Dave Kahle - Should a Christian Business Help the Poor

Published: Mon, 09/24/18

Should a Christian Business Help the Poor?

By Dave Kahle

Christians are expected to be generous to the poor and needy. That message began in Old Testament commands to the Hebrews and continued consistently through the Bible to the end of the New Testament. Literally hundreds of passages promote that message.

But, is that responsibility to help the poor and needy confined to individuals? Does a Christian business have a responsibility to help the poor and needy, separate and apart from that of the individuals who own, run, or work in the business?

Let’s examine that issue together.

First, a little background.

In The Good Book on Business, I uncovered the model for a Christian business: the Biblical household. The Biblical household is an economic entity that consisted of family, slaves, servants and employees, under the direction of the ‘head’ of the household. It has a presence and position above and beyond the collection of individuals who were employed by it and was organized to accomplish some God-given task. In modern day terms, the Biblical household is a family business.

Business, as manifested through the Biblical household, had a major role to play from the very beginning of creation though the entire Biblical narrative, including the establishment and propagation of the church in the New Testament.

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Jim Lange, Business Owner and author of Calming the Storm Within: How to Find Peace in This Chaotic World

All I ask is, if you think this is a message you want to support, you agree to buy several and give them to your business acquaintances with the same provision.

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Most of the Biblical businesses were agricultural. Abraham, for example, was a wealthy rancher. Growing and selling grain, growing, processing and selling wine, and raising livestock were common business, but not the only ones. Joseph, for example, was involved in food distribution, Bezalel was a custom jeweler, Jesus a carpenter, Peter had a fishing business, and Paul made tents, to name a few.

Just like today, there are some things that a business, by virtue of its generally larger collection of manpower, assets and resources, can do that an individual cannot. There are some passages of scripture regarding the poor that provide directions that can only be accomplished by a business.

Here are two:

Leviticus 19:10 New American Bible (Revised Edition)

10 Likewise, you shall not pick your vineyard bare, nor gather up the grapes that have fallen. These things you shall leave for the poor and the alien. I, the LORD, am your God.

This part of the law given to Moses is directed toward vineyard operations. It’s pretty straight forward – at harvest time, leave the fruit that falls on the ground instead of picking it up. The needy and the stranger can then follow your pickers into the vineyard, and help themselves to the grapes.

Leviticus 23:22 New American Bible (Revised Edition)

22 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not be so thorough that you reap the field to its very edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. These things you shall leave for the poor and the alien. I, the LORD, am your God.

This is a very similar concept, focused on a different business. If you are in the business of growing, processing and selling grain, leave the corners of the fields unharvested, as well as the gleanings, so that those in need can help themselves to it.

These directions are part of the Mosaic law and not binding on Christians today, Nevertheless, they express a concept that modern Christian businesses may want to...[Click Here To Read The Entire Article Online]

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