Recently, Gospel Times, an online Chinese Christian newspaper, interviewed two Chinese pastors to learn about their work as both Christian entrepreneurs. They shared four tips for businesspersons to be the light and salt in society.
The first priority is to operate the enterprise with integrity.
Rev. Liu from Shandong Province is engaged in the health industry, strictly controlling the quality of medicinal materials. At a reasonable price, ordinary people can afford to buy the medicine in his shop.
In the same industry, Rev. Zhang from Anhui Province mentioned that his shop would deliver 10,000-20,000 yuan in subsidies per month to provide poor people free medicine.
The second tip is to carry out charity work.
Liu has carried out many kinds of local charity work. For example, he would donate cooking oil, rice, and noodles to poor households in nearby villages and towns during the Chinese New Year every year, regardless of whether they are Christians or not. He also organizes Christians with professional skills to serve community residents, such as giving free haircuts and health care consultations. In the summer, he would send free mineral water to the police on duty. Furthermore, he has organized members of the church to donate blood since 2014, with hundreds of donors and hundreds of thousands of milliliters of blood.
Zhang, also involved in a number of local charitable ministries, contacted local Christian businesspersons to set up a charity station together, helping the elderly, the disabled, and children, and providing charity meals, dishes and water. Take the charity meal as an example. Twice a month, the charity station invites the local low-income households to have a free meal of seven dishes and one soup. Elderly people in the neighborhood are only charged 7-10 yuan for a dinner. As they provide guaranteed quality products, the local government is also their customer. Their mineral water is sold in many communities, but it is free for life for low-income households in the community.
The third way is to unite churches and Christian businesses in various places.
Liu not only does charity himself but also gives advice to churches in other places. For example, he proposed a "365 scheme" to a church to have each Christian donating one yuan per day, which is earmarked to help the disadvantaged group. At one time, more than 1.6 million yuan was raised in a church gathering to help hundreds of out-of-school children.
When Liu walked around different places, he found that the city-based churches could unite with the rural churches, so that healthy food such as vegetables and eggs from the rural Christians could be supplied to the ones from the urban churches. And the rural believers would have income while urban believers could eat healthy food. In Rev. Liu's city, the church has built a supermarket, through which these foods can be transferred, which not only meets the needs of believers in both city and rural churches but also provides jobs for young believers in the church. Such a supermarket can serve not only the urban congregation but also the community residents.
Liu mentioned that in traditional fermentation methods some Christian entrepreneurs produced soy sauce, whose raw materials were soybeans planted by rural Christians, which are non-genetically modified, pollution-free, and organic.
The fourth point is to pay close attention to national policies.
In recent years, the state has made great efforts to help farmers to eradicate poverty. Responding to the call, Liu went to Yunnan and joined forces with local churches to conduct precision poverty alleviation through further investigation and visits. At first, he just bought them cooking oil, rice and noodles, then he bought them sheep and cattle, helping them invest in honey bee breeding. After harvesting, he would buy honey from them to help sell it, which has become a long-term project.
Liu shared, "We are not different, not just reciting scriptures, or talking about God every day. Just as the Pharaoh regarded Joseph, they can see God's spirit on us with intelligence and wisdom. We are all transparent so that they believe that we are the blessing of our time, our country and people, not just a group of religious people."
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
