Faith as Fuel for Risk Taking

FaithInvestment
Written By Donald Simmons, CFP®

Investor decisions are often motivated by fear and greed. This is true for Christians and non-Christians alike. While the terms fear and greed may seem harsh, they often fuel investment decisions that seek to minimize risk and maximize financial return for a single stakeholder, the investor.

In contrast, investing as God’s steward requires that investors seek to optimize the interests of other stakeholders, including customers, employees, the community, the environment, even God. God’s oikonomos should commit to provide a safe work environment and living wages for employees, reduce corruption, increase justice in the community, and care for, rather than exploit, the environment.

This mindset requires an understanding of living by faith, holding tightly to God and holding loosely to our expectation of returns.

Living by Faith

Hebrews 11 is commonly called the “faith chapter” because more than fourteen times the writer tells us, “By faith…” followed by the story of a person who undertook a courageous, life-changing action in response to God’s call on their lives.

Dick Weidner, founder of the Legacy Kingdom Fund, renames Hebrews 11 the “risk chapter” because each of the faith moves described involves a level of risk. Weidner says: “By faith, Noah risked scorn, ridicule and his possessions in building the ark. Unaware of where he was going, Abraham stepped out in faith and took the risk to live as a stranger in a foreign country. By faith, Moses’ parents risked their lives to save their son. By faith, Moses turned his back on the treasures of Egypt and risked all to obey God. By faith, Rahab risked her life and that of her family to hide the spies.”

FAITH means belief, firm persuasion, assurance, firm conviction, faithfulness. Faith is confidence in what we hope for and the assurance that the Lord is working, even though we cannot see it. Faith knows that no matter what the situation, in our life or someone else’s, the Lord is working in it.

While each person’s circumstances in Hebrews 11 differed, they shared a common understanding of believing in God’s purpose for their lives. In each case, their faith required that they risk something (reputation, comfort, material security, even the potential of being killed) in order to obey God’s specific calling on their life.

Aligning Investments

As investors, our main goal should be aligning our investments with God’s purposes. This type of alignment requires faith because it runs counter to what our culture has taught us about the purpose for our investments.

When investors act in faith, looking at benefitting multiple stakeholders, here’s what can happen:

  1. An investment of five percent of your nest egg into missional businesses, especially in countries closed to the Gospel, can introduce the name of Jesus. It can also provide needed employment and societal transformation.

  2. If just one percent of the investments Christians held became available for capital investments in missional business, we could deploy billions of dollars into places where capital for accomplishing God’s purposes is in short supply. We could make a material impact on poverty, hunger, education, and safe water among people who desperately need it, and proclaim the gospel among the least reached at the same time.

  3. Investors challenge the dominant goal of financial security that holds us in bondage to fear and greed. As a result, they open themselves up to trust God for their daily bread while they deploy assets God has given them for His broader kingdom purposes.

Relying on God’s Spirit

The apostle Paul talks in Romans 12 about how God’s spirit renews our minds and allows us to fight back against the pattern of this world. As a result, we can discern His will for us. If we believe his will is, as Paul says, “good, pleasing, and perfect” (Romans 12:2), we can trust that any influence we give God over our investment choices will also be good, pleasing, and perfect. God’s steward must advance beyond the basic financial teaching where many Christians settle—namely getting free from debt and diligently saving for their own financial goals.

Might God be calling His faithful stewards to deploy resources through both donations and investments to accomplish His eternal purposes and win souls for His kingdom? If so, faithful stewards might need to take on risk as an act of obedience to God’s call on their lives, much like the heroes found in Hebrews 11.

If God is speaking to you and stirring your heart and mind regarding taking a faith step with your investments, visit our website Steward Advisors Group to talk to an advisor.

Donald Simmons, CFP®

Don has over thirty years of experience building and managing a boutique investment firm in upstate New York that he founded in 1988. A CFP® Professional with a degree in counseling and post graduate training as a portfolio asset allocation specialist, Don fuses professional portfolio strategy with investor psychology and behavior to provide a well-informed perspective on our role as Christian steward-investors.  With nearly a quarter billion dollars of assets under management, his firm consistently ranks among the top 1% of financial advisor practices in the United States. 

Being a fiduciary of his clients’ assets has enlightened Don’s understanding of our role as God’s “oikonomos”—His designated asset managers.  Additionally, Don believes that business itself is an incarnational witness, much like the ministry of Young Life through which Don began his own personal relationship with Christ and with which Don has been involved as staff, volunteer, and committee chair for over four decades.  

While serving as chief operations officer for a London-based Christian economic development fund,  Don observed firsthand the great chasm between societies where capital is hoarded in abundance compared to locations where it is in short supply and desperately needed to fulfill God’s redemptive plan. Don was responsible for coordinating a global management team that deployed dozens of mentors and coaches and financial capital to transformational businesses across more than twenty countries and among the most impoverished communities in the world. Furthermore, as he has traveled extensively both personally and professionally to dozens of frontier market countries since 2003, he’s gained an awareness of the physical and spiritual poverty that are too often met with ignorance and apathy of American Christians regarding their plight. 

Don’s passion for meeting these needs through the expansion of business as mission, as well as being a long-time steward of his clients’ assets, has led him to not only help his clients prepare for retirement, manage their wealth, and consider charitable giving, but also to help investors match their investment decisions to God’s purposes.  

Don has been married to Amy since 1989. Their home is a hub of activity for their four children and a steady stream of guests. In addition to family, Don’s passions include flying an antique (1948) seaplane, cooking pizza in his wood-fired pizza oven, and serving as a board member for numerous charities.

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