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The Christian banker - who can marry God and Mammon - may seem like an oxymoron now. But Ken Costa, the 62-year-old City grandee enlisted by St Paul's to play mediator between banking and its critics, is an evangelist who reads the Bible every morning - after the FT, of course. If anyone can preach morality to the City, it is this righteous rainmaker.
Costa, who was chairman of investment bank Lazard International until earlier this year and spent more than three decades at UBS, is the top bankroller and chairman of Alpha International, the interdenominational programme that introduces non-believers to Christianity.
The ultimate God Squad has been a big success in the City, converting scores of financiers to the Christian faith. But, as research from the St Paul's Institute showed earlier this week, the bonus-obsessed Square Mile is still a "less pro-God community" than society at large.
And despite the use of money being the number one moral issue in the Bible, more than three-quarters of bankers do not think the City should listen more to the guidance of the Church. And yet Alpha's popularity is undeniable.
Despite emptying pews elsewhere, the Holy Trinity Brompton in Knightsbridge and its fellow Alpha course churches preach to bursting congregations each week.
Since Nicky Gumbel took over the programme two decades ago - and chose to focus its attention on encouraging non-Christians to explore the faith - the movement has mushroomed, with more than 16 million people attending its courses worldwide.
A course lasts 10 weeks and includes a day or weekend away but Alpha also runs a swifter, lunchtime version - Alpha in the Workplace - in both offices and venues around the City.
Jeremy Crossley, the rector of St Margaret Lothbury, which is the centre of the Alpha course in the City, says: "Alpha appeals because it is a way of responding to people's enquiries and musings about the meaning of life." But it is not without its critics, some of whom have accused the programme of "brainwashing" and being almost cult-like.
Even fellow Christians call it "happy-clappy", say it places too little emphasis on the gospel, or express discomfort at its practice of speaking in tongues (members chant in a language "from heaven"). "Speaking in tongues is one of the gifts of the spirit," says Crossley. "It is one small aspect of the course and more a feature of newspaper articles about Alpha than a feature of Alpha courses. But I speak in tongues, lots of people I know speak in tongues."
Their reservations aside, Alpha has been such a success that it has sparked a boom in evangelical organisations focused on the City, including an annual City Prayer Breakfast (which is next Wednesday) and Christianity Explored, which runs London's only floating church at Canary Wharf, and which has a programme much like Alpha, minus the tongues, inviting non-Christians for a meal and discussion.
St Peter's Barge is itself testament to God-fearing City folk, who paid for it and continue to fund it through donations. Its senior pastor, Marcus Nodder, believes the financial crisis has had a positive effect alongside all the negatives, encouraging City workers to re-evaluate their lives: "Spiritual needs are always there - whether you are rich or poor - but when crises happen, you become more aware of your needs and realise that some of the things we have been relying on are not lasting."
Jeremy Marshall, a trustee of Christianity Explored and the chief executive of the private bank C Hoare & Co, adds that the recession has made banking believers more open about their faith: "When everything is going well, it is not so obvious that there needs to be a solution to the world's problems. When things are not, people are more open to talking about it."
But while senior figures such as Costa, HSBC's Stephen Green and hedge fund star Paul Marshall have all discussed their faith, Jeremy Marshall (no relation) believes it is harder for the young: "They constantly fear they'll be fired so the last thing they want to do is stick their head above the parapet and say, 'I am a Christian'."
But does the City need an injection of Christian ethics? Jonathan Ruffer, an evangelical Christian and the founder and CEO of investment management firm Ruffer, believes so: "Our industry is a moral disaster.
In Genesis, the tower of Babel [signals that] man has got above himself - the financial world now has all the flavour of Babel. It is undoubtedly bad for people on the wrong side, but it also sucks too much money to a very small number of people who are utterly miserable because they are under too much pressure, so it's not even fun for them."
Despite Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein's declaration that bankers are "doing God's work", what of the apparent contradiction between chasing money and serving God? The Bible isn't exactly fond of wealth: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God" and "The love of money is the root of all evil", just for starters. So is it possible to square the two?
"You can love money as a poor person," says Nodder. "And there are rich godly people in the Bible - Abraham, Job.
