New Video, Graeme Kent of SIM Mission Agency on Business as Mission
Serving in Mission (SIM) continues to Develop it's business as mission models. Check out the new video interview with Graeme to understand their philosophyUsing legitimate business and professional activities as platforms for ministry is not a new concept for SIM. During its long history as a church planting mission, many people such as school teachers and health-care workers have served with SIM in paid positions. In more recent years, SIM has established commercial businesses as a means of entry into countries with restricted access.
The significant potential of business-based ministry is clearly recognized by SIM. An "Advocate" was appointed in 2006 to stimulate the development of new styles of ministry and to foster networks, both within SIM and with other agencies and groups active in this area. Click here to watch the 4 minute video and the rest of the article
Labels: Graeme Kent, SIM, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM
Continue reading 'New Video, Graeme Kent of SIM Mission Agency on Business as Mission'
Mission Agency Outsources to India with Great Success
Wycliffe Bible Translator’s Initiative to Accelerate Translation Time by 10 YearsGrand Rapids, MI – By utilizing offshore resources in India for software development, Wycliffe Bible Translators is making a significant addition to its IT development team, re-engaging lapsed donors and ultimately developing tools that are estimated to accelerate the bible translation process by ten years or more. For this innovative project, Wycliffe Bible Translators partnered with EC Group International, a Grand Rapids, MI company to provide dedicated, high quality software developers.
In October 2006 a team was formed in India enabling Wycliffe to make a significant addition to its Information Technology (IT) development efforts. Wycliffe was able to hire top Indian talent to meet the specific IT needs of the organization, including the necessary Oracle resources that have been a struggle to fill prior to this initiative. An executive at Wycliffe explains: “The team of software test engineers who are working for us at Sudyk Datasoft in Chennai have greatly enhanced our software development process - thus enabling us to produce better software on a timely schedule.”
In October 2006 a team was formed in India enabling Wycliffe to make a significant addition to its Information Technology (IT) development efforts. Wycliffe was able to hire top Indian talent to meet the specific IT needs of the organization, including the necessary Oracle resources that have been a struggle to fill prior to this initiative. An executive at Wycliffe explains: “The team of software test engineers who are working for us at Sudyk Datasoft in Chennai have greatly enhanced our software development process - thus enabling us to produce better software on a timely schedule.”
Wycliffe’s India resources are developing software tools to facilitate the translation of scripture into new languages. By making these tools accessible to Bible translators with a wide range of translation skill levels, there is greater involvement from the church world-wide and decreased dependence on Western personnel and funding. Wycliffe historically has relied on a volunteer force of software developers in the US who raise their own financial support. By locating development activities in India, US volunteers require less funding and get the experience of an international assignment. The new software tools operate on less expensive computers, multiplying resources and decreasing costs.
Not only that, but long-term assignments in India, require 30% less funding than is needed to
relocate to the Orlando office of Wycliffe USA.The innovative utilization of outsourcing is attractive to Wycliffe’s donor base and has energized a large number of lapsed donors. A recent calling campaign, related to a matching grant for the project, resulted in pledges from over 3,400 individuals who had not donated to the organization in over two-years. These lapsed donors contributed over $125,000 and are now re-engaged with the vision of Wycliffe.
relocate to the Orlando office of Wycliffe USA.The innovative utilization of outsourcing is attractive to Wycliffe’s donor base and has energized a large number of lapsed donors. A recent calling campaign, related to a matching grant for the project, resulted in pledges from over 3,400 individuals who had not donated to the organization in over two-years. These lapsed donors contributed over $125,000 and are now re-engaged with the vision of Wycliffe.
The software developers were recruited in India by Sudyk DataSoft Private Ltd,. a Christian owned and operated company committed to sharing Christ with its employees, vendors and neighbors.
Sudyk DataSoft, located in Chennai, has been in operation in India since 1999 and currently has a staff of 85 people. It provides software development services to companies in North America, as well as medical and audio transcription services. Sudyk DataSoft is a subsidiary of EC Group
International, a Business as Mission company active in promoting the concept of spreading the
gospel in restricted access countries through business.
International, a Business as Mission company active in promoting the concept of spreading the
gospel in restricted access countries through business.
Wycliffe Bible Translators is a mission agency with its international headquarters in Dallas, Texas, USA. Through Vision 2025, it is their goal to see a Bible translation program in progress in every language still needing one by the year 2025.
Labels: EC Group, India, Outsourcing, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM, Wycliffe Bible Translators
Continue reading 'Mission Agency Outsources to India with Great Success'
Next Generation Connecting to Business as Mission Opportunities at the Rightnow Campaign :: Felicity Tinker
Each week at the Rightnow Campaign we highlight a few stories of young adults who Rightnow has helped coach and guide towards a specific ministry opportunity. We send these emails out to Rightnow staff, Rightnow volunteers and the churches and/or organizations who are directly related to the stories below.This week we highlight the stories of 2 people we've connected to business as mission. To get involved visit, http://www.rightnow.org/ or email Felicity at Felicity@rightnow.org.
Dustin :: Using his accounting degree with World Relief
Dustin was an accounting major in college and had been working for a corporate accounting firm when he heard about the Rightnow website. After talking with a friend, he discovered that he could use his accounting skills at a mission organization. Through Dustin’s connection with Rightnow, he was hired to work at World Relief using his accounting skills in their finance department.
World Relief works to relieve human suffering, poverty and hunger in 18 countries worldwide all in the name of Christ.
Brett :: Teaching life skills and business in Rwanda with Business as Mission
World Relief works to relieve human suffering, poverty and hunger in 18 countries worldwide all in the name of Christ.
