The spiritual impetus for reform

Bob Tucker with contributions from Jopie van Honschooten

The anguish in South Africa, the struggle to gain justice and freedom, is no less urgent because the story has been told before. Reports of substantial reform are few, and so it is understandable that glowing stories of progress in the relations between blacks and whites in South Africa are met with skepticism. The story told in this profile offers a modest hope and useful insight into the source of genuine reform.

Three years ago Bob Tucker and a fellow student of Christian Science, Jopie van Honschooten, went into senior executive positions in South Africa's second-largest building society (the equivalent of a savings-and-loan association in the United States). The business challenge was clear: This particular building society was operating in an industry that seemed to lack direction when direction was most needed. But as the building society's challenges were faced in the light of the fact that God is divine Principle and the only source of good, some remarkable changes began to take place. A strong management team took shape, whose members saw their fundamental challenge to be the larger crisis that faces their country.

Their response is clear from the organization's well-publicized vision statement: This organization is committed to being "a nonracial mutual society, responding to client requirements in a socially responsible way."The firm is making efforts to promote "home ownership for all by making home loans available to the full spectrum of prospective owners."

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