Stewardship and Priestly Measures within a Balanced Scorecard

[By: John Duncan, 2024]

Abstract

Christian business leaders function as stewards and priests in the marketplace. The balanced scorecard’s traditional measures can be utilized to help any manager be a good steward within an organization. This conceptual paper demonstrates a new model of using “priestly” measures to help Christian leaders accomplish God-honoring goals in their businesses and to better utilize their organizations as platforms of ministry to glorify God. 

Introduction

Stewardship is a widely recognized and valued concept in organizations. The importance of stewardship has been evidenced by the development of a stewardship theory of management in recent years. Many sections of Scripture including the dominion mandate and several parables of Jesus emphasize the significance of stewardship for followers of Christ. 

Christian business owners and leaders are called to be good stewards of their time, talent, and treasure in order to advance the Kingdom of God through commerce. In addition, business leaders have the opportunity to serve as priests in the marketplace to bring others into a relationship with God. Christian business leaders should build their priestly function into the organization’s strategy in order to use their businesses as platforms for ministry. 

Unfortunately, followers of Christ who lead businesses can spend so much time and effort focusing on managing day-to-day operations that they may not achieve their ultimate goal of having a Kingdom impact on their stakeholder community. The balanced scorecard, developed by Robert Kaplan and David Norton, is a well-established performance measurement framework that combines strategic non-financial performance measures with traditional financial metrics to give managers and executives a more “balanced” view of organizational performance.¹ This paper describes how the balanced scorecard can be used to help business leaders be better stewards of organizational resources and how it can help them be more effective in their roles as priests in the marketplace. 

The Stewardship Theory of Management 

A steward is “someone entrusted with another’s wealth or property and charged with the responsibility of managing it in the owner’s best interest.”² Stewardship has been defined as the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care. A common example of the modern usage of the word would be the stewardship of natural resources.³

Stewardship theory is a relatively new field of research, which has been introduced to define relationships upon behavioral premises other than agency theory.⁴  Agency theory views humans as rational actors who seek to maximize their self-interest and prefer optimizing their own gains to sacrificing for the benefit of another individual or a collective.⁵ Both agents and principals are expected to seek to receive as much possible utility with the least possible expenditure. The rational agent, therefore, given the choice between two alternatives will choose the option which increases his or her own individual utility regardless of the consequences for the principals.⁶ Organizations utilize control mechanisms, such as compensation schemes and governance structures, to attempt to align the interests of agents and principals.⁷  

With stewardship theory, the model of man is based on a steward who is more oriented to and receives more utility from behaviors which are pro-organizational, collective, and long-term focused as opposed to behaviors which are opportunistic, self-serving, and short-term focused. A steward will not trade cooperative behaviors for self-serving behaviors, so even when the interests of a steward and a principal are not aligned, the steward will place higher value on cooperation than defection.⁸ 

Hernandez discussed how stewardship behaviors can be created within an organization looking at the role control and reward systems play. He then theorized about how these structural factors influence cognitive and affective mechanisms which drive stewardship behavior through psychological ownership.⁹ The framework he developed could help organizations better understand how to promote and sustain the symbiotic integrity of business and society. 

The Concept of Biblical Stewardship 

The concept of biblical stewardship is one of three ancient perspectives of ownership. Os Guinness has described these three views as common ownership, absolute ownership, and ultimate ownership. Common ownership is represented by a minority stream of Greek thinkers who believed in an age of community when all ownership was common and shared. This perspective champions redistribution as a drive towards justice. Absolute ownership is represented by the Romans who believed that individuals had absolute rights over their property. Property was thought of as a right of action and it was an expression of the human will acted out over people and things. A Roman farmer was free to destroy his crops or house and a Roman father was at liberty to kill or maim his children. Ultimate ownership, represented by Jews and Christians, is the view that human beings have a qualified right over property. This view claims that God is ultimately the owner of everything and that humans are simply stewards of their talents, the earth, and its resources. Ultimate ownership, therefore, is a form of trusteeship, and in the sense of the Old English word “steward,” humans are responsible for the management of an estate that ultimately belongs to the Creator of the universe.¹⁰

Robert R. Ellis has summarized biblical stewardship in the following three simple truths gleaned from Genesis 1:26-28: 

• God created and therefore he owns. 