Brett :: Teaching life skills and business in Rwanda with Business as Mission
Brett contacted Rightnow searching for an opportunity to spend six months in an impoverished area of Africa making an impact for Christ. Brett’s Rightnow Mission Coach connected him with Business as Mission, Rwanda. Brett leaves in January for Rwanda where he will spend time using his education degree to teach Rwanda orphans.
Business as Mission, Rwanda is an exciting new ministry using business as a means of helping to alleviate the oppression of poverty in one of the world’s most impoverished countries.
Rightnow’s mission is to connect passionate 20 and 30-somethings to specific ministry opportunities to impact God’s kingdom in the U.S. and around the world. Working along side churches, mission sending agencies and community service organizations, Rightnow is an unbiased voice that personally coaches and guides individuals toward ministry opportunities that match their passions, spiritual gifts, and ministry experience.
Business as Mission, Rwanda is an exciting new ministry using business as a means of helping to alleviate the oppression of poverty in one of the world’s most impoverished countries.
Rightnow’s mission is to connect passionate 20 and 30-somethings to specific ministry opportunities to impact God’s kingdom in the U.S. and around the world. Working along side churches, mission sending agencies and community service organizations, Rightnow is an unbiased voice that personally coaches and guides individuals toward ministry opportunities that match their passions, spiritual gifts, and ministry experience.
Labels: Cards from Africa, Felicity Tinker, Recruitment and Job Opportunities, The Rightnow Campaign, Top 10 Business as Mission Job Opportunities, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM
Continue reading 'Next Generation Connecting to Business as Mission Opportunities at the Rightnow Campaign :: Felicity Tinker'
International Course in Business as Mission :: Mats Tunehag, Lausanne Senior Associate
A calling into Business as Mission’s carries with it great excitement and opportunity. Never before has the world been connected at such a rapid rate through technological advancement and dependence upon trans-national commerce. As believers in this day and age, this changing environment allows us to see God at work, restoring His Kingdom to the ends of the Earth, including his heart and design for business to be an extension of that blessing.Within the movement of Business as Mission’s, many individuals are sensing a release to their calling. Realizing that God has gifted and tooled various people for various works, the passionate businessperson needs to be fully embraced to fulfill their call. The Business As Missions Network is a vessel in which these type of people can network and partner in this ever strengthening movement.
As featured in previous Business As Missions Network news, the International Business As Mission’s Resource Team has been serving various individuals and institutions exploring the BAM concept. This established team is now offering a selective short-term cross cultural training opportunity, to bridge the crossing between a theoretical understanding of a BAM calling, to a resourced cross-cultural launch of a BAM initiative.
This limited seat training opportunity is being hosted in the strategic S.E. Asia/Pacific Region (Chiang Mai, Thailand), commencing on January 26th for a period of 6 weeks. Personalized visits to established BAM initiatives in surrounding countries are scheduled during the training to enhance the deepened theory into become practical realities.
Partnering with this unique training, Mats Tunehag (Lausanne Senior Associate) and Glenn White (Business Without Borders) are highlighted as keynote trainers, with additional learning opportunities provided to engage first-hand with experienced business mentors and seasoned BAM practitioners. The course is drawing from holistic first-hand experiences of running Business as Mission ventures in the ever expanding and demanding environment. These investments will be given to personal development, life-coaching and spiritual discipleship.
Get in touch with the International Business as Mission Resource Team (bamtraining@oval.com) to receive a brochure and further information for this pioneering course—a pivotal event in the history of the BAM movement.
“The London based YWAM-BAM team has been one of the pioneers of the global BAM movement. They have also served professionally and strategically as a catalyst and a facilitator of the growing BAM movement. It is a continuous joy to work with them and I strongly believe that the BAM training they provide will be another important contribution to the BAM movement.” Mats Tunehag, Lausanne Senior Associate Business as Mission
Labels: Business as Mission News and Notes, Mats Tunehag, Recruitment and Job Opportunities, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM, YWAM
Continue reading 'International Course in Business as Mission :: Mats Tunehag, Lausanne Senior Associate'
Columbia International Hosting Patrick Lai and Business as Missions - Tentmaking Strategies for the 10/40 Window, January 14-18th
As many countries are closing their doors to traditional missionaries and missions strategies, the 21st Century missionary, needs to rethink missions. This course moves the student “outside the box” of contemporary mission strategies to study the ways and means of doing BAM. This course offers a complete holistic approach to missions. The course is a one week intensive study of tentmaking and the issues, problems, methodologies which every missionary and tentmaker needs to understand and know how to apply before moving overseas. The course will survey the essential issues of doing business and ministry. Factors will be studied and discussed which should be a part of the pre-field training, as well as part of the daily life and work of practicing tentmakers. Students can expect to learn the tools needed to do business as mission in the 10/40 Window.Patrick Lai will be teaching the course. By God’s grace, Patrick has started several profitable businesses and two churches among Muslims in Asia. He coaches BAM workers throughout the Muslim world and is the founder of the OPEN Network, a network of 150+ tentmakers. Patrick will be teaching from his personal experiences. For more information, contact 803.807.5327 or zwemercenter@ciu.edu.
Labels: Business as Mission News and Notes, Columbia International, Patrick Lai, Practical Tips and Tools, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM, Training
Continue reading 'Columbia International Hosting Patrick Lai and Business as Missions - Tentmaking Strategies for the 10/40 Window, January 14-18th'
Relating Business to Missions :: Ken Eldred
It is important that Christians, especially those in business, have a framework for connecting business and missions. There are three ways of relating business to missions: business for missions, business and missions, and business as missions.Business for Missions :: Those who hold the notion that business should serve solely as a source of assistance to missionaries and evangelistic efforts view missionaries and vocational ministry professionals to be uniquely qualified to reach the world, and they believe the role of business is to support them. There are several variations on this notion of business for missions.
