Lawrence Nicholson | A clarion call to the church on entrepreneurism

Jamaicans numbered among millennials and Generation Z have not had a break from the steady diet of high levels of levels of crime and violence.

Those younger than 25 have borne the brunt of this, having no idea what it means to experience a year with less than 800 murders.

Sociologists, criminologists and others have attributed these high levels of crime and violence to several factors including poverty, drug abuse, politics, an unfair justice system and the breakdown of the family. In recent years, the church has come under much scrutiny as not doing enough in helping to stem the high levels of crime and violence.

Many contend that the breakdown of the family and ‘absence’ of the church have led to children and ‘young people’ being left idle. The claim is that they must fill this vacuum with what is available, as “the devil finds work for idle hands”.

They further claim that crime and violence are available and easily accessible. The voices insisting that the church must do more are getting louder. Christians, friends of the church and those sympathetic to the church have become defensive, asking the reasons for the church being singled out as not doing enough in helping to stem the high crime and violence.

Many have opined that crime and violence would be worse had it not been for the intervention of the church. What more do they want the church to do, they ask. Given the inextricable link between the family and the church, the answer might lie in the capacity of churches to mobilise their members to be entrepreneurial and be engaged in legitimate business ventures.

Historical context

In the ongoing debate regarding the role of the church during and after slavery, there seems to be convergence regarding the role the church played in helping to establish ‘free villages’ in Jamaica. The free villages were seen as one of the cornerstones of family-owned businesses, FOBs, in Jamaica.

In helping to untangle former slaves from the clutches of their former owners, several churches were at the forefront of purchasing land, parcels of which were rented, leased or sold to members of their congregations. Many of the land parcels were used by families for farming.

By answering the clarion call, from as early as 1835, several denominations, including the Baptists, Moravians, Methodists, Presbyterians and Quakers, were involved in helping to establish free villages in different parishes.

It can be argued that the current situation of unimaginable high levels of crime and violence in Jamaica has provided another opportunity for the church to answer the clarion call. Too many of our young men and women are enslaved by a ‘freeness mentality’, the lure of gangsterism and the ‘big man’ who engage them to commit crime on their behalf, for a small share of the spoils.

The church can fill the vacuum, by providing entrepreneurial opportunities.

Currency of the church

In a 2012 Sunday Gleaner report, Valerie Nam, the then director of censuses, demographics and social statistics at Statin, stated that “religious affiliation is one of the hardest topics to deal with in the census, in terms of identifying the categories on the form, because there are so many churches across the communities, and frankly, many persons do not know what denomination their church is associated with. In fact, some do not even know the name of their church”.

What is certain is that churches are in every corner and crevice of Jamaica; some will say there are too many churches.

These churches have tremendous influence over families and persons in the communities they serve. Many churches have what can be characterised as ‘family circles’ or ‘family cliques’, that at the mention of the names of churches one can tick off names of families who have been associated with these churches.

In short, families have an ‘unbroken’ link with the churches across Jamaica. Therefore, it should not be difficult for churches to leverage this and use their capacity to mobilise and direct their membership to engage in entrepreneurial activities.

This can easily be extended to the communities they serve, which can help to fill the vacuum being filled by scamming, gangsterism and other crime-directed activities. It is noted that many churches are actively engaging both members and people in their restive communities. The call is for more churches to get in the game, and for churches to be deliberate, strategic and coordinated.

This might mean churches setting aside their denominational differences and working together to achieve common goals. One mode of partnership among churches could be in the form of shared spaces. Some churches have unused spaces, which are utilised only during days of corporate worship.

Some churches do not have the resources to reach their surrounding communities. But, in addition to working with other denominations, they could form partnerships with entities, such as private sector companies and the HEART/NSTA Trust skills training agency.

These entities could help to provide training and financial support. However, in this model, the churches must be the driver in the planning, mobilising and executing of entrepreneurial activities among church membership and people in their respective communities.

Centres of business

There are accrued benefits when churches serve as centres of business incubators and influencers in getting families and communities to engage in entrepreneurial activities.

Businesses having their genesis within the guardrails of churches would be expected to align with principles, which are the antithesis of criminality. These principles include adherence to the essentials of ethics and integrity, creating and maintaining balance between business and healthy family practices, accountability, transparency, fairness, satisfying the needs of people rather than achieving abnormal profit as the main objective and having a reverence for God.

The church has a readymade template because the New Testament has accounts of families being used by God to serve and strengthen those who are served by the church. Some might even argue that Jesus was born into a family business, represented by Joseph’s small carpentry business.

While we wait for an exegesis on this, local churches must get busy in formulating and implementing ways to get their membership and the community they serve involved in operating their own businesses. The church, the family and the country will be the beneficiaries.

With the support of established FOBs, in partnering with churches we can be confident in agreeing with Paul’s exhortation in Ephesians 4:28: Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labour, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. The time to answer the clarion call is now!

More anon!

Lawrence Nicholson, PhD, is a senior lecturer at the Mona School of Business & Management, University of the West Indies, author of Understanding the Caribbean Enterprise: Insights from MSMEs and Family-Owned Businesses and a director of the RJRGLEANER Communications Group.