Avodah — A Word That Could Change The World.
“For on my holy mountain, the great mountain of Israel, says the sovereign LORD, the people of Israel will avodah me, and I will accept them.”
- Ezekiel 20:40, NLT
I remember the first time I heard of the term “avodah”, it was in a Youth With A Mission (YWAM) classroom and we were discussing what God’s vision was for the world’s business community. Our instructor then brought up this Hebrew word, “avodah”, a word used over 280 times in the bible (Huber, 2020). The fascinating thing about this word was that it seems to have a meaning that can only be understood in English as a combination of three different English words. The three words that we can use to understand “avodah” are service, worship and work. As soon as I heard the combination of these three words, I knew this word represented something important, something sacred, something that could change our world if we truly understood it.
You see, my entire life I have been obsessed with studying how businesses could be used to do more than just generate profit. This idea, that businesses could be more than profit-generating entities, has slowly been growing and spreading around the globe. Currently, the most popular term for this concept is “social enterprise”. While the exact definition of social enterprise has been widely debated, Investopedia offers a good definition; “A social enterprise or social business is defined as a business that has specific social objectives that serve its primary purpose. Social enterprises seek to maximize profits while maximizing benefits to society and the environment. Their profits are principally used to fund social programs” (Barone, 2020). This idea has begun to change the very way the world views business in general. The world no longer seems content for large multi-national corporations to make profits ranging in the billions, sometimes trillions, all while giving no regard for how they treat the community and environment around them. Instead, the world seems to be looking for innovators who think that “profit” should mean more than just a good financial return. This movement has captivated me, and I have been obsessed with learning everything I can about it.
This journey of interest has led me literally around the world. I chose to take an undergraduate degree studying commerce, majoring in entrepreneurship and innovation. Additionally, I took a certificate of sustainability studies, so that I would understand the social and environmental side of the world, not just the business side. This alone has been a fascinating experience. Even at the undergraduate level, it’s clear to see that in most cases, business professionals and sustainability academics see each other as opposites in most situations. Business professionals see themselves as the ones trying to create value. They take resources and change them into something that can be used. These new resources are more valuable and can be used to create a better world for the people around them. Also, the big payday at the end is always nice. On the other hand, sustainability academics see themselves as guardians of value. They fight to preserve the existing value they see in nature. Every time they can speak up and push back against a greedy corporation’s attempt to destroying an environment, it’s considered a win. As a Canadian, this tension between industry and sustainability is all too apparent. Every day it seems there is a new story about sustainability academics and protesters trying to stop another pipeline project. However, as an individual who finds himself caught in the middle, I surprisingly feel a sense of hope for the situation.
I get this hope because I can see how social enterprise provides a solution to this tension. Take the social enterprise Tentree for example. Tentree is an amazing company that creates high-quality apparel, with a twist. For each product sold, Tentree funds the planting of ten trees (the name makes sense now right). This company shows that industry and sustainability don’t need to be opposites. In fact, when they are brought together, it seems that both sides are fulfilled in a stronger way than ever before. When it comes to industry, social enterprise expands the definition of profit. Not only is Tentree a growing and profitable business, but it knows that the value it has created goes far beyond a good payday. Tentree has currently planted over 40 million trees, with plans to plant 1 billion trees by 2030 (Tentree, 2020). Few environmental non-profits can boast about having that kind of impact. The thing I find really interesting is that Tentree can have this impact without the need to do massive fundraising campaigns. All Tentree needs to do is continue to run an effective business and it will be able to hit its target of planting 1 billion trees. This expands what it means to be sustainable. Not only is the impact sustainable, but so is the process of making that impact. Many non-profits need to spend countless hours trying to find future funding so they can achieve their cause. Social enterprises don’t have this problem once the business becomes financially stable. Social enterprises like Tentree improve both the definition of profit and the definition of sustainability.
But what does social enterprise and avodah have to do with each other? I think that avodah perfectly captures what social enterprise is supposed to be about. It combines three fundamental aspects of social enterprise. Service, worship, and work.
For a social entrepreneur (what founders of social enterprises call themselves), they view their businesses as ways to serve the world around them. Many leave good-paying positions at large companies because they feel they can do more with their lives. They desire more than a good job, they desire a job that does good. Called by this desire to do good, they choose to use their business skills to service the world around them. Social enterprise gives them a perfect means to accomplish this.
Social enterprises also give their employees a unique way to worship. Not all, but many, social entrepreneurs credit their faith as a core reason they want to do more for the world around them. They feel called by God to love those around them. Social enterprises give a unique and innovative way to fulfill this call on their lives. These kinds of businesses push the idea that religious conviction is for more than attending religious meetings. Those convicted can fulfill the calling of their God by loving the world through their business. For those who have this conviction, they would agree that being able to love the world around them is the greatest form of worship they can produce. Even for those social entrepreneurs who are not religious, their companies allow them to engage in something larger than themselves. They are able to leave a beautiful mark on the world. While they might not categorize this as worship, I think they would agree it is a beautiful thing to know you are part of something even grander than yourself.
Finally, social enterprise and avodah is all about meaningful work. As someone who has grown up in church, I have often received the impression that many people see their jobs and their call to make the world a better place as two separate things. Both avodah and social enterprise show this doesn’t need to be the case. Many people will spend over 1/3 of their lives at work (Thompson, 2016). It would be heartbreaking to have all this time be wasted and not used to fulfill a greater cause that an individual is passionate about. Social enterprise fixes this, as every hour spent on the business is an hour used to fight for the social cause associated with the business.
Coming full circle, ever since that day in the YWAM classroom, I have known that “avodah” could change the world. Can you imagine a world where the world’s business community viewed their jobs as more than a way to pay the bills, but as a way to change the world. No longer would business professionals and sustainability academics be opponents, but close allies working together. Even more than that, the world could be done with hating Mondays as it represented going back to the jobs people hate. Instead, Monday could represent the day we can all fulfill the calling in our hearts to fix this world that we call home. The more I ponder avodah, the more I see how much it is needed in our world.
At the end of the day, the decision is on each of us. The world’s social entrepreneurs seem to be answering the call, but I think the rest of us need to as well. Even if you don’t work for a social enterprise, I think avodah can change the way you do your work. The next time you don’t want to go to work or have that meeting you would really rather just not go to, remember avodah. Remember that the world isn’t always changed by giant social movements or massive corporate decisions. Often, the world is changed by the little guy who just wants to do what’s right. The world is really changed by each of us deciding that the work we do every day has the power to actually change the world.
Sources:
Barone, A. (2020, Feb 3). Social Enterprise. Investopedia. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-enterprise.asp
Huber, D. (Retrieved 2020, March 3). Avodah Word Study. EFCAToday. Retrieved from https://www.efcatoday.org/story/avodah-word-study
Tentree. (Retrieved 2020, March 3). About. Tentree. Retrieved from https://www.tentree.ca/pages/about
Thompson, K. (2016, August 16). What Percentage of Your Life Will You Spend at Work?. ReviseSociology. Retrieved from https://revisesociology.com/2016/08/16/percentage-life-work/