Support functions for missions. Some Christians see the role of business people in missions as providers of the professional and technical expertise needed for worldwide evangelism. For example, Christian computer consultants and publishing companies can assist missions agencies and missionaries in their work of spreading the gospel. While these are indeed important functions often best filled by business professionals, a definition of Kingdom business that limits its role to professional support for missions agencies falls short of the concept presented here.
Front for missions. Some missionaries view a business as a helpful cover that provides much-needed visas. The business is a vehicle for gaining entry and maintaining residence, and the title of "businessperson" can be helpful in certain circumstances. Of course, the business is a distant second in the priority of the missionary. Lack of expertise, training and interest in business matters almost guarantees the business's economic failure, but somehow the missionary manages to stay "in business" for years.
This is certainly not the idea behind Kingdom business. Kingdom business professional Clem Schultz has been founding and operating companies in East Asia for a number of years, and he is often approached by those who wish to use his businesses as a cover for their evangelism work in a region. Clem stipulates that those missionaries work no less than 20 hours per week in the business, and that they be competent, trained and fully committed to their jobs in his companies. He even mandates that there be no witnessing with fellow employees on the job, stipulating that it can be done after hours and that the believer must demonstrate a proper work ethic during the working hours he or she has committed to the company. The Kingdom business is a vehicle for missions, but it is not to be used as a front for missionaries who have no interest in working there.
Funding source for missions. Some Christians, not perceiving the intersection between work in the marketplace and work in missions, see the redeeming value of business in its ability to provide funding for missions work. Business is not really virtuous work, the thought goes, but money earned through business can be used to support spiritual work.
This, too, falls short of the full definition of Kingdom business. Whether in Canada or in Croatia, business continues to be an important source of funding for the local church. But to limit business to this role in the missions effort of the church is shortsighted. Business must not be relegated to the sidelines, because it is where everyday people are encountered and transformed.
Business and Missions :: Others admit that there is a legitimate missions role for the businessperson himself in the world. The mission field is not just for church-funded missionaries. Especially in regions that are difficult for traditional missionaries to access, why not have Christians relocate there through employment? Their work in business grants them both the funding and the legal status to remain in the country, and they can do ministry outside of work hours. They can fulfill both purposes: They can engage in business and missions.
This concept, which has been termed "tentmaking," should not be confused with the practice of Kingdom business described here. Tentmakers International Exchange defines this business and missions idea as follows: "Tentmakers are Christian witnesses from any nation who, using their vocational skills or experience, gain access and maintain themselves in another culture with the primary intention of making disciples for Christ Jesus and, where possible, establishing and strengthening churches."11 Instead of the three-fold objective of Kingdom business (profitability and sustainability, local job and wealth creation, and advancement of the local church), the goal of tentmakers is typically limited to spiritual results. Tentmakers are usually job takers, and the job is the means for gaining access to the country for evangelism purposes. The primary intention is making disciples for Christ Jesus. While Kingdom business professionals likewise seek to develop followers of Jesus, their mandate includes raising the standard of living and creating a better life for all by providing employment, financial resources, goods and services.
Tentmakers often find it difficult to deal with the tension between their secular employment and their real purpose, missions work. Operating in a framework that ascribes little eternal value to their jobs, tentmakers often view their nine-to-five work as a hindrance to ministry. It is the entrance fee that must be paid for access to the mission field. By contrast, Kingdom business professionals don't consider their work as a hindrance to ministry—it is their ministry.
Tentmaking has achieved some level of popularity in recent decades, especially in countries less open to traditional missionaries. This approach has yielded some positive results, but there have also been failures along the way. Tentmakers have a critical role to play in the furtherance of the gospel worldwide, but the idea of Kingdom business goes beyond taking a corporate job to gain access to a foreign country for ministry purposes. Kingdom business does not consider commerce and ministry as separate spheres of operation.
Business as Missions :: The concept of Kingdom business sees business as missions. It considers business activity itself the missions work. Kingdom businesses are for-profit businesses that meet spiritual, social and economic needs. Kingdom business professionals work with real-world problems with which they can demonstrate the gospel in action. Perhaps most importantly, Kingdom businesses provide a powerful platform of respect for the furtherance of the gospel both within the enterprise and outside of it.
Individuals engaged in Kingdom business see their role as job-makers who provide work opportunities for those who are desperately lacking them (frequently, these are local believers). Their companies produce valuable goods and services. They create long-term value for all stakeholders: employees, partners, customers, investors and community members. And they effectively further the gospel in the local community in which they operate at no cost to the local or worldwide church. They are missions vehicles for sustainable transformation.
Conclusion :: Kingdom business is for-profit business ventures designed to facilitate God's transformation of people and nations. The objective of Kingdom business in the developing world is to foster sustainable companies that both further the mission of the local church and provide jobs and financial resources. By leading, shaping, advising, funding and growing businesses, Kingdom business professionals are able to guide the culture, vision, hiring, compensation and business practices of organizations—all of which are important components of ministry to the nations. Though perhaps lacking formal training in theology or preaching, Kingdom business professionals are ideally suited to teach the gospel by word and by deed. By speaking truth and living out their faith in the workplace, they are able to lead many to Christ. They seek to bless the nations through business. They consider their work in business as ministry, not as a support or access vehicle for ministry. Kingdom business is missions.
The power of business to transform nations is illustrated by the following statement from former Chinese president Jiang Zemin: "I would make Christianity the official religion of China."Why would the communist leader of the world's most populous country make such a statement? Is he convinced by apologetic arguments that Christianity is the truth? No, I'm afraid his astonishing statement does not flow from personal faith or theological analysis. But Jiang Zemin has noticed something about Christianity that makes it highly attractive to him. We will explore that next.
