On the evening of October 28, the annual Outcomes Conference took place over Zoom. It is the fifth consecutive programme organised by the collective effort of the Christian Institute of Management, India, and the Christian Leadership Alliance, USA. The live conversation was on formulating an organisational growth model, featuring the experience of CIM as it leaps into the future on a faith foundation, grounded on practical needs.
Mr. David Joseph, CIM, hosted the event, setting the context and outlining the conference’s theme with the word, ‘Therefore,’ based on Hebrews 12:1. Mr. Anand Joshua, the COO of TENT Ministries, led the opening prayer. Then, Mrs. Tami Heim, the president of CLA, shared a few words, greeting CIM on the launch of its Silver Jubilee.
Dr. Ebe Sunder Raj, Founding Chairman, CIM, spoke on ‘founding the ministry on faith’, followed by CA Manju George, Partner, R. K. Khanna Associates and resource person at CIM, who discussed ‘building the ministry on practical grounds’. And finally, Dr. Aby Alexandar, Executive Director, CIM, talked about ‘accelerating the ministry with a futuristic approach’.
Founding the Ministry on Faith
Based on his years of life lessons, Dr. Ebe Sunder Raj talked about his firm stand in laying the foundation of organisations on faith. He began his discussion with the history of CIM and the need for Christian corporate management. Dr. Ebe said that businesses are missions and that we are governors of the Kingdom of God. He continued, “The number one goal of corporate management is to generate maximum wealth for its shareholders”. Quoting John Wesley, he said, “Work as hard as you can, earn as much as you can, give away as much as you can”.
Furthermore, Dr. Ebe stated the differences between corporate and Christian management. He stressed the importance of trust and stewardship: “What matters is not how much a man trusts God. But how much does God trust that man because trust is directly proportional to mutual accountability? Corporate management is motivated by ownership. Whereas, Christian management is motivated by stewardship of their Father’s kingdom. Adult sons do not work for wages or awards from their fathers. They do their family duty for the family honour”.
He also projected the huge difference in the wages between the classes. He said while the world advocates ‘survival of the fittest’, Christian management includes the ‘survival of the weakest’. He closed his talk by recalling a remarkable moment in the managing board meeting of the largest mission in the Third World. When Dr. Sam Kamalesan, the Chairman, washed the board members’ feet, every internal conflict ended. Recalling this experience, he made the most remarkable statement of the conversation: “When all forms of conflict management fail, feet-washing wins”. He added, “Secular management promotes the law of the land, but that is not enough; because God promotes relationships”. He urged us to recognise the need to follow Kingdom principles in doing God’s work and emphasised that Christian management is redemptive.
Building the Ministry on Practical Grounds
CA Manju George began her talk by congratulating the founder and the staff on CIM’s upcoming 25th anniversary. She then laid out three simple Cs from CIM that would help build any organisation.
The first C was Comprehension. She mentioned that the CIM’s staff did a great job of understanding the problems. The second C was unique, she said. It was the Collaboration that they brought about, by which they bridged the gap by drawing expertise from across the country. They brought partners, stakeholders, and many other volunteers onto the same platform who were willing to contribute their time and knowledge.
She stated that the third C was Credibility. CIM has built credibility among churches and Christian organisations. She continued, “...because they were able to understand the problem, they were able to find solutions. And I appreciate CIM for that”. She concluded by saying that CIM was the platform that connected professionals with the church.
Accelerating the Ministry through a Futuristic Approach
Dr. Aby Alexandar began his talk by highlighting the importance of collective leadership among organisations. He said, “CIM has had the privilege of impacting hundreds and thousands of ministries in India and beyond. The founders had a futuristic approach when they started the ministry. They saw the need ahead of time and founded the ministry to cater to the emerging challenges”.
Dr. Aby mentioned three aspects of the futuristic approach of CIM. First, the principle of
the futuristic approach, then the process of the futuristic approach, and the proposals for CIM’s futuristic approach.
The principle of the futuristic approach is collective leadership. Emphasising the African concept of Ubuntu he said, “I am what I am because of who we all are.”
He then outlined the process of CIM’s strategic planning, a process of discernment. He mentioned the fourfold approach, “we look upward, we look inward, we look outward, and we look forward.” He said that we ought to look upward for divine guidance and look at our strengths and weaknesses, which is looking inward. When we look outward, we look at the environment, analysing the political, economic, social, technological, legal and ecological environment (PESTLE). Finally, we look ahead to move forward.
He concluded the talk by outlining tentative proposals for CIM’s future ministry. The question-answer session and the informal interactions at the end made the programme more engaging.