While all businessmen and professionals recognize the need for profit as a legitimate incentive and prerequisite for maintenance and growth, more of them have come to understand that profit alone is not an end in itself. Businessmen endowed with Christian values see business as a way to social changes by bringing to fulfillment the development of man and country, through the use of available talents and resources.
Love for God
Our highest priority is to love God. This means that the quality and strength of all our other relationships and undertakings should be founded on a deep personal relationship with the Lord. We live out this core value through a consistent prayer life, regular reading of Scripture, faithful observance of the Sacraments, and the leading of an orderly life, a life that is constantly examined, renewed and balanced in the areas of relationships (family & others), finances, intellectual development, health, and spiritual growth.
Love for Country and Community
Love for community essentially means loving our brothers and sisters in the BCBP. We show this love by being present and participating in all chapter life activities as well as community-wide gatherings. We show this love through the generous giving of our time, our talents and financial support. In all of these, we are submitted to human authority which, in faith, we know flows from the ultimate authority of our Lord.
Commitment to the Lord’s Work
We know the BCBP has the distinct task of bringing our Lord into the marketplace. We carry this out by bringing fellow businessmen and professionals into the community, by our own personal witnessing in our places of work, and taking an active part in the transformation of business organizations.
Evangelization Statement
Thus the first part of our vision focuses on the work of evangelization of persons through whom Jesus Christ can enter the world of business and the professions. From this it follows that the BCBP is committed to evangelizing business people and professionals. We evangelize through our businessmen’s breakfasts, our BCLP, and our basic formation program. We also evangelize through our witnessing in the marketplace. People are convinced and evangelized not by mere words but more powerfully by the actions we make consistently with integrity.
Evangelization by the BCBP means “creating disciples of Christ in the businesses and professions, who bring out a transformation of the marketplace by living out Christian values and practices not only in their personal and family lives, but more particularly in their respective businesses and professions.”
This evangelization statement has four key components:
Creating disciples of Christ – This is an essential aspect of the BCBP evangelization process. It involves bringing people to Christ through the process of spiritual conversion, commitment and commissioning. This process of personal renewal is standardized throughout the entire BCBP community, and is the means by which people enter and participate in the life of the BCBP community.
The businesses and the professions – Our calling is in the “marketplace”, namely the world of commerce and government and economics. This means that our members, and those whom we call as disciples of Christ, are persons who operate in the marketplace, namely the businessmen or the professionals.
Bringing about a transformation of the marketplace – The marketplace is the battleground. It is in the marketplace, in the economic and business world, where people pursue money and wealth and power, but in so doing, they tend to compromise their faith in and love for God. In the marketplace, it is not only the individuals themselves who are prone to temptations and destructive ways, but it is also the systems, the practices and cultures which have been institutionalized and which make it even more difficult for the righteous to survive.
The marketplace influences the economic situation of the society. However, it is also in the marketplace where the social culture, the lifestyles, and the quality of life can be determined. Therefore there is great potential to transform society if the marketplace itself is transformed.
The objective of creating Christian disciples from among those engaged in the businesses or professions is precisely in order to bring about a transformation of the marketplace and to claim Christ’s victory over the marketplace. This is the core of the BCBP mission. As a member of Christ’s church, the BCBP has been uniquely called upon to bring about a visible transformation of the marketplace, so that gospel values are adopted and practiced in the day-to-day conduct of the businesses and professions.
BCBP evangelization is unique in that the process goes beyond the individual member’s personal renewal by manifesting itself through visible change and impact, indeed the transformation of the practices, systems, and cultures of the workplace where the member exerts authority or influence.
Living out Christian values and practices – By the power of the Holy Spirit, the BCBP member lives out Christian values and practices in his place of work. Through the boldness of his actions, his decisions, and his business and professional dealings, as well as through personal testimony, he is able to bring the good news of Jesus Christ among those he deals with in his business and profession. Hopefully by this means, he can invite his colleagues, associates, suppliers, customers, clientele, and others to acquire for themselves a fuller life in Christ.