This is an excerpt from God is at Work, a book written by Ken Eldred. The rest of this published exceprt can be found on the God is at Work site (Click here). I highly recommend the book and consider it one of the top books on Business as Mission.
Ken Eldred is currently CEO of Living Stones Foundation and Chairman of the Board of Advisors of Parakletos @ Ventures. For over 20 years, Ken served as CEO of Inmac, a public company he founded. He has assisted in the founding of several other successful companies, including Ariba Technologies. Ken is involved in ventures in the US, China, Europe and India, and he advises various Kingdom business ventures and ministries. He has an MBA from Stanford and was a Visiting Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Ken is the co editor of On Kingdom Business, winner of a 2004 Christianity Today Book Award. Ken and his wife, Roberta, have three sons and spend their time in Northern California and Colorado.
From God is at Work, © 2005 by Ken Eldred. Published by Regal Books, http://www.regalbooks.com/. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Labels: Editorials, Ken Eldred, Sacred and Secular Divide, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM
Continue reading 'Relating Business to Missions :: Ken Eldred'
Merge Ahead. Mission Organisations and Business as Mission :: Chris Page
A number of mission organisations have over the past few years started showing an enthusiastic interest in the whole movement of BAM, but many are still very wary, and some still quite opposed. I’m proud of the fact that the organisation I’m working with - Youth With a Mission (YWAM) - is currently one of the leaders in this area. Their website http://www.businessasmission.com/ is full of resources, and their training in Thailand in January 2008 will focus on equipping and releasing new practitioners into BAM projects around the world. This training, which I’m sure will be ongoing, could become an essential tool to business professionals, entrepreneurs, recent university graduates, and missionaries from any organisation who have begun to understand God’s heart for business and want to be a part of what He’s doing during these days.I recently heard the recruitment director of one large mission organisation say that they were aware of many young people in their churches having a desire to do missionary work in a different way to the traditional missionary activities of church-planting, Bible-teaching and relief work; an increasing number of students are wanting to do business-related activities. They decided to start up a business as mission branch within their organisation to meet this need (praise God!), and called it Redemptive Business because they felt it crossed the secular/sacred dichotomy that existed within their mission organisation better, and thought it would be more ‘palatable’ for the church swallow. I personally love the name, but I know God doesn’t mind what we call it, so long as we start putting into practice the intentions he has for business since he put Adam and Eve in the garden.
This dichotomy can be so subtle, and continues to hold subconsciously captive so many of the leaders of our mission organisations, that the first and most important thing we can do as people called to be Kingdom makers is to pray that the Lord would remove these barriers. ‘For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.’ Ephesians 6 vs 12 (NIV). ‘(Therefore)…prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.’ Ephesians 6 vs 18 (The Message). This is a battle, and one that we must recognise Satan has done very well at blinding us as a church, but the walls are coming down, and God’s purposes are being made known once again. After prayer, and the essential ground preparation that results, will come teaching. This is growing in pace already – when I started being a bussionary five years ago there were hardly any books, websites, network groups or mission organisations focusing on BAM. Now the number of books runs in the hundreds, and just a quick glance at http://www.businessasmissionnetwork.com/ gives an indication of the huge, and growing number of resources, organisations and networks dedicated to this movement. Hallelujah! God’s spirit is on the move, and a kairos moment is in the making.
I’m believing in God for a second enlightenment period for the church. A church that will affirm, equip and send out to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth (geographically, or through influence), their people. A church that prepares resources tailored for politicians, business people, teachers, artists, journalists, health-care practitioners, etc. A church whose voice counts, because their adherents completely integrate their faith with their work. Then, and only then, do I believe we can hope to impact society in the holistic manner of Biblical times, except this time on a global scale.
In the first chapter to her eye-opening book The Old Testament Template, Landa Copes writes about a documentary that she saw, that completely transformed the way she understood the Bible, and the life that we should be living as people committed to God. The documentary, undertaken by an British journalist, wanted to know if Christianity made any difference to society. So he decided to focus his study on the most Christianised city in a highly Christian country, the US, as his place to start researching. He found that Dallas, Texas, consisted of the highest number of church-going people (his definition of Christianised) in the country, and so proceeded to study the social demographics to see how this Christian blessing worked out practically within that community.
He looked at statistics and studies of crime, police enforcement, the justice and penal system, health care, contagious diseases, infant mortality, education, equality of schools, graduation statistics, jobs, and general economics. He studied homelessness and programs for those unable to care for themselves. Was there equality regardless of colour, creed or income? The TV host looked at the kind of information you would be concerned about if you were going to raise your children in a community. Will my children be safe on the streets, and will they have blatant exposure to drugs? Will they get a decent education and be able to get a job after graduating? Can I get legal help and a fair hand from the judicial system? Are the police equally interested in our protection, and is all of this true regardless of my colour, nationality or creed? He looked at all this, and a whole host of other facts and figures.
After reviewing all of this information about Dallas, Landa writes ‘no one would want to live in a city in that condition. The crime, the decrepit social systems, the disease, the economic discrepancies, the racial injustice all disqualified this community from having an adequate quality of life. And this was the “most Christianised” city in America. I wanted to weep.
The program was not finished. The host took this devastating picture of a broken community to the Christian leaders and asked for their observations. He chose leaders of status and integrity….One by one, each pastor viewed the same facts that I had just seen about the condition of his city. With simplicity, the narrator asked each minister, “As a Christian leader, what is your response to the condition of your community?” Without exception, in various ways, they all said the same thing, “This is not my concern…..I’m a spiritual leader.” ’
Landa concludes that it’s only because this sacred-secular dichotomy which permeates the mindset of most Christians, that can explain why we’re simply not seeing Biblical values applied by those who claim to believe in them, and thus we’re not influencing society towards good, and being a blessing to others in our sphere of influence today, as we’ve seen in the past time and time again. Because the truth is that IT SHOULD BE OUR CONCERN!
