#097 – Integriosity – Restore – Organizations

ESSENCE:  RESTORE is the fourth and final step in the path of Integriosity.®  It is about seeing the bigger WHY’s of work and business materialize and manifest in an organization that has been RE-IMAGINED and RE-ALIGNED with Biblical beliefs, values and priorities based upon a RENEWED understanding of God’s purpose for work and business.  It is the narrow “ancient path” back to God’s design.  Because an Organization is merely a collection of people working together toward a common purpose (and, as such, it derives its purpose from their purpose), understanding how faithfully “doing right” through business a better way RESTORES Organizations, is really about understanding how an Organization faithfully “doing right” through business a better way provides a platform for RESTORED People to express and fulfill their humanity through work in ways that could not be accomplished by people working alone.  If God gives people a “plumb line” for how to live out Imago Dei,  it follows that a collection of people working together toward a common purpose–an Organization–requires the same to realize fully its intrinsic Kingdom value.

Back in post #056 (Loving by Serving-Nature of Business), we said:

An organization is a merely a collection of people working together toward a common purpose. As such, it derives its purpose from their purpose. . . .  Organizations such as businesses have intrinsic Kingdom value because they are a creation of God’s image-bearers that provides the platform and the opportunity for humans to come together in relationship to express and fulfill their humanity through work by producing and promoting flourishing and “building for the Kingdom” in ways that could not be accomplished by people working alone.

People, People, People–Humans, Humans, Humans.  Sound familiar?  It is exactly what we said in our last post when we were looking at how faithfully “doing right” through business a better way RESTORES People.  Looking at People, we were focused on how the damage done to individuals through the brokenness of “work as usual” can be healed: Purpose, Identity, Dignity, Blessing.  People aren’t free to experience the full humanity of their creative and productive potential when they are still the walking wounded suffering from Lack of Purpose, Misplaced Identity, Lack of Dignity and Burdened by Work.

In exploring how faithfully “doing right” through business a better way RESTORES Organizations, we are really exploring how an Organization faithfully “doing right” through business a better way provides a platform for RESTORED People to express and fulfill their humanity through work by producing and promoting flourishing and “building for the Kingdom” in ways that could not be accomplished by people working alone.  RESTORING People is healing the brokenness of “work as usual” and RESTORING Organizations is eliminating the aspects of business as usual that prevent people from fulfilling the Creation Mandate.

RESTORE ORGANIZATIONS: Why Do Organizations Need Restoration?

In post post #056 (Love by Serving-Nature of Business), we also concluded:

An organization’s full intrinsic Kingdom value–the flourishing it could unleash–can only be realized if its purpose, values and priorities align with Biblical purposes, values and priorities–with God’s restoration plan for His Kingdom.

The “flourishing it could unleash” really means the “flourishing its people, working together, could unleash.”  And “it’s people” includes its leaders.  In numerous posts, we have pointed out the cost of an organization pursuing business as usual (which includes business as usual masked as business a better way by a faith as usual Placebo):

  • Missed Purpose for the Organization:  We believe there is a bigger WHY for organizations than Profit as Purpose and business as usual.   An organization can glorify God by maximizing human flourishing or it can maximize profit, but it can’t serve both those masters.  Failing to pursue faithfully “doing right” through business a better way is missing that bigger WHY.
  • Missed Calling for Its Leaders:  We believe leaders of organizations of humans are called (as humans created in the image of God) by the Creation Mandate (whether or not they even know what it is) to steward those organizations (which themselves are part of creation because they are created by humans exercising their God-given authority and mandate to create culture and social structures) in a way that maximizes flourishing and furthers God’s restoration plan for His Kingdom.  Anything less, including by following faith as usual Side Roadsrepresents missed calling for those leaders.
  • Missed Flourishing for Its People:  If an organization pursues business as usual and Profit as Purpose (including by getting detoured onto a Side Road that keeps it pursuing business as usual under a facade of faith as usual), it will miss the opportunity to glorify God by providing opportunities for individuals to express aspects of their God-given identities in creative and meaningful work, by providing opportunities, goods and services that enable families and communities to flourish and by creating a culture of Shalom conducive to the flourishing of all people it touches.  They will miss “doing right”.

