Did you know we host free events to help you intentionally be missional in your business? We recently had the privilege to hear from BAM Global's Co-Chair Mats Tunehag on the Quadruple Bottom Line (check out our blog recap on his teaching on wealth creation, here!).

The Quadruple Bottom Line is what makes Business As Mission (BAM) as a global movement unique and separate from other approaches to business. While we don’t normally share our recordings and follow-up resources externally (all are located in the BAM Canada Network!), this one was too good not to share. Lean into his presentation video and resources, below!

Mats Tunehag continues to challenges and inspire us in all things Business As Mission, and this Round Table event was no different! BAM Global has connected over 500 people in 50 different nations - helping people understand the theological, practical, strategic, missiological, economical, global, and historical perspective of business.

We're part of a rich history that truly dates back to Biblical times in how we as believers get to approach our daily life and work!

Here are some things we covered in this Round Table (the replay is below!):

What's the purpose of business, our values, where do we get them from, and how do they inform how we run our businesses on the daily?
Why is there four bottom lines, and where in the Bible do they come from?
Practical encouragement for the entrepreneur and business owners applying this (and wrestling with how to measure them!)

Watch Mats’ teaching on the Quadruple Bottom Line, here:

Missional business owners have a unique motivation for being in business:

Tunehag shared the following shock factor moment that triggered lightbulb moments immediately in the audience:

"If you want to make money and money alone, I have a suggestion for you...do drug trafficking - it's profitable. Or even better, human trafficking - it's even more profitable and less risk." - Mats Tunehag

Yep... you wouldn't do that. 😳 = This was the exact face of our participants too - because we all know instinctively what kind of business NOT to build, because of our values.

It's not just about profit. However, introducing multiple bottom lines means including multiple stakeholders. Interestingly enough, "secular" business schools have also moved from one sole shareholder value (profit) to teaching on integrating more stakeholders (i.e. a triple bottom line approach).

For the believer, no matter where we work, we are called to live in alignment, “taking our Sunday talk into our Monday walk”. Whatever we profess and confess at church on Sunday should connect in the way we run our businesses on Monday.

Business as Mission is not just about extrapolating a Bible verse or two and applying it to how we run our business. BAM takes the core principles, values, and themes of the entire Biblical narrative - because one Bible verse can steer you in the wrong direction without context...!

BAM 1, 2, 3, 4… The Four Pillars:

PILLAR 1: There is ONE God, one Lord: "If He is Lord, He is also the owner of my business... If He is Lord over all, that it includes my business." (1 Corinthians 8:6)

PILLAR 2: DUAL Dimensional: love God, love neighbour - this is what Jesus said. They're connected. At the crossroads of the vertical/horizontal dimension is what we do every day. (Mark 12:31)

PRACTICAL TIP: Who is your “neighbour” as you do business? Staff, clients, customers, suppliers, tax authorities, competitors, the river, the community, the Church, the nation... So how can you express that love practically?

PILLAR 3: THREE Biblical Mandates: these apply to all Christians, and we can view them in their unique application to business:

The Creation mandate: Genesis 1. We're created in God's image: to create, to create good things/products and services, to create in community, for community, and to be good stewards - including our business, marketing, bookkeeping skills etc. In all we do.
The Great Commandment: to love God and love our neighbour (see #2).
The Great Commission: to glorify God and make Christ known among ALL people, to the ends of the Earth. (Matthew 28)

Note how, in the first two mandates above, you can clearly see the three bottom lines: profit, environment and caring for people practically (social). With BAM, there's an additional, unique contribution in the third mandate: The Great Commission.

99% of marketplace ministries in North America focus on tourism, Tunehag shared. When we say "BAM", we say that the Great Commission - the third mandate - is a focal point in how we steward and run our businesses. We value going to the ends of the Earth, the lost, loneliest and unreached people. We purposefully engage with the ones who don’t know Him yet.

"It doesn't make us more holy, but it does make [business] more complex." - Mats Tunehag

PILLAR 4: FOUR Bottom lines: Profit, Social, Environmental, and Spiritual. This is what Business As Mission is all about:

Serving people, just as Jesus came to serve people, and aligning with God’s purposes.
Being good stewards of the planet. Creation care is not just reactive, but innovative. We’re called to be proactive and deal with environmental challenges through our products and services.
Making profit. If you don't make a profit, you can't serve people. But it’s not about profit… more below!
Engaging in and helping others engage in the value of their spiritual health. More on this below.

About profit… this metaphor rocked us in the best way:

"I'm alive because the blood flows through my veins - I'm thankful for the blood that flows through my veins, but I don't live for my blood. My blood makes me alive so I can thrive..." - Mats Tunehag

“Likewise, what blood is to the body is what profit is to the business.” -Mats Tunehag

“Your business doesn’t exist to make profit, but without it, you don’t exist. Profit is important - but needs to be put into perspective.” - Mats Tunehag

Encouragement to the business owner integrating these four bottom lines:

You cannot think in four silos or try to compartmentalize them. This is good news: they will always interact and overlap!

For example: when there’s high staff turnover (the social bottom line suffers) = it's going to affect your financial bottom line.
Or, when people are treated with dignity in geographical areas where it's hard to get a job, the owners don't even need to tell them about Jesus - their posture and behaviour speaks for itself. Employees, staff, clients and collaborators typically end up asking the business owners about their why.
“The evangelistic tool has always been human resource management," Tunehag shared. The social concern naturally spills over into the spiritual outcome: Jesus generously provided for peoples’ needs. There's no cookie cutter approach to this, but you can trust and know that God is on the move in and through you and your business.

And in case you need this specific encouragement today:

"There is no such thing as a perfect BAM company, just like there is no perfect church. No BAM company has perfected the quadruple bottom line, but it is a matter of a journey. The issue isn't how do you perfect it, the issue is do you want to be intentional and professional about having a positive impact on multiple bottom lines for multiple stakeholders with a Great Commission perspective. If you're on that journey... good!"