As Michael Baer so eloquently writes in his book Business as Mission – The Power of Business in the Kingdom of God – ‘A Kingdom business…is specifically, consciously, clearly and intentionally connected to the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom in this world.’ If mission organisations, and the missionaries within them, truly understand the Church’s God-given mandate to bring about His Kingdom in every area of society (including making disciples within the economies of all the nations on the earth), then they will embrace wholeheartedly movements such as Business as Mission which have that very purpose. They will affirm the business-related gifts that God has imparted to many believers, and seek to see them utilised within the realm of business. They will teach them to expand their geographical or influential area to maximise Kingdom growth. They will not view business as cash-cows, but as Kingdom-cows (!) – reaping a harvest that others can not reap. And in remembering the poor, the very thing Peter, James and John to the Jews and Paul to the Gentiles were united in doing (Galatians 2 vs 10), what better tool exists to put deeds to our faith and meeting their needs (James 2) than the transformational power of business, and the jobs, services and products that businesses provide?
My sincere hope and prayer is that mission organisations will become increasingly more enthusiastic and passionate about BAM. Only then will they have the desire to work through some of the challenges and differences that will naturally occur with pioneering movements like ours, compared to other established means of communicating the Gospel. Only then will they want to learn important lessons to avoid fingers being burnt, and indeed being sued, as several mission organisations have recently experienced because of being quick to jump into business. My hope is also that mission organisations will share with each other what they learn about BAM through resources like this Business as Mission Network webiste, share ideas for guidelines and policies, and encourage each other with awesome testimonies of lives being transformed and God’s glory manifested because of what He’s doing through Kingdom businesses. Only then will we see God’s Kingdom come in this crucial sphere of society that exists in every country on earth.
Chris Page is the founder of Cards from Africa (http://www.cardsfromafrica.com/), a kingdom company based in Rwanda and is actively involved with the mission organization YWAM. He is a regular contributor to this website and he welcomes your emails at bussionary@gmail.com.
Labels: Cards from Africa, Chris Page, Editorials, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM, YWAM
Continue reading 'Merge Ahead. Mission Organisations and Business as Mission :: Chris Page'
Is Business as Mission really the Traditional Approach? :: Ted Esler, EVP of Pioneers USA
There has been a lot of talk in the past few years about Business as Mission (BAM) and its implication for the “traditional” mission agency. I work for Pioneers and I don’t like it when people say we are a traditional agency - probably more because of my pride than anything else. Lately, however, I have begun to wonder about what it means to be traditional. Could it be that BAM really is the “traditional approach?”As I write this I am sitting in a roomful of BAM practitioners – about 75 of them from around the world of Pioneers – a small representation of the many BAM staff in our movement. There are over 40 types of business represented in the room, from cottage industries to some of the largest manufacturing firms in their sector. Many in the room are among Pioneers’ finest missionaries. As we have heard from case studies, speakers, theologians and, most importantly, missionaries who are businesspeople (or is it “businesspeople who are missionaries?”) a few things stick out to me.
The first observation is that many of these people have never felt embraced by the missionary community. If people within Pioneers are feeling this (I am biased, of course, but I consider Pioneers to be fairly forward thinking) I can only imagine what others have felt. It is time for agencies to fully embrace the BAM model of ministry. This means re-thinking our structures that are mostly built around the full-time Christian worker mentality. God will continue to call people into “full-time service,” but that doesn’t mean that we should continue to be one-key pianos.
Another point that has been repeated by these business oriented church planters is that we must focus more attention on the holistic nature of ministry. Holistic ministry meets the needs of people. BAM is a natural outgrowth of a ministry philosophy that stresses this holism. Business meets many of the needs that people have. Who doesn’t want to see their family provided for in a way that is not only financially sustainable but also empowering? Commerce is a cultural universal. If we are serious about transforming societies it must include business.
Yet another theme that I heard was a need for pragmatic assistance. BAM practitioners are often working in business-hostile environments with high taxes, corruption, and poverty. There is a complexity introduced by cross-cultural realities. It is tempting for me to write that, “Agencies need to cope with these issues.” That’s the wrong answer – the church is full of experts that can help with these issues. Agencies need to learn how to make a connection for these experts and then get out of the way.
A final observation was that a BAM philosophy benefits from good missiology. Missiology is no more than the accumulated theology, learning, and experience of the “church on mission.” The men and women at this conference were eager to hear from others who are in business and seeing spiritual fruit. Analyzing these various models together and highlighting the things that worked was very well received. It was a rich time of learning for all.
There was a small businessman (whom I have never met) that got a yearning to love a very unreached part of the world. Church leaders derided him as ill prepared – even questioning the value of his vision. He did his best to get appropriate training before setting off but was never fully embraced by his denomination.
He landed in a hostile country. His goal was to create a self-sustaining model using commercial enterprise. Opportunities were very limited in his new home but he soon found himself managing a small production facility, creating inks for the textile industry. As he worked he learned the local language and culture. He found new opportunities and built up a printing business. As he went, he shared his faith and soon had a small group of believers meeting and worshipping – the first in this people group. His business was burnt to the ground, rebuilt, his wife went mad, and he was physically threatened. Yet he persevered.
This small businessman was, of course, William Carey, now known as the founder of the modern missionary movement. He was a holistic entrepreneur. He not only conducted business, he learned the language, dress, and customs of the people among whom he worked. He knew the scriptures and took difficult positions for the sake of the gospel. Carey’s model has reverberated throughout the past two hundred years and continues to influence what we know as “mission.”
