Each year on our national day -- Australia Day, January 26 -- a prominent person who is considered to have made a significant contribution to Australian society is named "Australian of the Year." I'm told this style of award happens only in a few nations around the world. Not only does this honor recognize a lifetime of achievement and community contribution, it also offers a platform for the award recipient to speak on issues close to their heart during the year in which they are the "Australian of the Year."
I recently had the opportunity to interview this year's "Australian of the Year" for an article soon to be published in the Australian-New Zealand edition of Signs of the Times magazine. Simon McKeon is an investment banker, who has contributed much to a variety of charitable organizations and is an outspoken advocate of both corporate philanthropy and individual giving.
McKeon says he is using the platform this award has given him to champion such generosity, saying that where any of us have any capacity for giving, we should consider that as a valid option to make a difference in the lives of those who need it. As such, he had many worthwhile things to say about giving well, something he keeps coming back to in the 700 times he estimates he will speak publicly this year.
But one comment particularly caught my attention. From his perspective, McKeon urges that giving is not just important for the beneficiaries, it is also vital for the giver. As an investment banker, he is attuned to the business realities. He urges that the most successful organizations are those prepared to give to and work with their communities.
"The most successful businesses will be those that will be doing their fair share of the heavy lifting on community issues," says McKeon. "They will be connected with their community, not operating out of an ivory tower. And they will be better businesses for it because they will actually understand what the community is needing and asking for. It is important to be thinking seriously about giving one's time, as well as material resources. Not to do that means you end up being an unnecessarily narrow and unsuccessful person."
While in many ways the church should be more than a business, McKeon's insight is helpful to our practice of faith, both individually and corporately. However we might judge the success of the church -- whether numerical growth, spiritual growth, benefits to the community or faithfulness to the call of Jesus -- our connection with our community will be a vital ingredient.
Church should never be about "ivory towers" or merely looking after ourselves. As Jesus taught, the church should be both salt and light in the world (see Matthew 5:13-16): "Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father (Matthew 5:16, NLT).
We should give because of what we have received (see Matthew 10:8) and we should serve primarily for the benefit of others but when we do this, we will soon find that we receive more again in return. Perhaps this was one of the meanings of what Jesus said: "To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance" (Matthew 25:29, NLT).
And there is also a personal benefit for those of us who work together as a church to connect with and serve our community. Rather than risking becoming "an unnecessarily narrow and unsuccessful person" -- as McKeon put it -- we step into a life of generosity and cooperation, created and creating anew "in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago" (Ephesians 2:10, NLT).
McKeon was talking about business, but his wisdom also reveals a dynamic of life -- and even more so of the life of faithfulness.
--Nathan Brown is a book editor at Signs Publishing Company, near Melbourne, Australia. He is author of five books, most recently "I Hope" (Signs Publishing, 2011).