• We manage resources which God owns. 

• We were created in God’s image, and therefore we are expected to manage resources the way God would manage them.¹¹ 

The following verses are representative of the concept of ultimate ownership and stewardship which is portrayed in Scripture: 

“The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.” (Psalm 24:1, NASB)¹²

“I shall take no young bull out of your house, nor male goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all it contains.” (Psalm 50:9-12) 

“The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.” (Leviticus 25:23) 

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name. But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You. For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope.” (1 Chronicles 29:11-15) 

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.” (Luke 12:48) 

“In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.” (I Corinthians 4:2) 

“For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (I Corinthians 4:7) 

Randy Alcorn has described biblical stewardship by saying, “Stewardship isn’t a subcategory of the Christian life. Stewardship is the Christian life. After all, what is stewardship except that God has entrusted to us life, time, talents, money, possessions, family and his grace? In each case, he evaluates how we regard what he has entrusted to us – and what we do with it.”¹³

Tom Addington and Steve Graves have said that stewardship, the task of protecting and adding value to all the assets God has put in our care, is the fundamental concept behind work. Because humans are made in God’s image, work is one of the defining activities that separate us from other creatures. Animals work to survive, but people were created to manage God’s assets.¹⁴

Stewardship has been heavily emphasized in recent years in what has been called “the faith at work movement.”¹⁵ Many marketplace ministry organizations and leaders of this movement have biblical stewardship listed as a core value. The Fellowship of Companies for Christ International (FCCI) has the following statement as its first core value, “God is the Owner, we are stewards of His companies.”¹⁶ Crown Financial Ministries’ Statement of Faith says, “We believe that God, as Creator, is the ultimate Owner of all possessions on earth. God has given people the authority to be stewards of those possessions and the responsibility to faithfully manage them according to the principles in the Word of God.”¹⁷

Buck Jacobs, the founder of C12, has said, “All I have is a gift from God, and I am only a manager or steward of it.”¹⁸ One of Jacobs’ four basic principles he wants Christian business owners to understand is, “Your business does not belong to you but to God. You are merely a steward or manager of it. The day will come when you will be called to give an account for your performance in that position.”¹⁹ Over the years, many other leaders of prominent marketplace ministry organizations focused on business and finance, including Larry Burkett, Ron Blue, Howard Dayton, Mike Sharrow, and Dave Ramsey, also espouse the philosophy that God owns everything and we are simply stewards.

As Christians, we should learn to be good managers because we are stewards. God has given us time, talent, education, experiences, wealth, and income-generating capabilities and we know from the Parable of the Talents²⁰ that God will reward us based on how wisely we utilize these gifts.²¹ Maturity and growth are the result of stewarding property. Dennis Peacocke has written that God causes us to grow by giving us responsibility, and responsibility begins with exercising authority over someone, some talent, or some task.²² Peacocke has described genuine fellowship with God as the ongoing process of stewarding His possessions.²³  

The Manager as Priest 

Another fundamental principle espoused by Buck Jacobs is that your business is your ministry. Jacobs has taught for years that because of the disproportionate amount of time spent at work, a Christian business leader’s greatest opportunity for Kingdom service is in his or her business.²⁴  

One of the core founding principles of FCCI is that based on the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer, Christian business leaders have a special calling to serve God in and through their businesses and companies.²⁵ For many years FCCI has utilized a video series entitled Leading a Company for Christ to introduce members to the basic philosophies of the organization.²⁶ In this series, Bruce Wilkinson defined the role of a business leader as a priest in the marketplace (Figure 1). 

The role of the prophet is to bring the Word of God to man. The role of the priest is to bring man to God. The role of the king is to mediate between God and man. God’s purpose for a Christian in business is to provide the opportunity or a platform for being a more effective priest. As a platform, a business is used as a key place from which ministry will be launched as a channel for “priesting” or reaching people for God. Therefore, when the business is viewed as a platform for ministry, a business leader assumes the role of a priest, whose task it is to bring people back to God while relying on Him for provision in every aspect of business relationships. The business leader serves as a priest through relationships with employees, customers, suppliers, competitors, and the community. ²⁷

The following verses are representative of the concept of the role of believers as priests in the New Testament: 

“You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5) 

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (1 Peter 2:9) 

“And He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father – to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:6)

Followers of Christ in the marketplace have a priestly calling and function. Christians offer spiritual sacrifices to God by offering prayer and praise to God, and by serving others for Christ’s sake. Christian business leaders function as ministers by representing Christ in the marketplace and serving Him by serving others. 

