Description
In This Issue…
We are pleased to publish a significant piece of research by Tim Veach and Agam Iheanyi-Igwe. This is based on interviews with missionaries who felt lost, disorientated and undervalued on returning to their home country. Many of them found restoration and a fresh sense of vocation through making a new start in business and using skills honed in mission work as entrepreneurs.
A Romanian academic, Sebastian Vaduva, pays tribute to former ServiceMaster CEO Bill Pollard, whose life of ‘navigating business with purpose’ provides an example in many ways. Richard Higginson interviews John Lawson about his family timber merchant company, and discovers why John is in the process of giving the company away in the form of an Employee Benefit Trust. John Ellis reviews Alexander Hoare’s story of his unusual family bank – reflected in a book which is also out of the ordinary.
We include reports on two notable recent events. Jerry Marshall explains how From Handouts to Handshakes proved a thoroughly encouraging day as practitioners honestly shared their attempts to bring enterprise solutions to poverty. A keynote speaker at that event, Peter Heslam, reviews the 2026 Faith in Business retreat. What emerged is that leadership is a sacred trust: ‘whether we hold formal authority or exercise quiet influence, we are called to steward power with humility, courage and love’. In a separate piece continuing his series on responsible leadership, Peter commends Barnabas as a remarkable biblical example of one who wielded immense influence behind the scenes. Meanwhile Richard Smart shows from his long experience of investing in Uganda how background influence can have a transformative effect.
Two participants in the Faith in Business Retreat make further striking contributions. Marjory Mair describes how her work as coach in helping groups has an increasing emphasis on identifying the elephant in the room. This has also taken her on a personal journey of discovering more about who she is as a child of God. In a truly ground-breaking article, Sasha Glasscock roots the idea of a circular economy where little or nothing is wasted in a profound biblical theology embracing creation, cross and resurrection.
We’re again delighted to publish an article by Brad Askew, who brings together the process of careful business planning with depending on God – a delicate balance which he illustrates with stories from his personal experience. Another regular contributor, Phil Jump, uses the familiar story of stonemasons building a cathedral to highlight the importance of understanding where one’s work fits within a greater whole.
We hope you enjoy this issue and encourage you to commend FiBQ to other potential readers.
The Editors
