For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (mistakenly called the Mormon Church), living the Gospel is a way of life, not just a Sunday activity. Principles of truth affect a person spiritually as well as temporally.
Some principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints include maintaining high levels of integrity and honesty, abstaining from tobacco, alcohol, and harmful drugs, and nurturing valuable family relationships. Peaceful self-assurance accompanies living God’s commandments. God promises blessings when we live His commandments. In the Book of Mormon, a record of God’s people on the American continent, the people achieved a state of peace and prosperity. “And so great was the prosperity of the church, and so many the blessings which were poured out upon the people, that even the high priests and the teachers were themselves astonished beyond measure” (Helaman 3:25).
An interesting article from someone of a different faith, Hamish McKenzie, contends that Mormonism is “the world’s most capitalist religion” and “breeds…many entrepreneurs.” [1] I’ve never considered Mormonism to be a capitalist religion, but as I read the article, I realized how basic Church teachings of self-reliance, hard work, service, and frugality could appear capitalistic to some.
McKenzie noted, “In the Mormon culture, there is also no shame in getting rich, which provides people with the ability to help others” and mentioned a few Mormon entrepreneurs who have made it big.
There’s not only Josh James, who sold Omniture to Adobe in 2009 for $1.8 billion, or Todd Pedersen, founder of home automation company Vivint, last year acquired by Blackstone for $2 billion, but there’s also JetBlue founder David Neeleman, one-time Presidential hopeful and Bain Capital co-founder Mitt Romney, and Clayton Christensen, author of “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” heralded by the Economist as one of the most important business books ever written, and a kind of bible to startups.
Scott Petersen is the managing director for the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at Brigham Young University, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and attracts the religion’s best and brightest students. In 2010, Petersen’s department adopted the Lean Startup methodology for its teaching, and for the last three years it has hosted the International Business Model Competition, an annual gathering that attracts more than 1,300 universities from 10 countries.
Petersen says Mormon culture in general is highly motivated. “God expects great things of us, so we expect great things of ourselves,” says Petersen, who also serves as a mentor at Provo’s new startup incubator, Camp 4. While those great things can include lots of money, that’s not really the point of all the hard work. “Wealth is the byproduct but not the main objective,” says Petersen. “The main objective is to give back.”
As a Mormon, Petersen’s statement does reflect my attitude about wealth. Regardless of external criticism or distrust of Mormonism’s message or purpose, our main mandate from God has always been to serve others – spiritually, physically, temporally, emotionally, etc.
For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? When saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me (Matthew 25:35-40).
“When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17).
Robert Workman founded Goal Zero to create and sell portable power systems. He then created a nonprofit organization called Teaching Individuals and Families Independence through Enterprise (TIFIE) Humanitarian, with the hope to eliminate poverty, illiteracy, and hunger.
“TIFIE is the incubator to come up with innovative tools that are produced by Goal Zero and brought back to help communities,” says Ryan D. Shepherd, chief operating officer of TIFIE Humanitarian.
Workman had conducted business in China for 28 years and saw that when the barriers to capitalism and entrepreneurship diminished, individuals thrived. “When people were given the proper resources, they could lift themselves from poverty,” he says. Wishing to provide some of those resources, he created TIFIE and set to work in the Congo.
“We found multiple opportunities to help,” Workman explains. “Through TIFIE we set up a trucking distribution system: We pay farmers’ market prices for the farmers’ product, take the product to the city, and sell it. In turn we buy commodities to sell to the farmers.”
Through the TIFIE Light a Village program, light systems are installed in villagers’ homes. Villagers are taught how to use and maintain the equipment and can pay for it through a microloan, and so far no one has defaulted. A TIFIE-built solar-power station provides fresh batteries, and villagers exchange their depleted ones with new ones for a nominal fee. “We have a community with 70 homes and 17 businesses all hooked up,” Shepherd says. “We did an installation on a home, came back a week later, and saw about 40 kids packed in a room watching a movie. The homeowner had charged the kids a fee and turned his home into a movie house. In his own way he was establishing a home-based business.”
President Ezra Taft Benson, president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ from 1985-1994, taught a principle which inspires continued action of many Latter-day Saints.
The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.
Yes, Christ changes men, and changed men can change the world. Men changed for Christ will be captained by Christ. Like Paul they will be asking, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6.) Peter stated they will “follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). John said they will “walk, even as he walked” (1 John 2:6). Finally, men captained by Christ will be consumed in Christ.
Their will is swallowed up in his will. Not only would they die for the Lord, but, more important, they want to live for Him. [2]
God gives material means to benefit others. Jesus Christ is the perfect example of this truth. His Grace enables us to rise above sin and death. We have the opportunity to lift and bless the lives of those around us.
To learn more about the service rendered by Mormons and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, visit www.ldsphilanthropies.org.
Additional Resource:
How A Mormon Mission Prepared Me To Open A Foreign Office
