For those who wish to manage organizations according to biblical principles, is there guidance in Scripture for how to hire people?

May I suggest that Scripture does indeed provide this guidance. It can be found in the application of the C4 principle. C4 is an acronym that stands for calling, character, capability, and commissioning.

Here is a brief overview of the C4 principle.

Calling has two fundamental aspects. First, there is the external call of God; and second, there is the internal witness of God in each individual’s heart. This combination is a powerful force to guide people into their individual destinies and purpose.

Character is the measure of a person’s maturity in Christ—how well a person is aligned with the will and ways of God. In other words, a person’s character reveals the degree to which he or she is incarnating the life of Christ.

Capability is the God-given skill and ability that each person has to accomplish his or her divinely ordained mission in life. How well a person has discovered and developed his or her skill and ability is a measure of their capability.

Commissioning is the validation of God’s call on a person by those in authority over the person. Since all authority comes from God (Romans 13:1), each authority figure (parents, teachers, employers, church leaders, and civic leaders) is a commissioning agent in the lives of those under their authority.

The biblical guidance for how to hire someone comes from the synthesis of these four traits. For example, in the above text the C4 principle is used to identify people who are called to food distribution (see the context of the text). Calling is expressed by the phrase “choose seven men from among you.” Character is noted by the reference that these men were to be “full of the [Holy] Spirit.” Capability is summarized by the word wisdom, which is the skill to live well in God’s universe. And commissioning is the role of the apostles (God’s commissioning agents) and is expressed by the phrase “we will turn this responsibility over to them.” The C4 principle provided the guidance that the apostles needed to hire the right people to do the food distribution for the first-century Christians in Jerusalem.

The C4 principle is a tool to guide us in hiring the right people to do any work assignment. For example, the principle is used to quality people for construction work (Exodus 35:30ff), dispute resolution (Exodus 18), artistic work (1 Samuel 16:14ff), leadership (1 Timothy 3; Titus 1) and government (Psalms 78:70–72).

My thesis is that C4 principle is a timeless universal biblical principle to qualify anyone to do any work assignment.

Here is your business tip . To develop world-class value, organizations must hire the right people. The seminal biblical principle for hiring is C4. By faithfully following this principle, management teams can properly build their organizations in alignment with the will and ways of God. This will serve as a safe harbor and lay the foundation for divine favor and blessings.