When our investing goals don’t align with God’s goals, there are significant consequences for the world around us. Billions of dollars of capital are tied up in funds and accounts owned by Christian investors. This piling up of resources means missed opportunities to start businesses in hard to reach locations that promote economic development in emerging economies.

Poor wheel alignment on a car increases friction between tires and the road, eventually resulting in thinning tire treads and a potentially dangerous blowout. A misaligned spine can lead to central nervous system dysfunction as well as a variety of other health problems.

We have fallen into a trap of thinking that donations to charity or to missionaries are considered sacred and investments, because they are connected to business, are secular. We pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, but do we invest to achieve that goal?

This company’s successful technology platform has created a platform for bringing salt and light of the gospel to a place where the name of Jesus is little known. Marshall and his team are living proof of the value of incarnational ministry as he lives as a follower of Christ. The seeds of the gospel are planted gradually, in the context of business relationships, and are carefully watered through each interaction he has with his clients.

Financial advisors may have warned you previously that you must protect the seed (your assets) for next year’s harvest (future growth opportunities). Christian investors or businesspeople are typically the first to express concern over deploying too much seed, thinking that they must be “good stewards.” As stewards of God’s resources, we must invest in ways that accomplish His eternal purposes.

When we invest as God’s steward, we flip conventional investing goals on their head, paving the way for alternative, additional goals. Investors are able to facilitate eternal impact such as community reconciliation, restoring and improving the environment through sustainable agriculture, and providing resources for people who follow Christ to make Him known among unreached people groups. In the eyes of God, those returns are anything but nominal. They are literally life-changing.

The Wayne’s trusted Alfred so much that upon their death, he became Bruce Wayne’s legal guardian and fiduciary of the entire Wayne estate. The same requirements that applied to Alfred Pennyworth and to financial advisors under the fiduciary standard apply to us as managers of God’s money. Many Christians consider both the investments they hold and the growth on the investments to be their own, but a fiduciary realizes that the investments and earnings are owned by the Master.

Have you ever wondered where our word economy comes from?  
In a wealthy household in ancient Greece, the owner would often entrust the management of his affairs and material resources, both financial and people, to a steward. In Greek, the word for steward is oikonomos: the oikos is the house, and nomos is connected to the act of managing.