In an article published by the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics, Dr. Art Lindsley identified four positive implications of believers functioning as priests in the marketplace.  First, because we are a priesthood of believers, we have direct access to God through the privilege of prayer and we can intercede for others around us in our workplaces.  Second, we can offer spiritual sacrifices in the marketplace. These are not offerings like bulls and goats, but sacrifices such as prayer, praise, thanksgiving, repentance, justice, kindness, and love. Third, marketplace Christians can fulfill a prophetic role by proclaiming “the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”²⁸ This means all marketplace Christians can and should bear witness to Christ in some way, according to their spiritual gifts. Finally, Christians serve as agents of reconciliation and mediators between God and men. As priests in the marketplace, we are to minister to others in a way that helps people to be reconciled to God and to other human beings.²⁹ Christian business leaders would do well to identify specific ways to honor God by carrying on these priestly responsibilities as they lead their organizations. 

Mike Bonem described Christian stewardship in a business setting as a new mindset that must be adopted, and he used the term “whole-life stewardship” to explain the paradigm shift.  In the mindset of whole-life stewardship, all are ministers and all are called to do ministry. Leadership positions in a company become powerful platforms of ministry to impact everyone who comes into contact with the business.³⁰ Stewardship and ministry become intertwined as business leaders begin to function as ministers or priests within a business organization.  A stewardship mindset, along with an understanding of the role of a priest in the marketplace, can provide leaders of organizations with an impetus for growth that is beyond their ordinary potential.³¹  

One of the underlying philosophies of marketplace ministry is that the follower of Christ who is working in the business world is not only a steward, but also a priest. God is seen as the ultimate owner of the business and the business is to be used to do good works and to reach people for God. 

The Balanced Scorecard 

Robert Kaplan and David Norton introduced the balanced scorecard in a 1992 Harvard Business Review article. Today the balanced scorecard is used extensively in business and industry, government, and nonprofit organizations worldwide as a strategic planning and management system to: 

• Align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization 

• Improve internal and external communications, and 

• Monitor organizational performance against strategic goals. 

The balanced scorecard measurement framework gives managers and executives a more “balanced” view of organizational performance by adding strategic nonfinancial performance measures to traditional financial metrics.³² Kaplan and Norton have demonstrated how to quantify and measure intangible assets such as people, information, and customer relationships through the utilization of the balanced scorecard. 

When utilizing the balanced scorecard, managers view the organization from four perspectives and they develop metrics, collect data, and analyze it relative to each of the following perspectives: 

• The Organizational Capacity or Learning and Growth Perspective – This perspective includes employee training and corporate cultural attitudes related to both individual and corporate self-improvement.  

• The Internal Business Process Perspective – This perspective refers to internal business processes. Metrics based on this perspective allow the managers to know how well the business is running, and whether products and services conform to customer requirements (the mission). 

• The Customer and Stakeholder Perspective – This perspective concentrates on the importance of customer focus and customer satisfaction. If customers are not satisfied, they will eventually find other suppliers which will meet their needs. Poor performance from this perspective is a leading indicator of future decline, even if the current financial picture may look good. 

• The Financial or Stewardship Perspective – This perspective focuses on how the organization looks to its owners. Timely and accurate financial data will always be a priority, and managers will do whatever necessary to provide it.³³ 

Christian Business Leaders as Stewards and Priests 

Both roles of steward and priest are vitally important functions of Christians in the marketplace. Going back to the Dominion Mandate in Genesis 1, human beings have been charged with the responsibility of being good stewards of everything God has entrusted to them. God has given followers of Christ in the marketplace the opportunity to use their business platforms to function as priests to those around them. 