If it’s true that the modern missionary movement was based on a BAM model, lets return to our roots. Here are specific steps, culled from BAM practitioners, that agencies can take: recognize the valuable role that BAM is playing in the world today, focus on holistic strategies, provide practical assistance, and encourage good missionary practice. There are some structural issues to address as well. The businessperson who does not raise their funds through donations needs to sit at the table alongside other missionaries as full members of our agencies.
The traditional approach to mission might not be as old fashioned as we think. It’s a Business as Mission approach!
Ted Esler is the Executive Vice President of Pioneers USA. Today, Pioneers has more than 1500 international members serving on 176 teams in 72 countries among 98 unreached people groups. Pioneers partners with more than 2000 churches to send these churches to send these missionaries to least-reached peoples. If you are interested in opportunities with Pioneers, please visit http://www.pioneers.org for more information.
Labels: Editorials, Pioneers, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM
Continue reading 'Is Business as Mission really the Traditional Approach? :: Ted Esler, EVP of Pioneers USA'
Market and Missions :: Tom Sudyk and Bob Lupton
Bill Mallory is a long-time friend and businessman. He built a successful marketing company which supplied Pier One-type home furnishings to retail outlets all over the U.S. For years he traveled throughout the Pacific rim negotiating contracts with local manufacturers in the Philippines, Thailand, China and points in between. He eventually decided that he could better control the supply and quality of products if he were to create his own manufacturing operation. He found a suitable location outside Cebu, a port town in one of the outlying Philippine Islands, where materials were accessible and labor was abundant and cheap. For the past six years, Bill and his wife Page have been living in Cebu, growing another successful business.Bill Mallory is a man of principle. He has always tried to be ethical and just in his business dealings, a daunting challenge when dealing through middlemen in foreign cultures who broker the labor of peasants. With his own manufacturing operation, he could now ensure that workers were paid a fair wage for an honest day's work. He was delighted with the eagerness of his new workforce. They learned quickly and seemed genuinely grateful to have stable employment. Somewhat baffling, however, was their rate of absenteeism. Without notice and with distressing frequency, workers would not show up for work, sometimes for days at a time, a problem that wreaked havoc on his production schedule.
It was his wife, Page, as she monitored daily production activities, who first picked up on telltale symptoms that the workers were attempting to conceal - profuse sweating, pallid skin tone, uncontrollable shivering. A physician in Cebu informed Page that their meager diet of rice and fish, devoid of needed nutrients from fruits, vegetables and milk products, was leaving them vulnerable to a host of diseases. Many were coming to work sick, pushing themselves to the point of collapse, fearful that they might lose their precious jobs. A daily dose of multiple vitamins would prevent much of their illness but even such rudimentary health care was inaccessible.
This was obviously an obstacle that a businessman could overcome. A deal with a pharmaceutical company to ship wholesale quantities of vitamins could supply one pill per day per worker at mere pennies per week, an expense easily absorbed into the cost of production. It was Bill's first attempt to provide health care for his workers. Page, like a concerned mother, began greeting employees as they arrived at work to offer them their daily pill. Absenteeism dropped dramatically. Bill reflects: Two years ago we started giving everyone that wanted them a vitamin/mineral pill daily. These are the ones that provide daily requirements of all the vitamins and minerals. We started by bringing them over in our bags but have since found ways to include them in sea freight shipments. Most of the workers take them and the factory doctor says he has seen a marked reduction in colds, respiratory illnesses, and high blood pressure in these two years.
Vitamins, as beneficial as they were, proved no remedy for the more serious diseases that sometimes attacked workers. With a growing confidence in the benevolence of the company owners, workers became more willing to tell Page when they were having a problem. Bill expresses it this way: Page roams the factory many times a day keeping track of orders and either she sees a worker with a problem or they come to her. She gives them money to see a doctor and when they bring back a prescription, she gives them money for the medicine. The amounts are small but the results big. For example she saw a fellow who looked pale and was having chills so she sent him to the doctor. He returned to say he had typhoid fever so she gave him money for medicine and made arrangements with his cousin to stay with him while sick. She also made arrangements for him to receive his pay. A few weeks later he returned and told her she saved his life, and she probably did. The cost for doctor and medicine was around $50. She probably helps one or two a week. The cost is minimal but the results are major and the personal rewards to us are priceless.
Bill Mallory is a missionary. Not the traditional kind of missionary who packs his Bible, books and clothes in shipping barrels and flies off to an uncivilized land to preach the Gospel to un-reached tribes. Bill has backed into a new paradigm for missions, a model far more holistic in scope and far-reaching in impact than contemporary mission practice, and one that costs far less than the average $100,000 per year that US mission agencies spend to send one family abroad. As a Christian, Bill is concerned about far more than the profitability of his company and the attendant health of his workforce. Each one of his 400 workers has a name, a unique personality, and a purpose designed by the Creator. He realizes that apart from a personal encounter with the God who loves them, they will not know the fulfillment they were created to enjoy. So Bill has identified local believers, respected among their people, who have giftedness in teaching. He has supplied them with Bibles and Christian literature in their native tongue, encouraged them to begin Bible studies, and even funded the establishment of a church and an organizing pastor's salary. Both Bill and Page have done some teaching and worship-leading themselves but prefer to support indigenous leadership.