To manage a business in a way that grows out of a Biblical view of relationships, community and human dignity before God has divine significance, irrespective of what else might be done from this platform. (James Hunter)

RESTORE ORGANIZATIONS: The Fruit of Integriosity for Organizations

As we pointed out in our last few posts, the Cambridge English Dictionary defines “restore” as “to return something or someone to an earlier good condition.”  The fruit of faithfully “doing right” through business a better way–the fruit of Integriosity–is to participate in God’s restoration plan for His Kingdom (post #045 Kingdom–Bigger Gospel).  We need look no further than Genesis to understand “an earlier good condition” (post#046 Kingdom–Lessons from Creation–Why Are We Here).  Humanity was created in God’s image to flourish, and work was created before the Fall as a good thing–a way to reflect our humanity as God’s productive and creative image-bearers–and an organization derives its intrinsic Kingdom value–and God-given purpose–from the purpose of its people.

We believe people can fulfill the Creation Mandate and experience fully their humanity only by living their lives in alignment with Biblical beliefs, values and priorities.  It follows that a collection of people working together toward a common purpose–an organization–can only realize its full intrinsic Kingdom value–the flourishing it could unleash–if its purpose, values and priorities align with Biblical purposes, values and priorities–with God’s restoration plan for His Kingdom.

In RESTORING an Organization, faithfully “doing right” through business a better way:

Allows that organization to become aligned with God’s purpose for His creation, which creation includes the organization and its people;

Allows the leaders of that organization to fulfill their calling by stewarding the organization they have been “given” in accordance with the Creation Mandate, which represents the “terms and conditions” of that stewardship; and

Allows the people who work for the organization more fully to express and fulfill their humanity through work by producing and promoting flourishing and “building for the Kingdom”.

And that leads us to the statement from James Hunter that we have probably quoted more times than any other in these posts:

To manage a business in a way that grows out of a Biblical view of relationships, community and human dignity before God has divine significance, irrespective of what else might be done from this platform.

Work matters!  Business matters!  Organizations matter!  We have the opportunity to Restore Organizations through the way in which we conduct business and lead organizations.   Every decision has the potential to move God’s Kingdom a little closer to God’s perfect Restoration.  The alternative to faithfully “doing right” through business a better way is business as usual and work as usual.

It is time to begin executing “business a better way” in alignment with Biblical beliefs, values and priorities–it is time to begin RESTORING by faithfully “doing right” through Integriosity.®

SPOILER ALERT:   In our next post, we will explore how faithfully “doing right” through business a better way can RESTORE Work Relationships.

PERSONAL NOTE (from PM):   I remember the first time I heard the term “plumb line”.  It was used by an older pastor named Tom (Tom is a big man who wore cowboy boots in Connecticut and sported a big mustache) during a gathering at the New England Prayer CenterI had no idea what he was talking about (if you are where I was, it is that string hanging in the image for this post).  Brittanica explains a “plumb line” as:

plumb line is a light line with a weight (plumb bob) at one end that, when suspended next to a workpiece, defines a vertical line. Plumb comes from the Latin plumbum, or “lead,” the material that replaced stone as the weight for the bob or plummet.

As it turns out, the Bible references plumb lines in a few places, but I think the most helpful is in Isaiah 28:17 when God says:

And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line.
If you have been following these posts, you will know that “righteousness” is a key part of Integriosity (see posts #039-#044).
People need “plumb lines” to live life as God intended–to keep us on track.  My friend Dr. Skip Moen believes we actually need them to become human.  He wrote “We become human when we act as the Creator acts.  We earn humanity over the course of our lives.”  Skip explains, “If I am going to become human, I must move in the direction of the divine design in me.”
I believe that means a person must also move the organizations they are given to steward in the direction of the “divine design”.  A Re-Imagined Vision, Re-Imagined Values and a Re-Imagined Culture act as plumb lines.  They help an organization and its people move toward God’s “divine design”–toward God’s divine plan for the restoration of all creation.
I really like plumb lines–thank you Tom.
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Photo Credit: Original photo by By Jim Linwood [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons](photo cropped)

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