech business-sector, now an Anglican minister. She is also the founder and director of a business incubator and a business training program which have a Christian holistic approach.

You can read about her and two of her colleagues in Christians get down to business

 

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Merry Christmas! Ooops, did I offend anyone?

Dec 22nd, 2011 by

For those whose ambition is to be politically correct, I suggest the following greeting in this season:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2012, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures.

Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

Tiring, eh? Let me be frank and audacious and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

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Margaret Thatcher on Business as Mission

Dec 20th, 2011 by

Business as Mission is a relatively new term. But the concept is not, nor is the practice. But we can witness a renewed understanding of Biblical concepts of work and business. I have worked across the globe with these issues for about 17 years. The momentum is growing, especially in the non-Western world.

Please read the following few paragraphs which give helpful insights regarding work, wealth creation and serving others. It is from a speech held in 1988, i.e. 23 years ago. Some may be surprised when they realize that these are words from the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

“The Old Testament lays down in Exodus the Ten Commandments as given to Moses, the injunction in Leviticus to love our neighbor as ourselves and generally the importance of observing a strict code of law. The New Testament is a record of the Incarnation, the teachings of Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Again we have the emphasis on loving our neighbor as ourselves and to “Do-as-you-would-be-done-by”.

I believe that by taking together these key elements from the Old and New Testaments, we gain: a view of the universe, a proper attitude to work, and principles to shape economic and social life.

We are told we must work and use our talents to create wealth. “If a man will not work he shall not eat” wrote St. Paul to the Thessalonians. Indeed, abundance rather than poverty has a legitimacy which derives from the very nature of Creation.

Nevertheless, the Tenth Commandment—Thou shalt not covet—recognizes that making money and owning things could become selfish activities. But it is not the creation of wealth that is wrong but love of money for its own sake. The spiritual dimension comes in deciding what one does with the wealth. How could we respond to the many calls for help, or invest for the future, or support the wonderful artists and craftsmen whose work also glorifies God, unless we had first worked hard and used our talents to create the necessary wealth?”

Excerpts from Margaret Thatcher’s Sermon on the Mound, delivered at the Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland, The Mound, Edinburgh, United Kingdom – May 21, 1988.

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Africa: From the Hopeless Continent to Lion Economies

Dec 16th, 2011 by

A decade ago The Economist labeled Africa “the hopeless continent”. Now in a recent issue the same magazine describe the continent’s impressive change and growth. A few quotes:

“Africa’s economies are consistently growing faster than those of almost any other region of the world. … Ethiopia will grow by 7.5% this year, without a drop of oil to export. Once a byword for famine, it is now the world’s tenth-largest producer of livestock. … Over the past decade six of the world’s ten fastest-growing countries were African. In eight of the past ten years, Africa has grown faster than East Asia, including Japan.”

Africa now has a fast-growing middle class; today around 60 million Africans are part of the middle class and by the year 2015 about 100 million will be. These numbers represents people lifted out of poverty.

The World Bank states: “Africa could be on the brink of an economic take-off, much like China was 30 years ago and India 20 years ago.”

We know that aid has not lifted Africa out of poverty, as the international economist Dambisa Moyo has clearly demonstrated in her book Dead Aid. But what are some of the drivers and factors behind this positive change? In short, it is trade not aid.

One driver is the application of technology, especially mobile phones. Africa has 600 million mobile phone users, more than Europe or America. A study from 2009 showed that adding an extra ten mobile phones per 100 people in a typical developing country boosts growth in GDP per person by 0.8 percentage points. These phones are, for example, used for banking and for business with crops and fish.

Other factors are increased investments and trade. In 2010 total foreign direct investment was more than $55 billion—five times what it was a decade earlier, and much more than Africa receives in aid. Trade barriers have been reduced, intra-African trade has increased and privatization has contributed to growth.

Another big non-commodity driver of the economic development is political stability. For many decades in the post-colonial era the cold war superpowers fought proxy wars on the African continent, and there were few democratic and peaceful changes of government. But in the past 20 years it has been different and governments have changed through the ballot box more than 30 times. (That is far more often than in the Arab world)

36 out of 46 African governments made things easier for business in the past year.

Africa still has many challenges and is far from becoming a new China or Singapore in the near future. But we can rejoice in the encouraging developments and also learn from them.

The Economist ends its lead editorial with a helpful reminder: “Autocracy, corruption and strife will not disappear overnight. But at a dark time for the world economy, Africa’s progress is a reminder of the transformative promise of growth.”

PS. This blog entry is also available in Korean, click here –> Africa: From the Hopeless Continent to Lion Economies

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On the road again…

Nov 27th, 2011 by

Last blog entry was about my visit to Rwanda. I have had many encouraging and interesting responses from all over the world, and God has used it in wonderful ways. Earlier this week I came back from almost three weeks in the USA, and I leave again for the USA tomorrow morning.

One of the highlights of the US trip was the five days my wife and I spent in Hollywood, Florida; yes, there is a Hollywood in Florida – in between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. I was walking down memory lane. 30 years earlier I studied theology in Hollywood. The College was in a building which was originally a hotel, built in 1926. (Al Capone was a guest.)  In the 60’s it became a College and now it is a hotel again –a beach property, where we booked a room. We had the same view over Atlantic Ocean that I had as a poor student 1981. It was a time of reminiscing, and also realizing yet again that God is good and faithful.

Those were the days, memorizing at least 5 – 10 Bible verses every week – from King James version. And we had a test later in the term when we had to know them all. I had very little money and I tried to manage on a dollar a day. I got two perfect jobs at the school: in the kitchen – free lunch, and in the library – could do homework and write papers and receive a small salary at the same time.

A friend and I drove around the US during the summer. It was an old car, with no air condition. We often drove through the nights to save time and money on lodging.

The College had a very conservative theology, to say the least. But I balanced that by studying liberal theology at university in Sweden later. So I landed in some kind of middle of the road. But I have also learnt through the years of international travel that the church is much bigger than we often think.

A few other highlights from the earlier US trip:

I spoke at a Korean American Business as Mission Consultation in New York. The first part gathered church leaders, including all the senior pastors of Korean American churches in New York and New Jersey, even from the mega churches. The 2nd part of the Consultation was focused on young urban professionals. And I also managed to watch the New York Marathon. Personally, I run away from exercise. 🙂

My wife was doing some work in D.C. at the same time but we met up in Birmingham, Alabama where we had several very constructive meetings with business leaders. Then we drove to Atlanta for a meeting with a large Christian foundation, which has given way 3 billion dollars to charitable causes. We had a great conversation on Business as Mission and the world.

Anyway, tomorrow – the Lord willing – I will fly Stockholm – Chicago – Los Angeles. I will speak at a business congress, and also meet some friends and colleagues and work on issues and initiatives with regards to the global Business as Mission movement.

There will be a few more international trips before Christmas. And also a few more blog entries.

 

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