Tag Archives: service

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How Could A Business Help With Employee Hardship?

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ministry actionOne of the main purposes of this blog is to share ideas relating to running your business as a platform for Christian ministry. I have shared many examples of things we do in our business in an effort to minister to our employees, their families, our customers, and the community. Today, I want to tell you about a ministry action called the Impact Fund program that we currently run within our business to help with employee hardship.

Employee Hardship Assistance

The Impact Fund is designed to help employees going through a hardship. All employees have the opportunity to contribute to this fund directly from their paycheck. Anytime we become aware of an employee going through a tough time financially, we use money from this fund to help them out.

employee hardshipThe contributions are voluntary and range from $2 to $40 per donor each month. All assistance given is confidential and the decisions to assist are made by the Leadership Team. We make sure the needs are legitimate and not reflective of a trend. Rarely is assistance given to the same employee twice.

I have been amazed at the response from the employees giving. I have also been amazed at the opportunities we have had to help those in need! This really is a great program. I urge you to consider something similar for your own company.

Below is one of my recent articles promoting the Impact Fund program in our company newsletter.

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    Working Together

      Not long after the I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) test was developed, several studies were conducted to find out how different groups of people scored on the test as groups. The test was administered to men and women, young and old, rich and poor, and many ethnic groups as well. It was in this context that the I.Q. test was given to a group of Hopi Indians.

      When the Hopi received the test, they immediately started to ask each other questions and to compare their answers. The instructor saw this happening, and quickly intervened, telling them that they each had to take the test alone. “You are not permitted to help each other or to share your answers among yourselves,” he told them.

      When the Hopi heard this, they were outraged and refused to take the test, saying, “It is not important that I am smarter than my brother, or that my brother is smarter than me. It is only important what we can do together!”

    Folks, I am NOT recommending group work on factory certification tests! At the same time, I am telling you that we need to look around and lend a hand to those in need of help. If we are truly going to act like a family and reap the benefits of being part of a family, then we all need to make sure we are acting like Hopi Indians!

    One perfect opportunity to do this is what we call the Impact Fund. Each month, you have the opportunity to contribute some amount (of your choice) from your check into this fund. The money in this fund is used for responding to employee hardship. This money is not used for anything else. While I cannot go into detail on any of the specific employee situations that this fund has helped with, I can tell you with confidence that it is working!

    Here are two ways you can help your fellow employees…

    1. Contribute some amount from your check to go into the fund.
    (anything from $1 or $2 up to $20 or more per check – anything helps!)
    2. Make us aware of employee hardships that you see or hear about.
    (see Brian, Chris, Allen, Tim, or Mike)

    I appreciate all who are currently contributing! I know the recipients of the help appreciate it! I encourage everyone to consider participating as you can.

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Do you have anything like this at your business?

Do you have any success stories to share?

What would it take to do something similar?

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How To Measure Spiritual Value Added

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spiritual valueAs owners or leaders in Christian businesses, we should be looking at our businesses from an eternal perspective. Profitability is a must and team development is critical to our success, but the impact we have on eternity (spiritual value) should be our primary concern. Quite simply, nothing else will last.

Spiritual Value Added

When all is said and done and we stand in judgment, nothing material from this world will count. Only what we have done that survives the fire will matter. While there are no metrics that fully capture this eternal impact we desire, I believe we must do the best we can to track our efforts in this area. Let’s look at Spiritual Value Added (SVA) from C12’s Tri-Value model.

As the final component of the Tri-Value Model from the C12 Group, SVA consists of three elements (a.k.a. “The Three S’s”)”

    1. Salvation – those coming to know Jesus for the first time
    2. Sanctification – helping believers to grow or be strengthened in their faith
    3. Service – giving money or service to those in need, especially the “least among us”

Each of these elements requires different actions from us. Each has different results that we can expect. If we are serious about evaluating our performance from an eternal perspective, then we need to measure both our actions and the results they produce. We need to do this for each of The Three S’s!

