First International Business as Mission (iBAM) Course Completed: A Great Success!
Mark & Michael, the course Directors, share their perspective on the first Introduction to Business As Mission (iBAM) Course, run in Chiang Mai, Thailand from January to March 2008. After many years of concept development, this course was delivered confidently by the lecturers, business coaches and course staff.What an incredible 6 weeks. The teachers were excellent, bringing profound truth from the word of God and teaching us about the realities of doing Business As Mission. We experienced an important tension in our classroom, which is a tension faced by most Business As Mission practitioners. We need to make our businesses profitable, but our obedience to go to the nations with the whole gospel, takes us to places where business is very different and profitability takes a lot longer to achieve; AND, we also look to achieve additional goals to our profitability, seeing transformation of lives, the hungry fed, the unemployed trained and in meaningful employment to name a few. I am simplifying, but the fact is that on the ground there are many challenges to overcome. It was a privilege to see some of that first hand while on the field trips to China, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Northern Thailand. These trips were a catalyst for deeper understanding about the facts and reality of doing business cross culturally, done to see the Kingdom of God where it is not.
The business coaching and workshops were essential to this course. Business planning, marketing, and financial management workshops were delivered by our resident business coaches. Their availability and commitment to work one on one with participants as well as their great insight and wisdom helped many in their business planning and ‘next steps’ process. Each participant’s personal development was also clearly highlighted as essential in preparation for running a successful BAM project. We can not underestimate the impact of good leadership, personal discipline and a vibrant relationship with God in achieving success in life and business.
As Course Directors, we have been greatly encouraged in the establishment of the course, and will continue to run this course in the future. We are excited to develop and improve the iBAM course so that it becomes an excellent first step towards becoming a Business As Mission practitioner. I hope you have enjoyed hearing the stoires on the Business as Mission Network site. To hear more stories about the course and from participants, please go to http://www.businessasmission.com/. The next IBAM Course will be in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 24th January to March 7th 2009. Application forms are available from the Business As Mission Resource Centre, please email bamtraining@oval.com or download from http://www.businessasmission.com/.
Labels: IBAM, International Business as Mission, Training the Next Generation, YWAM
