A Study On Christian Merchants 'Charity Activities From The Perspective Of Steward' S Thought

Since reform and opening up, Chinese Christianity has entered a stage of the rapid development. The development is mainly in the growth of Chinese Christian, Chinese churches and Chinese mission schools. At the same time, along with the high-speed development of the Chinese economy and religious charities, the influence of foreign religious charities in addition, there are a growing number of christians to join in the charity. In those people, Christian businessmen become a strong power which cannot be ignored. The charitable foundation of Hua Fu in Zhejiang Province is a special case of religious charities. This paper trys to analyze the concept of management in Hua Fu, and discuss the combination of the religious charities and the religious theory in practice. After all, the development state of Hua Fu which is a private foundation with a nature of Christianity in our country will present. This paper is divided into four main parts. The first part is to describe the background of Hua Fu, including the development of Chinese philanthropy and the impact of foreign charities in China. The second part gives a detailed introduction of Hua Fu, including four aspects the organization structure, management mode, the charity activities, and management. The third part is the theory of steward in Christian context, and the modern significance of stewardship theory in ecology and management. The fourth part is the influence and inspiration of stewardship theory to Hua Fu.Christian stewardship theory is an important ethical norm in Christianity. There are a large number of words saying that the God is the ownership of the world, and the human beings are the stewards of the God. Christian stewardship theory can also be thought as a contract between the God and the human beings. If a person is faithful to the God, working hard and willing to give as a good steward, to fulfill the terms of the covenant with the God, he will get the reward from the God. On the contrary, he will be punished. Here in the 21 st century, Christian stewardship thought refutes the criticism to Christianity in the great discussion of the relationship of the Christianity and the ecology which is caused by the ecological crisis in the 20 th century. Christian stewardship thought not only emphasizes the Christian’s positive role in maintaining ecological environment protection, but also can be applied to modern enterprise management. The Operation of Hua Fu shows the influence of Christian stewardship theory. This theory has a positive force to the financial transparency and the fulfillment of the social responsibility of Hua Fu. Moreover, the idea of dedication in stewardship theory drives more and more people involved in charity. However, we cannot ignore the negative effects given to Hua Fu from the stewardship theory. For example, excessive demanding administrative fees for a small amount of investment and the lack of professional talents blessed with China management will restrict Hua Fu’s development. The Hua Fu which is founded more than six years must consider a stable source of funds, the introduction of professional management personnel and other factors of the sustainable development. At the same time, it can also draw lessons from foreign excellent foundation development pattern and the method to compensate the shortage. Overall, although stewardship theory limits Hua Fu’s development in some aspects, Hua Fu’s development still can have a qualitative leap when overcoming its deficiencies. The Stewardship theory as a basic idea is an important support to the the long-term development of Hua Fu.