For years I have listened to speakers at missions conferences tell moving stories about people in distant lands who are longing to hear the life-changing message of the Gospel. And who could argue against proclaiming the Good News? But demonstrating the Good News through financial investment, sound business practice, ethical treatment of workers, and compassionate care for the sick has both eternal as well as temporal benefits that the spoken word alone is unlikely to yield. In Bill's words: Without the factory bringing in money, we couldn't be nearly as much help to these 400 workers and their families. They wouldn't be getting the Saturday morning Bible study, the vitamin/minerals, or the stability in their lives that lead to all of them becoming more mature. Men marry the women they have been living with, children are being sent to school, homes are being built, debts are being paid, bicycles and motorbikes are being bought, and everyone walks a little taller.
Leave it to a matter-of-fact businessperson to notice the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of well-intentioned programs that unexamined tradition has perpetuated. Leave it to a pragmatic entrepreneur to devise solutions that create dignity-producing employment, enhance community well being, and ignite spiritual rebirth - and all the while making a decent living for himself. Lead on!
Tom Sudyk, President of EC Group International is committed to using the business to support efforts to share Christ and has operated subsidiary companies in India since 1999. EC Group International is a great example of a company embodying Business as Mission, acting as a kingdom business operator, inspiration agent, educator and strategic advisor. They work with businesses, mission agencies, and academic institutions that face the challenge of remaining competitive and effectual in today’s global economy while recognizing the tremendous opportunity to do so in a way that creates a sustainable means for spreading the Gospel.
Labels: Editorials, Sacred and Secular Divide, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM
Continue reading 'Market and Missions :: Tom Sudyk and Bob Lupton'
Mission Agencies Moving Forward in Business Based Ministries :: Graeme Kent, SIM Business Ministries
The Momentum Magazine published an article outlining some of the Business as Mission activities of Serving in Mission (SIM). I highly recommend the magazine and the article. You can learn more about the magazine by clicking here."Using legitimate business and professional activities as platforms for ministry is not a new concept for SIM (Serving in Mission). During its long history as a church planting mission, many people such as school teachers and health care workers, have served with SIM in paid positions. In more recent years, SIM has established commercial businesses as a means of entry into countries with restricted access.
The significant potential of business-based ministry is clearly recognized by SIM. An "Advocate" was appointed last year to stimulate the development of new styles of ministry and to foster networks, both within SIM and with other agencies and groups active in this area. There are many models in use linking business, mission and ministry and so SIM has adopted several guiding principles as it explores the options available. These include:
- The primary focus will be on ministry rather than business per se. Business or professional platforms must facilitate SIM’s strategic ministry priorities for the country concerned.
- Business-based ministries will be integrated, as far as possible, into existing organizational and leadership arrangements. However, it is clear that separate legal entities are required in some cases to ensure security of personnel and to provide an appropriate level of expert governance.
- People appointed to business-based ministries must meet normal SIM membership requirements and have appropriate ministry skills and experience.
- All business activities must be legitimate and run to high professional and ethical standards.Looking ahead, SIM faces several significant challenges:
- Identifying and assessing suitable opportunities for expanding our portfolio of business and professional activities. Even in countries where access is not a problem, there is real potential for reaching specific target groups (professionals, business people, diplomatic staff, etc). We see considerable scope for helping to strengthen our partner churches through business ventures. SIM is also keen to see how paid employment opportunities may be used to enable new missionaries from poorer countries get on to the field.
- Adapting our mobilization, appointment and orientation procedures to reflect the needs and expectations of people with business and professional experience who feel God calling them to serve as SIM missionaries.
- Developing effective links with other agencies and groups, especially those further advanced in this type of ministry.
SIM’s main focus will continue to be on its well-established ministries in evangelism and church planting, leadership development and a range of ministries meeting human need. However, it is also committed to developing a wider range of business-based ministries, designed to help build God’s Kingdom and grow His Church."
Labels: Business as Mission News and Notes, Momentum Magazine, SIM, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM
Continue reading 'Mission Agencies Moving Forward in Business Based Ministries :: Graeme Kent, SIM Business Ministries'
Getting Down to Business. From Micro-Enterprise to Frontier Missions, Business is Booming in YWAM :: Stacey Jillson
Sam Wilson (not his real name) is a YWAM staff member. He's also a businessman who has been in business in India for three years. "We felt called to an affluent business community in India," Sam explains, "and it was important to us to be business people to penetrate that community." Sam started out three years ago with a low-scale business but quickly found out that wouldn't work. "The expectation of our neighbors and peers was that we should do 'real' business."Sam's missionary purpose has led him straight into an office in a city in India. He's in business. He's in missions. He's in a place that more and more YWAMers for a variety of reasons are finding themselves. Some are involved in micro-enterprise to alleviate poverty, some in small businesses to provide income and resources for ministry needs, and some are working as tentmakers to gain access to restricted areas. For these reasons, when you visit many YWAMers around the world, you'll visit little shops and growing companies. There is a beauty salon, a travel agency, an internet cafe.
Is this good? Are our money-making ventures distracting us from real ministry? Is running a business too much of a financial risk? How and where do YWAMers get business training? To grapple with some of these issues, over 150 YWAMers, as well as many business people affiliated with YWAM, met in Pattaya, Thailand in January, 2003 for the Business as Mission (BAM) Consultation.
"People have been afraid because they looked at the pitfalls and problems," said consultation coordinator Lynn Green, YWAM's Field Director for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. "The vision we have here is that business is an integral part of the kingdom. It's not just a vehicle for mission, it's part of our mission."
Sam was one of the YWAMers who came to the consultation. He said that, for him, doing a "real business" hasn't been easy. Sam's company provides database upgrading for large businesses, with a client list that includes Ray-O-Vac and Dunn & Bradstreet. "We employ a dozen people, almost all of whom are Indian non-YWAMers. We're also apprenticing an Indian YWAMer who wants to start a similar business in the Middle East."
