Since the reform and opening up, a large number of entrepreneurs (including Christian businessmen) have flooded into the cities in southern China. Sister Xiaoyue and her husband, Brother Zhang are both Christians who originally did business in the northeast of China. They moved to the south of China to do business more than a decade ago in pursuit of the policy dividend and now have two children.
When it comes to business, rise and fall may happen. While talking about the experience of the family at the lows of life, Sister Xiaoyue recalled the reason why her company was in trouble at that time: borrowing due to greed for investment. "Businessmen often borrow as much as possible, aiming for the highest gains."
Being entangled in debt due to financing driven by greed
Due to their over-leveraged investments, Xiaoyue, and her husband were not only debtors but also creditors, being owed money by others.
In recent years, the issue of triangular debt has been one of the biggest factors crushing small and medium-sized enterprises. Triangular debt refers to the relationship formed by the defaults on payments among enterprises. This inter-company indebtedness results in many businesses having little to no liquidity.
Companies mired in triangular debt often face severe cash flow problems. To keep their operations running, many opt to borrow money to alleviate the immediate cash flow issues. However, if the enterprise cannot make a breakthrough in its profitability and cannot get debt repayment from the debtors, then the behavior of the enterprise to borrow will make the debt bigger and bigger, and the crash is only a matter of time.
Sister Xiaoyue recalled that she had been borrowing money to pay debts and resolve the crises of enterprises, "the debt could not be paid, and many triangular debts emerged." The constant borrowing to pay off debts left Sister Xiaoyue and her husband feeling hopeless, unsure of when their struggles would end. These hardships led them to deepen their reliance on God.
"My husband and I have really become humble since then and stopped borrowing money." Sister Xiaoyue said. And then they were faced with a lack of money and a difficult life. At that time, Sister Xiaoyue was pregnant with her second child, and they moved from the big house they lived in into a small house. In the most difficult times, they even resorted to using their child's piggy bank coins to buy cabbage and pickles. Once, they drove their luxury car to the gas station but could only afford to put in 15 yuan of fuel, which shocked the gas attendant.
At the same time, it was very difficult for the couple to make the people who owed them money pay the debts. No matter how many times they ask, no one will pay them back. For people who wanted this couple to pay their debts, they could only promise to pay later. For several years, Sister Xiaoyue had experienced the debt collectors came to their home together during the Spring Festival.
Bear the responsibility to help the merchant community after experiencing God's help
In insisting on not borrowing money, they experienced the work of God. "God saw us live a pathetic life in front of Him, and He would never leave us alone. The God we believe in is true." Sister Xiaoyue recalled, "Suddenly, some people who owed us money called me to pay back the money." After this couple received the money, "we paid our debts first and then continued to wait for God's work."
"More and more people who owe us money are voluntarily paying it back. Through these amazing things, we can see that God would never let us starve to death." Looking back at the hardships, Sister Xiaoyue thought that this experience was special for them. Not only did they go through hardships, but they also learned to rely on God in times of trouble. As a result, they were more thoughtful about what would be effective in helping groups of Christian business people they met in church who had similar experiences.
Accompanying the business community rather than lending them money
Sister Xiaoyue shared that when ordinary businessmen face financial difficulties, their most common solution is to borrow money. Having experienced God's guidance and overcome their debt crisis, Sister Xiaoyue and her husband realized that "in the business community, we should accompany them through these challenging times."
Not lending them money is not because we don't love them or want to help them, but because we need to examine their faith, ensuring they aren't acting out of greed and are following God's will." In helping people, "we need to do it according to the Bible, not according to experience, and not blindly help a person." This is the way Sister Xiaoyue and her husband are now helping the business community, and she specifically shared, "When God disciplines people and places them in challenging circumstances, we shouldn't blindly help them, as we might also suffer the consequences." "Therefore, when guiding the business community, our approach is to support them while ensuring we also go through our journey of experiencing God's work."
During the fellowship time, they would pray together, especially for those in need. In addition to bringing the real experience of God, Sister Xiaoyue mentioned a basic principle of doing business, which is to obey the law and pay taxes on time. In addition, Sister Xiaoyue believes that business needs to be down-to-earth, bearing in mind to avoid blind expansion due to greed, and Christian businessmen need to abide by biblical values.
While helping groups of businessmen, they have also encountered people who have refused their help. "It's not up to anyone to decide whether they accept your help or not and whether they want to do business with biblical values." She shared, "Instead of thinking about what you can get from the people you serve, serve with an attitude of giving, and serve with unconditional love from the Lord."
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