Salvation

Let’s first look at Salvation. The first thing we must realize about this element is that we cannot make it happen! Nothing we can do will save anyone…that is the job of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, we certainly can make sure that we are spreading the Word – teaching people about the gospel message. Here are a couple of examples of when this could happen:

    1. Chaplain is given permission by employee to share the reason for his faith
    2. Gospel-centered devotion is shared with all employees
    3. Gospel is shared at company-sponsored Boy’s & Girls Club Christmas party
    4. New Testament given as gift after a transaction with a customer

Rate you and your team are doing in this area on a 1-10 scale compared to your potential. You will also want to have a system to gather the results – those who actually turned their lives over to Jesus. This is probably the most difficult to track because you may never find out about some decisions. Other times you may have just planted the seed and someone else will be there to see it harvested. Regardless, start counting those you are aware of and see what happens.

Sanctification

The next “S” is Sanctification. The activities in this area can range from Bible studies or classes offered to employees, customers, or anyone you choose. Any work done to teach, strengthen, or support believers in their walk with Christ should be counted here. Some examples include:

    1. Lunch-and-Learn video series offered to employees, customers, vendors
    2. Small group studies held at lunch or before/after work
    3. Classes offered to employees and their families on financial or marriage issues

Again, rate you and your team on a 1-10 scale compared to your potential. For the results in this area, you want to count how many people participated.

Service

The final “S” is Service. There are many ways you and your team can give to those in need. Get creative and include as many employees as possible. While it may be easier to just write a check at the end of the year and be done with it, you will miss incredible blessings if you do. here are some examples:

    1. Sponsor a Thanksgiving meal at a local shelter & enlist employees to volunteer
    2. Sponsor a team of employees in a local event like the March of Dimes walk-a-thon
    3. Sponsor a kids organization with Christmas toys & let employees do the shopping!

Rate yourselves on a 1-10 scale the same as before, comparing your actions with your potential. The results here are fairly easy to track. Whether you count the money given in dollars or percent of net profit, either works. I would also count the number of man-hours your employees log.

So there it is – Spiritual Value Added – the final component of the Tri-Value model series. Get started evaluating your performance and let me know how you are doing. If you are at all disappointed at your current performance, remember this is not a sprint! Just decide to make a change for the better and get on your horse and ride!

Looking back over all three assessments (TVA, EVA, SVA), where are you the weakest?

What will it take for you to see improvement when you do this assessment again next year?

What is your first step?

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Action Plan – Step 4 In A Strategic Ministry Plan

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action planThis is number 4 in a series of 5 posts about how to create a Strategic Plan for Ministry in your business. So far, we have created an effective mission statement with an eternal perspective, identified our potential mission field, and had a brainstorm session about how we will do ministry in the course of doing business. Now we will turn our attention to the laying out of the action plan.

Best Ideas

Now, I am assuming you have already completed your brainstorming session from last time. Depending on your preference of using a smaller team of key managers or a larger group of employees, you need to gather your team together again. Taking the list of ideas generated in your brainstorm session, the group now needs to sift through and find the best ideas, making sure they are in alignment with your mission statement.

Ideally, those that are the easiest to implement with the greatest impact should come first. You can also consider which ones are the most exciting in order to get the most buy-in from the stakeholders.

Categorize the Ideas

Once you have narrowed the list down to those that are the best fit for your current circumstances, you probably want to group them according to which of the three facets of ministry is appropriate (Evangelism, Discipleship, Service), as well as which mission field category applies (Employees, Customers, Suppliers/Vendors, etc.).

While it is not necessary to evenly distribute your activities across these categories, it is good to make sure you are not ignoring any of them.

Create the Action Plan

So you have a list of your best ideas sorted into the appropriate categories. Now it is time to create the plan to actually do them! A typical action plan should cover three elements:

    Task– What will be done and by whom?
    Timeline– When it will be done?
    Resources– What is required for it to be done?

Once you have laid out the action plan for each of your ideas, set some goals for the results. Don’t be shy!

Measurement Challenge

At the same time, you need to remember that by definition, the eternal spiritual impact we are attempting to make is sometimes difficult or impossible to measure, making it tough to set goals. Much of what we are doing is actually just “sowing seeds” and pointing people toward God. We cannot save anyone. Nor can we change their hearts. Even if heart change is a goal, how would you measure it?

