It was shock. When I saw that picture in the newspaper, it shocked me, the article said nothing about that picture, but it did report very calmly a family suicide. The family were economically the picture was of their home located behind a huge mega church in Seoul, South Korea. The reporter did not say anything, but the picture asked what the meaning is of the church for the poor. That picture led me to be here almost 15 years later. Today I cannot see definite solutions from the church and Christians. Solutions to poverty tend to be stopgap measures. Most churches are satisfied with charities, soup kitchens, at best second hand clothes, some offerings and events. But these efforts are not sustainable; they are stopgap measures. In fact when churches face financial crises, outreach ministries are the first to go. In this paper I argue that charity is not enough and that we as Christians have to think about chinks in our capitalist system and to suggest other ways to be faithful to the poor in these days of the dominant capitalist society. I will suggest a new Christian way to respond to capitalism through “social business.” Social business consists of businesses and organizations seeking to perform business activities, primarily through the pursuit of social objectives. In other words, the purpose of social business is also to make profits like regular businesses but not to see this as their motivating priority. The priority of social business is to solve social problems and to work for common goods.
