Why Biblically Responsible Investing?

As Christians with a firm belief in the inerrancy of the Word of God, we know that we are to be good stewards of all that our creator has endowed us with, including our investments. To properly honor our Lord with our wealth, we need to be careful in how we invest so as to support God-honoring work and avoid profiting from investments that are at odds with our Lord's efforts to save and sanctify His people. Accordingly, we would be less than the good steward that He has called us to be if we did not seek to adjust our portfolios for these factors. Simply put, a "what would Jesus do" approach to portfolio management is what we seek for our clients.

In order to screen objectionable securities out of our portfolios, we need to be able to first, define the corporate activities that violate our BRI standards and second, to identify those corporations that are excluded from consideration as investments by Stewardship Partners due to their participation in the defined objectionable areas.

Below are some of the issues of concern to Stewardship Partners and the specific sinful activities that fall into each category:

1. We desire justice and mercy for the defenseless so we seek to avoid companies involved in:

  • Abortion
  • Life-destroying or distorting scientific research
  • Human rights issues such as religious persecution, terrorism and political oppression

2. We desire justice and mercy for the poor so we seek to avoid companies involved in:

  • Greed-based marketing techniques
  • Discrimination and unjust labor practices
  • Any abuses of the poor, children and/or the elderly

3. We have compassion for those addicted to and/or engaged in sinful lifestyles so we seek to avoid companies involved in:

  • Alcohol, Gambling, and Tobacco
  • Pornography
  • Homosexuality (those companies deemed to be the most active supporters)

4. We desire to protect marriage and the family so we seek to avoid companies involved in:

  • Entertainment that seeks to destroy biblically-based attitudes
  • Efforts to promote lifestyles the Bible indicates are sinful

Additionally, we favor companies that clearly embrace:

  • Honesty, Compassion, Diligence, Prudence and Creativity
  • Support for quality products at fair prices and constructive stakeholder relations
  • Support for a sustainable and healthy environment
  • Support for charitable giving
  • Support for the Jewish people and the state of Israel

Armed with this information, we are then prepared to make as strong an effort as possible to build investment portfolios that reflect our clients' biblical worldview. We obtain the information on the objectionable practices of corporations from our affiliate Biblically Responsible Investing Institute (BRII). We believe that these sources of information give Stewardship Partners the best database of BRI information that currently exists.

It is our hope that over time, we and other firms like ours may be able to gather enough assets under management to be able to adequately offset the negative impact on our culture that the many large and liberal Socially Responsible Investing funds (SRI) are having in the marketplace. As things presently stand, the Christian message is not being heard in the financial and corporate marketplaces as the amount of money dedicated to a Biblically Responsible perspective is still relatively small.

For more information, please see our white paper entitled "The Scriptural Basis for Biblically Responsible Investing".