Biblical Risk Management, Part 1
November 14, 2023
“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16 NIV
Whether your ministry operates as a nonprofit or for-profit, your ministry is a business. (If your revenue does not exceed your expenses, you will soon be out of business – and out of ministry.) And, like every business in this fallen world, your business ministry is exposed to risk. In fact, the Apostle Paul would teach that as a Christian ministry working to expand the Kingdom of God, you have a bigger target on your back then worldly businesses do. See Ephesians 6. Thankfully, Jesus understood the reality of the fallen world in which we operate and gave us direction for responding to it. I call it Biblical Risk Management.
In Matthew 10, Jesus sent his disciples out into the world to proclaim the coming Kingdom of God. He was honest with them about the world, explaining that he was sending them out “as sheep among wolves...” To respond to the risks, he commanded them to be “shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.” Matt 10:16 NIV. While snakes often get a bad reputation in the Bible (e.g., Gen 3), God originally created them with a very necessary core competency –shrewdness (from the Hebrew word arum). While this Hebrew word can be translated as “crafty,” the better translation is “prudence” or “the ability to discern pitfalls and traps.” Jesus instructed his disciples – and you and I - to proceed in this world with our eyes wide open to threats and dangers and to discern a response using our full capabilities, experience and training.
This is balanced, however, with His added instruction to be “innocent as doves.” In the Bible, the dove is often used to represent the Spirit of God. As a dove, our alignment with Jesus becomes evident. While we recognize the threats, our response to these threats must also be informed with the redemptive strength of the gospel, and the power of the Holy Spirit of Christ making all things new. For those of us in business ministry, we must also respond to risk with the power of prayer, and an “above-reproach” character in leading our organization. See Titus 2:7-8
The proper balance between snake and dove is often a fine one, requiring much prayer. Unfortunately, however, all too often I see ministry organizations acting more like ostriches, choosing to ignore the risk in hopes that it might go away. That is a crisis waiting to happen.
Yes, good risk management takes time, effort and money. It takes strategic and smart commitment of resources. (In my next blog, we will explore the four pillars of a solid risk management program for ministry.) But that is just good stewardship of the ministry that has been entrusted to our care, and obeying Jesus commands…all For His Glory!