Because of this challenge, it is my recommendation that you lean toward setting goals based on activity. If one of your action plan items is to place small new testament Bibles in your waiting area, then just measure how many are taken. If you are teaching a weekly Bible study for employees, then just measure attendance. In this case, you could take it a step further and measure how many of those in attendance go on to lead their own study! Either way, be careful how and what you target and measure. Stay true to Scripture!

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Of course, you need to make sure your action plan goals are S.M.A.R.T. goals as well!

    Specific– Determine exactly what will be done, when it will be done, who will do it, etc. and write it down.
    Measurable– Make sure you can measure the activity. If you cannot, how will you know if you accomplished it?
    Attainable– This does not mean to set the bar low, but to make sure they are realistic.
    Relevant– The goals need to be in alignment with your mission statement. They need to be important to you.
    Timely– You need to have a time frame or a target date. Open-ended goals are soft.

Start Now!

One hint here…though it is not set in stone, this is great advice. As the leader during this process, you need to encourage the group to agree on at least one or two action items that you will start tomorrow. Don’t lose any of the momentum you have built up to this point. Do something! You will gain a boost if you will be sure to do this.

Once you have set these goals for each idea on your final action plan, you are ready to move on to the last step in this process – determining the accountability process of measuring and monitoring the results. See you next post!

Are moving through the process with me or are you thinking this might be something for next year? Or the next year?

If you are, how is it going so far? Do you have some exciting goals?

Are you inspiring your people in a way that excites them?

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Brainstorm Session – Step 3 In A Strategic Ministry Plan

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brainstorming

This is number 3 in a series of 5 posts that outline a process for creating a strategic plan for ministry in your business.

So far in this series, we have crafted a mission statement that states, from an eternal perspective, why our business exists. We have also counted the various categories of people that will come into contact with our business on some level and identified them as our mission field.

In this post, we will look at how we, in the course of doing business, minister to those in our mission field in a way that impacts them for eternity.

Buck Knives Company

Probably the best example I can come up with is the Buck Knives Company. For decades, they have integrated the Gospel message into the course of business by including a small, printed Gospel testimony (pictured below) in the box with every product. As a result of years of doing this, they have multiple vertical file cabinets filled with letters and notes from customers that were touched by these Christ-centered messages.

ministry in business

So the question you must ask is this:

What is the true product of the Buck Knives Company, the knife or the Gospel message?

Let me ask you this…which one will last longer?

Brainstorm Session

This example from the Buck Knives Company aims to impact customers. What about employees and their families? What about your suppliers & vendors or any other groups we came up with when we identified our mission field? Well, that is what this step is all about. We have some brainstorming to do!

It is time to gather your team. Depending on your preference, you can include a large group of employees or you can start with your key people (that are bought in to the mission and vision). Depending on your size, you might even break into several groups. Either way, the point is to engage the participants in a creative session to determine opportunities and processes to minister to others while doing business.

This is a time for free-flowing ideas, not critique. That can come later.

Taking the three-fold definition of ministry I gave you in the last post (evangelism, discipleship, and service), encourage the participants to come up with ideas for each of the categories. You also may want to list the various mission field categories we identified last post (employees, customers, vendors, etc.) to help generate ideas.

The participants need to feel comfortable offering any idea that comes to mind, without the fear of rejection. This is a time for free-flowing ideas, not critique. That can come later. Any and every idea needs to come out. While one idea may later be scratched from the list for some reason, it may generate another idea that is a winner. Let them flow!

Expand Participation

While this is certainly a simple step in the process, don’t overlook it. Even if you start with your key people, I encourage you to later bring everyone into the process. You will likely get some ideas that would never have surfaced otherwise. Plus, you get much better buy-in when everyone is involved.

Now that you have your list of ideas, keep them handy. We will look at what to do with them in the next post. If you are interested, here is a list of 101 ministry ideas from C12 Group that you can use as thought starters. Feel free to implement any of them as well, but don’t use this list as an excuse to skip your brainstorming session!

