In this episode of Ziwani’s Big Change podcast, host Jonathan Wilson speaks with Andy Crouch, partner for theology and culture at Praxis, a US-based venture-building accelerator. Andy shares insights into three key frameworks for viewing the world, with a particular focus on the concept of being ‘redemptive’. Here’s an overview of their conversation.

 Three ways of engaging the world

Andy begins the conversation by introducing the concept that people, organisations, and communities interact with the world in three distinct ways: exploitative, ethical, or redemptive. He describes these as frameworks – ideas that can seamlessly integrate into one’s life and shape how one works and interprets the world. Jonathan then prompts Andy to elaborate on the ethical framework and explain how it contrasts with the exploitative approach.

‘As Christians,’ says Andy, ‘the ethical approach is something of a minimum baseline on how we ought to operate in the world – an approach where we are fair in our dealings, we respect other people, we seek to advance culture, we aim to improve ourselves, and we work to address injustices through our businesses. We expect the ethical of ourselves and of those around us. Because we’re imperfect, we often make mistakes and fall short of this standard. Yet, when we encounter someone or something that is ethical we are grateful to see it playing out.’

‘Unlike the exploitative model, in a win-win situation, I no longer am winning at your expense. We’re finding a way to cooperate such that we unlock value. We look for the ‘win-win’ outcome in every situation. And when we manage to achieve this, there’s inevitably more abundance in the world than there was at the beginning because we’ve found a way to cooperate.’

‘I think the ethical approach to the world works very well in a world of fully functioning systems where the other actors are ethical,’ he continues. ‘When you have ethical governance, an ethical economy, and an ethical industry or sector. Of course, there are some corners of the world where this is happening. But what if your corner of the world is actually damaged or bears the residue of generations of exploitation? Our conviction is that being ethical is then not enough because ethical cannot actually repair or undo the damage that exploitation has done.’

‘As a community at Praxis, we believe there’s something more to chase after, and we call this the redemptive way.’

Understanding redemption

 The word ‘redemptive’ originally comes from an economic term rooted in the Latin word meaning ‘to buy back.’ Andy explains, ‘In the financial world, we use the term when we talk about redeeming a bond—once it’s paid off, the debt is cancelled. While the ancient world didn’t have the same financial systems, the concept was similar: if land was lost or a person was enslaved, someone could step in, pay the price, and restore the land to the family or return the person to their freedom.’

‘Of course our understanding as Christians is that Jesus paid the ultimate price for our debt, becoming human and sacrificing his life so that we could be restored to a right relationship with God and his creation. So wherever there is loss, brokenness, unfairness, injustice, waste, or harm – and someone willingly enters into the situation by bearing a cost or taking a risk to help the person, resource, or system to be restored or repaired – that can be considered redemptive action in the world.’

The redemptive approach: I sacrifice, we win

Rather than this exploitative approach to the world (I win, you lose) or even going beyond the positive sum game we see in the ethical way (I win, you win), Andy asserts that the redemptive way is altogether different. It says: ‘I sacrifice, we win’. ‘Sacrifice is chosen loss. You’d never choose to be the loser in any transaction,’ he notes. ‘Rather you’re deciding on your own volition, I am going to give something up because I believe there’s something more beautiful that we can currently see. And to unlock it, I will have to take the first step and risk the loss.’

Andy draws on the story of Ruth and Boaz to illustrate this point. Ruth, a Moabite widow, takes the risky step of leaving her homeland to care for her mother-in-law Naomi, while Boaz takes on the risk of marrying Ruth, restoring her family’s name and future. Boaz’s willingness to marry a foreigner and assume her family’s debts shows profound sacrifice. If he had gone for the win-win in this situation he would never have married Ruth. But because he gave of himself beyond what was expected, the outcome was profound – their family was grafted into the direct line of David and ultimately, Jesus.

Where the ethical approach stops short

How does this story of roughly 3000 years ago relate to the way we do business today? Andy suggests that much like Ruth’s time, we now operate in environments marked by chaos and exploitation. If we’re just ethical and looking for ‘mutual wins’ in our transactions, we’ll just walk away. We’ll just say, ‘well, I can’t do anything about that’’.

Andy observes that this dynamic is particularly evident in many African countries: ‘Ethical investors may want to invest, but because of great complexity (where a lot of things have broken down and there’s a legacy of exploitation that has to be reckoned with), they have no choice but to walk away from those opportunities because the stakes don’t allow them to work in a mutually ethical way. This implies that there’s a region of the world and human experience where we can’t make a difference’.

He concludes, ‘The ‘I sacrifice, we win’ way is the only way to enter into broken realities that are doing damage to people, societies and the planet, and to reimagine what’s possible in those spaces.’

Becoming redemptive leaders

Andy notes that living and working in a redemptive way requires more than self-improvement; it calls us to ‘die to self and go back to the cross,’ allowing transformation in ourselves before we can transform the world around us. ‘But,’ he reminds us, ‘we can take incredible comfort in knowing that we have access to the God of creation who has offered us himself to be these agents of redemption in our world.’

Jonathan echoes this, saying, ‘In a world that is, in many ways, broken, we can live and work in such a way that we transform it, restore, and renew things back towards the way God intended this world to be. As redemptive leaders we can ask ourselves, ‘What am I willing to sacrifice for others so that we can actually transform our world? How can my business not just avoid harm but actively participate in the healing of society?’

Andy highlights a certain global advisory and technology firm as an example. When its founder first entered the complex world of financial derivatives, he saw how major firms exploited clients by keeping critical information hidden. He began to ask, ‘What if our job is not to maximise profit, but to maximise trust?’ Inspired by this radical idea, the founder chose to take a radically transparent approach, sharing all market information with clients. By sacrificing potential profits for the sake of honesty, the firm not only grew in size and profitability but redefined industry standards. As Andy puts it, its approach ‘reset the possibilities of exploitation in a whole industry,’ proving that prioritising trust over profit can transform an entire market.

He shares another example of a company in the oil and gas services sector, an industry typically characterised by a fiercely profit-driven and competitive environment. Instead of following the standard path, the company chose to hire people returning from incarceration. People, more often marginalised by society, were now treated with respect and dignity – and the workplace environment flourished.

Furthermore, the CEO seemed to have a completely counter-cultural mindset. During a meeting that Andy attended, the CEO candidly admitted, ‘I don’t know what our quarterly results were last quarter. I don’t need to know, because we are about creating long-term multiples on investment, not short-term returns.’ For the 40 middle managers in the room, many from large corporations, this statement was nothing short of revolutionary. The freedom and trust embedded in this philosophy not only energised the team but positioned the company to outperform larger firms due to their focus on people and long-term value.

Andy concluded, ‘In both of these stories, what’s important is that the person remains faithful to what they know is right, good, and true in their context. Of course they knew they can’t fix everything in their industries, but they can make some things better – and this gives glory to God. Like Ruth, they chose to take a long bet on the long goodness of the God. It’s an invitation. You either take it or you don’t – but I think if you don’t take it, you miss out on some quite remarkable stories.’

To listen to this episode and more from the Big Change podcast, visit here.  

*A Mergon initiative, Ziwani is a community of Christian business leaders who partner together to live out our calling in the marketplace on the African continent.