Many business owners and CEOs involved with FCCI, C12, and other marketplace ministry organizations understand and embrace their roles as stewards and priests. Numerous organizations which strive to honor God and operate on biblical principles have even established and funded ministry plans as part of their annual business plans in an effort to be more effective stewards and priests. Many of these Christ-centered companies will also have mission statements that state that they exist to honor God with general thoughts about how the organization goes about attempting to bring honor to God through business operations.  Vision statements and core values may specify more concrete ways that the organization will attempt to honor God.³⁴

Some Christian leaders who earnestly desire to be good stewards and priests, however, find themselves questioning their effectiveness in these roles. They often have good intentions manifested in their mission statements, vision statements, and lists of core values, but in their hectic roles as organizational leaders, they never seem to get around to focusing on stewardship and “priesting,” or to actually implement programs that help them accomplish their God-honoring goals in these areas. The priestly function of using the business as a platform for ministry rarely becomes a true part of the strategic plan for the organization.  A tool is needed to keep leaders on track to accomplish the God-honoring parts of their mission and vision statements, and to create the type of organizational culture that they desire. 

Using Balanced Scorecards to Assess Stewardship and Priestly Functions 

The balanced scorecard is an excellent tool for assessing the stewardship responsibility of managers because it places strategy and vision at the center of the assessment and control process. Kaplan and Norton were aware that, “What you measure is what you get.”³⁵ They also knew that, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”³⁶ The balanced scorecard establishes quantifiable goals with the assumption that people will adopt whatever behaviors and take whatever actions are necessary to arrive at those goals. The measures are designed to pull people toward achieving the overarching vision of the organization, which helps employees to function more like stewards and less like agents. 

The balanced scorecard is widely recognized as a tool to help organizations achieve desired stewardship objectives. Any business, whether led by a follower of Christ or not, can benefit from implementing a balanced scorecard, which utilizes good stewardship metrics and drives people to more effectively achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. 

The balanced scorecard could also be used by Christian leaders to help them better function as priests in their organizations and to pull the entire organization towards achieving “priestly” objectives. Because “what you measure is what you get,” having metrics in place can help leaders keep priestly objectives at the forefront of their minds and can serve as a stimulation for everyone in the organization to demonstrate love and accomplish good deeds.³⁷ 

The rest of this paper describes objectives and measures which can be used as part of a balanced scorecard to assess the effectiveness of stewardship and priestly initiatives in an organization. The stewardship metrics presented are well documented and widely utilized measures associated with balanced scorecards. For the learning and growth perspective, generic measures typically include employee satisfaction and information systems availability. For the internal process perspective, generic measures usually focus on quality, response time, cost, and new product introductions. For the customer perspective, generic measures typically include satisfaction, retention, market, and account share. For the financial perspective, measures such as return on investment and economic value-added are often used.³⁸ 

The priestly measures (measures to assess how well an organization is bringing people to God and accomplishing God-honoring objectives) in this paper are new metrics that may be used in a balanced scorecard. Suggested measures are presented for each of the balanced scorecard perspectives to help business leaders think about ministering to employees, customers, suppliers, competitors, and the community. 

Objectives and Measures related to the Learning and Growth Perspective 

In their work with a wide variety of service and manufacturing companies, Kaplan and Norton found three principal categories for the learning and growth perspective and these have significant stewardship ramifications: 

• Employee capabilities 
• Information systems capabilities 
• Motivation, empowerment, and alignment.³⁹

A Christian business leader might also use balanced scorecard measures for motivational and organizational alignment purposes and to assess performance with regard to priestly obligations. Here are three suggested priestly categories for business leaders to consider with regard to the learning and growth perspective: 

• Spiritual formation 
• Ministry and mission activities 
• Evangelism. 

Objectives and Measures related to the Internal Business Process Perspective 

Kaplan and Norton have indicated that a generic value-chain model provides three principal categories related to the internal process perspective. These categories are very important with regard to stewardship: 

• Innovation 
• Operations 
• Post-sale service.⁴⁰

A Christian business leader might identify key internal business processes which could help the company be a more God-honoring company. Here are two suggested priestly categories for business leaders to consider with regard to the internal business process perspective: 

• Assessment of the priestly function 
• Promoting and rewarding the values and character qualities to take the company to the next level as a God-honoring company. 