Those who are rich need to be committed to doing good, rather than living in luxe and self-indulgence. We are not encouraging people to give up their jobs, but wallets should be included in discipleship."
Jeremy Marshall agrees: "The Bible teaches, 'To those to whom much is given, much is required'. If Christians make money, then as Christians we believe we will meet God and he will say, 'What did you do with it?'" Both bankers - Marshall and Ruffer - live by their word. Marshall is co-founder of philanthropy group Generous Giving UK and Ruffer gives huge sums to charity.
He recently splashed out £15 million to buy and then redonate paintings to the Church of England. He describes his pay packet as an "absurdity, not a disgrace": "It becomes a disgrace if I come to regard that money as mine to do whatever I want with.
To sit on it is wrong: people who have telephone numbers of wealth shouldn't see it as theirs. Money is meant to go into you, pass through you and go somewhere else. It's not a sacrificial thing, it just seems right: I've got plenty to roll about like a pig in clover."
This isn't just evangelism to ameliorate a troubled conscience. To those who have despaired of the absence of ethics in the City, Marshall's final words may offer a little hope: "There are more of us than you'd think."
Reader views (5)
I would just like to assure those readers, christian and non-christian, who feel a natural revulsion to the false tongue speaking antics endorsed by NG and the like, that in fact they are fully justified in such feelings.NG's book Questions of Life highlights the concern. Not only is it full of errors and is scripturally unsound- Nicky's charismatic leanings and faulty understanding of baptism and being 'filled with the spirit' to name a few- but p156 on speaking in tongues really is a display of Nicky's lack of knowledge and discernment. He states that tongues need to be developed. This is the complete opposite of what the New Testament states. Nowhere in the New Testament was this the case. In the NT, the Apostles spoke in tongues spontaneously as moved by God's Holy Spirit to preach God's word and to be a sign to the Jews.They spoke foreign languages, not the unintelligible goobledegook or false tongues that Nicky advocates. In fact, Nicky's prescribed method for acquiring tongues is the same as that used by Marcus and denounced by Irenaeus (disciple of Polycarp, disciple of John) 1,800 years ago- see 'Iranaeus Against the Nefarious Practices of Marcus' incidentally also used by the Pentecostal and other charismatic churches sweeping the globe.You decide if Alpha is a money making machine which preys on the vulnerable. NG and those involved in spreading the course are at the very least totally misguided and are certainly not following the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- Shailin Ramji, London, UK, 17/01/2012 05:58
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Money, per se, inherently is not an evil. The pursuit, above all else and at all costs, is. A life energised by accumulating untold fortunes or sitting on a hoard of perennially invested wealth is a life of wasted opportunity. Money can help set people free by helping give the underprivileged choices and opportunities to live fulfulling lives. Wealthy Christians establishing foundations to provide such opportunities must be applauded and, I believe, are living out the values Christ espoused in the Bible. Fund managers unethically bundling debt into securitised investments, erasing any obvious traceability are the real liability, like financial alchemists, turning hard-won earnings/savings into wealth solely for their own ends. These represent a nasty, self-focused bunch indeed. A million miles removed from wealthy, generous philanthropists, god-fearing or not.
- Rob P-S, Market Harborough, UK, 15/11/2011 10:26
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It is marvellous that Ken Costa has been enlisted by St Paul's, I assume because of the direct involvement of the Bishop of London.
- Davidgwhitef, Ipswich, UK, 13/11/2011 06:27
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Personal accountability to God regarding wealth is a really important test of authentic faith. All credit to those with the power to please themselves but understand the personal corruption such power can unleash on them, and choose not to exercise it.
Great indicators of priorities are budgets and diaries. So encouraged to read this article where some positive ethical stances are honestly aired. I agree, there is some hope here.
- John F, Folkestone UK, 10/11/2011 19:56
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There are different ways of handling money. One way is to just hoard it and do nothing with it, or to just spend it on oneself. These attitudes are condemned in the Bible. The other way is to use it wisely and for the benefit of others, to give the money some velocity, meaning it remains in circulation and benefits lots of people rather than remaining stagnant in a bank account or in a pile of gold.
I have no problem with bankers who have a christian attitude to money, it's the greedy selfish ones who cause the problems.
- David K, London, UK, 10/11/2011 16:04
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