Aligning Faith and Finances

Welcome to the “Faith and Finances” issue of the GreenMoney Journal. 

This is an important topic with hundreds of years of history in the Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) community. Today millions of people are aligning their investments with their sincerely held beliefs and values. I've always found stewardship important from personal finances to the planet we call home. How do you align your money with your morals? Here are short excerpts from the four Featured Articles from the November 2018 issue, the full articles are at-  https://greenmoneyjournal.com

-Cliff Feigenbaum, founder and managing editor of GreenMoney Journal

•  What Would the Good Samaritan Do? Finding a Shared Vision for Values-Driven Investors
by Mark Regier, Vice President, Praxis Mutual Funds
The phrase “What would Jesus do?” emerged in American consciousness during the 1990s as motto for many Christians seeking to regularly reflect on how the moral teachings of Jesus could be reflected in their daily lives. Whether one participates in organized religion or not, the idea of finding a mechanism that calls us to step outside of our personal situation to view things from a different, morally-grounded perspective can have many benefits especially for values-driven investors.   

•  Inspired Stewardship 
by Teresa Romano Roybal, Minister, The River Santa Fe
Each financial seed we plant in each and every field we choose, is only destined for success if all the criteria in the divine mandate has been met. Good seed in good soil and people of integrity managing the process. Unethical practices, policies or products erode human dignity and moral enterprise. Placing little value on honesty and ethics creates a morally hazardous field and a harvest of unsustainability. Is faith and trust a commodity to be traded? I don’t believe so.   

•  The High Calling of Business 
by Jason Myhre, Managing Partner, Eventide Asset Management
God gives us work and entrusts us with the task of world-making. In the story of creation, God created the garden rich with latent potential, yet withheld the task of completing it for the people he would make. God intends humanity, through work, to be his partner in developing the world. Humanity was to enlarge the locus of the beauty and provision of the garden, in all our culture making, throughout the world and for the benefit of all. Many Christians believe that the purpose of business is to serve the global common good. 

•  God Calls His Followers to Honor Him with Their Finances 
by Robert Knight, Communications Advisor, Timothy Partners 
With the rising number of “responsible” funds in the early 90s, there wasn’t really an option for Christian conservatives to invest without compromising their beliefs, in life and family values. In 1994, under Art Ally’s leadership, the Timothy Plan unveiled its fund aimed at evangelical Christians. Secular investment firms weren’t thrilled by the arrival of Timothy Plan’s Biblically Responsible Investments, but investors were, and today there are over a dozen successful BRI-based mutual funds with billions in assets.  

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