Objectives and Measures related to the Customer Perspective 

There are also significant stewardship implications related to the customer perspective. Kaplan and Norton have identified a group of five customer outcomes and objectives that are generic across all kinds of organizations: 

• Market share 
• Customer retention 
• Customer acquisition 
• Customer satisfaction 
• Customer profitability.⁴¹

A Christian business leader could see customers as one of the groups he serves as a priest. Accordingly, key customer measures could be developed to keep ministry to customers at the forefront of the minds of managers and employees. Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Acknowledging Christ means making Him known to those around us. Here are a few measurable ways in which a company can make Christ known to customers: 

Objectives and Measures related to the Financial Perspective 

The financial perspective provides a wealth of insight to the area of stewardship. Kaplan and Norton found there are three financial themes or categories that drive business strategy: 

• Revenue growth and mix 
• Cost reduction and productivity improvement 
• Asset utilization and investment strategy.⁴²

In order to carry out priestly activities, a Christian business leader must have funds to support “priesting.” In the Old Testament, the offerings brought as “first fruits” were an expression of thanks to God for His goodness and an acknowledgement by the nation of Israel that everything they possessed had come from God. Immediately after beginning the harvest, the Israelites brought a portion of the fruits which ripened first as an offering to God. These first fruits were viewed as an expectation of God’s future blessings through the coming harvest. The offering of first fruits was made on behalf of both the nation of Israel⁴³ and on behalf of individuals⁴⁴ The first fruits in the Old Testament were used for the support of the priesthood⁴⁵ and first fruits today can be used to support “priesting” in a business. Here are two suggested priestly categories for business leaders to consider with regard to the financial perspective of the balanced scorecard: 

• Resources dedicated to in-reach 
• Resources dedicated to outreach. 

Conclusions 

Christian business leaders are called to be good stewards of everything entrusted to them by God. Ultimately God owns everything and we are just stewards or managers. We should be good stewards of our time, talent, and treasure. 

Business owners and managers have an opportunity to utilize their positions of leadership as platforms from which they can perform ministry. They can function as priests in the marketplace and bring employees, customers, suppliers, competitors, and the community into closer relationships with God. 

The balanced scorecard is a performance measurement framework, which adds strategic non-financial performance measures to traditional financial metrics to give managers and executives a more “balanced” view of organizational performance. The balanced scorecard establishes goals with the assumption that people will adopt whatever behaviors and take whatever actions necessary to obtain those goals. Good balanced scorecard measures pull people toward the overall vision of the organization. 

This paper reports how the balanced scorecard can use traditional measures to help business leaders be better stewards in organizations. This paper also demonstrates a new model of using priestly measures to help Christian leaders remain focused to accomplish God-honoring ministry goals in their organizations. Utilizing priestly measures as part of a balanced scorecard should motivate and empower a greater number of Christian leaders to be more effective in their roles as priests in the marketplace. 

About the Author

John B. Duncan serves as Dean of the College of Business and Entrepreneurship and Professor of Accounting at North Greenville University. He holds a BBA in Accounting, an MBA from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, and a Ph.D. in Accountancy from the University of Mississippi. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Kingdom Advisor®. Dr. Duncan’s research has been presented at many academic conferences and published in several leading journals. He is a member of professional organizations such as the SC Association of CPAs and the Institute of Management Accountants, and he is involved in marketplace ministry groups such as Kingdom Advisors, The C12 Group, and the Fellowship of Companies for Christ International. Dr. Duncan has served two 4-year terms on the Board of Directors of the Christian Business Faculty Association, and as the CBFA Board Chair in 2016-17 and 2021-22. John and his wife, Susan, have been married for 32 years and they have twin adult sons, Daniel and Drew. 

Notes

¹ “What is the Balanced Scorecard?” Balanced Scorecard Institute, February 25, 2024. https://balancedscorecard.org/bsc-basics-overview 

² Ben Patterson, The Grand Essentials. (Waco, TX: Word, 1987), 17. 