Have you done this before? What were the results?

If not, are you willing to try it now?

When are you going to schedule it?

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Mission Field – Step 2 In A Strategic Ministry Plan

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This is number two in a series of posts on effective Strategic Ministry Planning for your business. In my last post, I described the value and characteristics of an effective mission statement for your company. Today, I will address the potential mission field for your company.  In business language, this is your target market or target audience.

mission field

Ministry Defined

In order to effectively determine where we are going to do ministry, I think it best we first define exactly what we mean by ministry. In this context, we are going to define ministry in three parts.

First is ministry in evangelism – leading those people without a saving faith in Jesus Christ to come to know Him. Not all people are wired for this type of ministry, but there are also people who are wired specifically for this type of ministry. These people cannot wait to share the love of Christ with someone else – friend or stranger.

Next is ministry in discipleship – helping those with faith in Jesus to grow in that faith. As Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 12, some are just gifted to teach. Some may enjoy doing so in a group while others may prefer a one-on-one discipling relationship. Either way, this is a critical part of ministry.

Finally is ministry in service – this consists of acts of love and kindness done in the name of Jesus. Just like some people are wired for evangelism and some are wired for teaching, this ministry requires those who embrace serving others.

Relational Ministry

When you think about it, the best ministry for Christ (regardless of which category) is done in relational contacts. God created us as relational beings. Look at Genesis 2:18 where He says it is not good for Adam to be alone. We need each other, therefore our ministry needs to be relational in the same way.

As a result of this line of thinking, we can see that every relational contact in the course of doing business is an opportunity to do ministry. Let’s take a look at a method of determining these mission field opportunities.

Mission Field

Courtesy of the C12 Group, we can use this Marketplace Mission Field worksheet (click to open in separate window and print out) to identify just how many opportunities your company has for ministry in a year.

Employees

    Employees– How many part-time and full-time employees do you have in your company? Do not count them in the same way you might for a financial report (0.5 for part-time or using Full Time Equivalents). If it is a person that gets compensated for their work, count them as one!
    Family Members– How many family members do your employees have in their households? Count them all! If you don’t know, just figure 1.5 family members per employee as an estimate.
    Applicants– How many applicants do you have in a given year? Consider all jobs and all applicants – whether online, by phone, or in person. If they inquire about a job with your company, count them.

Customers

    Current Customers– How many current customers does your company have? How many will you have this year?
    Past Customers– How many customers have you had in the past? In your database?
    Future Customers/Prospects– How many customers or prospects will look at your business this year? Even if you will not sell them, count them if they will have any contact with your company or any advertising from your company this year. Think about your website, trade shows, direct mail, flyers, etc. If they will get some impression of your business, they fall into this category.

Suppliers/Vendors

    Current– With how many suppliers and/or vendors are you currently doing business? Count the number of their individual employees that come into contact with your company, not the number of companies.
    Future (potential)– How many people come into your business in the period of a year to solicit your business (whether you do business with them or not)?

Others

    Competitors– How many individual contacts do you or your employees have with your competition? Some of these could actually fall under the vendor category as well. Don’t double count!
    Trade Associates– This category could include trainers, coaches, consultants, outside marketing reps, factory or franchise reps, etc. Count them all!
    Others– You may have thought of some not mentioned here. Add them in as well, but make sure to let me know what I missed. I want to add them to the template!

Total Opportunities

Now, all that is left is for you to total all of the above categories. Because of our website and the reach we have through nationwide vehicle searches, our number came to several million possible impressions! That is an unusually high number, but I bet your number is much higher than you were thinking before this exercise.

Folks, this is a real number representing the mission field opportunities you and your company will have in the next 12 months to impact people for eternity. Certainly, some of these will be greater opportunities than others. But regardless of the level of contact with your company, these are real people that could, in some way, see a different eternity simply because you decided to let God guide your business. How big is that?

Next time, we will begin to think about HOW we can impact this mission field.

What were you thinking before this exercise?

What was your company’s number?

Does that light a fire in your heart?