TORONTO—Chris Cahill is an advisor with a purpose. The successful businessman owns and operates Financial Strategies Group in London, Ontario, but channels a lot of his time and treasure to help a group of 30 children in the Dominican Republic.

Cahill is just one of a growing number of financial professionals who are keen to move from success to significance.

He told his story to a group of Christian money managers at a mid-May gathering of Advisors With Purpose, an emerging network that aims to train and equip committed Christian financial professionals to implement biblical principles in their lives, ministries and practices.

“Training advisors is key to our ministry,” says Rick Harper, vice-president of membership for the group, which operates under the auspices of the Canadian National Christian Foundation (CNCF) in Ottawa.

“Financial advisors are uniquely equipped to be teaching biblical stewardship principles to the body of Christ in order to make a difference. We offer a different approach, a different way of thinking than the mainstream society. Money is important, but it’s not the most important thing,” he says.

During the past 20 years, giving in Canada has decreased while incomes have increased substantially. Most Canadians borrow money to buy more things and be more comfortable. We carry loads of debt, to the benefit of lending institutions, and are not particularly generous. Last year, for example, the average evangelical Christian gave 2.3 per cent of their income to charity while they paid 9.8 per cent on consumer debt.

Harper and his colleagues are swimming against the prevailing currents of North American society with their message of wanting less and giving more.

CNCF founder Lorne Jackson, for one, is committing considerable time and energy into building organizations and networks that will help Christians throughout Canada become free from debt and “experience the joy and fulfilment of a generous life.”

Jackson routinely emphasizes the need for Christian money managers to “turn your practice into God’s business. You don’t own your business,” he says. “It’s God’s. You are the steward.”

Being a good steward, he explains, begins with the recognition that God owns it all. Those who take up the challenge of becoming godly stewards will need to pray for generous hearts and accept that “I need to give more than God needs to get.”

Jackson encourages Christians to reflect deeply on the question, “How much is enough?” Once that is settled, they can more readily determine what is available for them to give.

Giving more is one important focus. Investing in socially responsible ways is another.

Gary Hawton, CEO of Meritas Mutual Funds, has a lot to say about where Christians should and should not invest their money. He is inspired by the small group of Quakers who made a countercultural decision 200 years ago and determined it was wrong for them to invest in businesses that depended on slaves.

But morally questionable investments still swell the savings plans of many Christians. “I’ve seen church stock portfolios with Playboy magazine in them,” he says. Hawton is eager to see investment funds channeled into businesses that demonstrate real concern for justice, respect the dignity and value of all and practice environmental stewardship.

Similarly, Karen Bjerland of FaithLife Financial says the “bottom line” for her group is “to build a better world.”