³ Merriam-Webster Online. s.v. “Stewardship,” accessed February 25, 2024, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stewardship 

⁴ James Davis, David Schoorman, and Lex Donaldson, “Toward a Stewardship Theory of Management.” Academy of Management Review 22, no. 1 (1997), 21. 

⁵ Morela Hernandez, “Toward an Understanding of the Psychology of Stewardship.” Journal of Management Review 37, no. 2 (2012), 172. 

⁶ Davis, Schoorman, and Donaldson, p. 22. 

⁷ Hernandez, p. 172. 

⁸ Davis, Schoorman, and Donaldson, p. 24. 

⁹ Hernandez, “Toward an Understanding of the Psychology of Stewardship.” 

¹⁰ Os Guinness, Doing Well and Doing Good: Money, Giving, and Caring in a Free Society. (Colorado Springs, CO: Navpress, 2001), 37-38. 

¹¹ Robert Ellis, 1995. “Divine Gift and Human Response: An Old Testament Model for Stewardship,” Southwestern Journal of Theology 32, no. 2 (1995), 4-5. 

¹² Psalm 24:1. All Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible. (La Habre, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995). 

¹³ Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions, and Eternity. (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2003), 140. 

¹⁴ Thomas Addington and Stephen Graves, The Fourth Frontier: Exploring the New World of Work. (Nashville, TN: Word Publishing, 2000), 137. 

¹⁵ David Miller, God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2007). 

¹⁶ “About FCCI,” Fellowship of Companies for Christ International, February 25, 2024. https://www.fcci-site.com/about. 

¹⁷ “Crown Statement of Faith,” Crown Financial Ministries, February 25, 2024. https://www.crown.org/Explore/StatementofFaith.aspx. 

¹⁸ Buck Jacobs, A Light Shines Bright in Babylon. (USA: Lanphier Press, 2007), 7. 

¹⁹ Ibid, 8. 

²⁰ See Matthew 25:14-30. 

²¹ Stephen Douglass, Bill Cook, and Howard Hendricks, The Ministry of Management. (Raffles City, Singapore: Campus Crusade Asia Limited, 1981), 11. 

²² Dennis Peacocke, Doing Business God’s Way. (Santa Rosa, CA: Rebuild, 2003), 17. 

²³ Ibid, 29. 

²⁴ Jacobs, 9. 

²⁵ “FCCI-Vision-Mission-Values-Principles.” Fellowship of Companies for Christ International, February 25, 2024. https://fcci.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/FCCI-Vision-Mission-Values-Principles.pdf 

²⁶ Bruce Wilkinson, “Leading a Company for Christ.” Fellowship of Companies for Christ International, February 26, 2024. https://fcci.org/library/leading-a-company-for-christ. 

²⁷ Ibid. 

²⁸ 1 Peter 2:9 

²⁹ Art Lindsley, “The Priesthood of All Believers.” Institute for Faith, Work & Economics, October 15, 2013. https://tifwe.org/resource/the-priesthood-of-all-believers. 

³⁰ Mike Bonem, “Rethinking Stewardship.” Christian Business Review 4 (2015), 18. 

³¹ Bill Mearse, “Transformational Stewardship.” Christian Business Review 4 (2015), 12. 

³² “What is the Balanced Scorecard?” 

³³ Ibid. 

³⁴ John Duncan, “Case Study: Changing a Corporate Culture by Implementing a Compassionate Ministry Plan.” Christian Business Academy Review 8, no. 1 (2013),  37-42. 

³⁵ Robert Kaplan and David Norton, “The Balanced Scorecard: Measures That Drive Performance.” Harvard Business Review 70, no. 1 (1992), 71. 

³⁶ Robert Kaplan and David Norton, Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2004), xiii. 

³⁷ See Hebrews 10:24. 

³⁸ Robert Kaplan and David Norton, The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action. (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 1996), 44. 

³⁹ Ibid., p. 127. 

⁴⁰ Ibid., p. 96. 

⁴¹ Ibid., p. 67. 

⁴² Ibid., p. 51. 

⁴³ See Leviticus 23:10 and 17 

⁴⁴ See Exodus 23:19 and Deuteronomy 26:1-11 

⁴⁵ Merrill Tenney, The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1967), 284.