The Charis Foundation believes that if we are going to move people from poverty to human flourishing, charity cannot be the only vehicle for change.
While non-profit organizations can do wonderful things to help the poor and needy among us, the social and private sectors must also be engaged as key agents of hope and healing in our world.
Conversation about how business can and should participate in God’s restorative purposes led us to discover Praxis Labs, based out of New York.
Praxis coined the term “redemptive entrepreneurship” which they define as “the work of joining God in creative restoration through sacrifice, in venture building and innovation.”
“Praxis is a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship, supporting founders, funders, and innovators motivated by their faith to renew culture and love their neighbors,” says the Praxis website.
“At Praxis, we believe the future of culture depends largely on the worldview of the next generation of entrepreneurs, innovators, creators, and builders. And that in this time of radical cultural and technological change, the Church’s witness depends largely on the praxis—the faith in action—of Christians.”
We loved the idea of using business and innovation as part of God’s restorative narrative for all of Creation, so we began to explore Praxis with several members of our community in both the for- and not-for-profit sectors through The Praxis Course.
The Praxis Course is a free video and discussion series on the mindset of a redemptive entrepreneur hosted by experts like New York Pastor Jon Tyson, author Andy Crouch and entrepreneur Jessica Kim. The course is 6 sessions long and is best done in a group setting.
The sessions explored topics like our God-given mandate to co-create under his authority, loving our beneficiaries more than we love the act of giving back, sacrificial leadership and hoping in the Lord when we encounter setbacks. Praxis understands that redemptive entrepreneurs have busy schedules, so they provide everything you need to run the course in a very accessible way.
One participant remarked that the course was like “church for business leaders.” Our discussions always dug to the core issues of faith and leadership and prompted us with helpful activities to put into practice each week.
If you have questions about redemptive entrepreneurship or The Charis Foundation’s experience running the Praxis Course, reach out to us at info@charisfoundation.ca. We would love to hear about your encounters with social enterprise, social impact investing or redemptive entrepreneurship, so please get in touch.