Tentmaking and Micro-Enterprise
For YWAM companies like Sam's, the business accomplishes many ministry goals: a legitimate community role, access to a people group, and even support raising. YWAMer Ron Eaton (not his real name) has been church planting for twelve years in a staunchly Islamic region. The nearest church is hundreds of miles away. Ron's ministry represents the only Christian work in the area. In recent years, Ron has helped to start nearly ten small businesses. "Developing tentmaking opportunities for national workers needs to be a high priority," says Ron. "These business projects help church planters access remote areas for extended periods and give them a legitimate reason to be there long term."
YWAMers involved in mercy ministry are also increasingly turning to business. Supatra Sirisomruthai of YWAM Bangkok Relief and Development manages a program called Step Ahead Micro-enterprise Development. Geared toward working-poor women, Step Ahead provides funding for women with at least one year's experience in their business. The women meet in weekly groups for accountability. "The groups provide people with friends, social contacts, and life-skill learning in areas such as saving, managing their business, and writing and following a business plan," says Supatra.
Funding for this program comes from Global Fund, an American organization. So far, Step Ahead has made thirty loans of US$125; women have used these loans to expand businesses such as grocery, food vending and dressmaking enterprises.
"Christian micro-enterprise development not only alleviates poverty," says Supatra, "it transforms an area into a kind, caring community." And as several BAM Consultation speakers said, it makes the poor less dependent on aid and empowers them to take control of their own lives.
Moving Forward
"Why shouldn't we encourage Christian entrepreneurs to use their skills to raise the living standard of poor Christians and their unbelieving neighbors?" asks author Gary Corwin. "And why shouldn't we expect them to make a profit while doing so? Strategic investment that meets human need with dignity, and that enhances long-term financial stability for church extension, should be celebrated."
Regardless of what facet of BAM we're called to, we must be committed to excellence and integrity. Australian business leader David Bussau says, "I think missionaries often get into business for the wrong reason. The business isn't really built around meeting a consumer need, it's just a methodology for the missionary to get into the community." David says that if a person claims to be a business person, he or she should seek to do business well, or else risk having a lack of integrity.
What will BAM look like as YWAM moves forward in this area? Steve Goode, YWAM’s international director of mercy ministry, says, "We've been slow-dancing around business for a long time as a mission. I think that micro-enterprise development, and business as mission as a whole, is going to be a key mission for us for the next couple of decades. It will help us fulfill the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, and the discipling of nations. It will bring us into contact with all areas of society and cause us to have a significant impact on the poor, more than anything we've ever done. The question isn't if we get involved, but how."
YWAM's new iniative in the corporate world: Business as Mission Resource Center.
Labels: Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM
Continue reading 'Getting Down to Business. From Micro-Enterprise to Frontier Missions, Business is Booming in YWAM :: Stacey Jillson'
Mission Frontiers (US Center for World Mission) Planning to Feature Business as Mission
In the past few weeks I've been talking with some of the guys at the US Center for World Missions the idea of featuring the business and faith movement in their magazine Mission Frontiers. This week, they've decided to move forward with the idea!Mission Frontiers has built a great reputation among mission agencies and churches across the country. It's been encouraging to hear their managing editor Rick Wood and Ralph Winter talk about the increasing interest towards business as mission from their audience and their team.
The business as mission movement is full of different perspectives and I'm sure it will be on full display in the magazine. At the end of the day, it is exciting to see so many different mission agencies have a sincere interest to engage on the topic and seek out ways to get involved. The infrastructure, passions and people on their teams could be such a key component in moving the movement forward. Stay tuned to the blog about the upcoming issue of their magazine.
Labels: Business as Mission News and Notes, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM, Video and Media
Continue reading 'Mission Frontiers (US Center for World Mission) Planning to Feature Business as Mission'
Vacationing like Brangelina :: Does volunteer tourism do any good? (TIME Magazine)
Seven years ago my world was turned upside down. I experienced what God was doing in the far corners of the world on a short term missions experience. It was that experience that sparked a desire to fuse my passion for business with faith.Without that experience I know my priorities would be different today. I'm grateful for that life changing experience.
Fast forward seven years later. As a business leader I sometimes get so entrenched in this idea of efficiency and effectiveness. It's a healthy tension ... One to walk between the idea of "building a self sustaining business" and a "ministry at all costs" attitude.
So tonight when I picked up this month's TIME Magazine I was curious to see an article debating the effectiveness of volunteer tourism. I was even more fascinated to see the article reference the short term missions as a long term predecessor to this movement.
The debate of whether a short term experience can be effective is not a new one in missions circles. For years mission agencies have been debating this in board rooms, conferences and around the world.
The article wasn't emotionally overwhelming but it was thought provoking (To read the article, click here). It sparked a lot of challenging questions like... What is the goal of a short term missions or a business as mission experience? Are we more focused on helping the person going or the person in need? If it is for the person in need, are the methods we're using the most effective? What makes it effective? How much of the formula is cost? Should we measure the return on an invested dollar that is spent?
Speaking of dollars spent, another thing that struck me was the number of people that pay out of their own pockets. You hear in this article that the people are paying from their own pocket $2500 to go on these trips and calling it their vacation. Should that change our philosophy on short term missions and support raising?
When all these ideas are brought up in the business as mission movement another variable enters. Sustainability. As business leaders we always must weigh the value added for the cost spent.
Normally you would find some well thought answer saying what should be done and 5 easy steps to do it. With this one I say let the conversations begin. Let the process work. Working together let's better understand exactly what short term experiences should look like in the business as mission movement.
Labels: Editorials, Recruitment and Job Opportunities, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM
Continue reading 'Vacationing like Brangelina :: Does volunteer tourism do any good? (TIME Magazine)'
7 Things Every Mission Agency Leader Should Know About Business as Mission
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to exchange some emails with a friend who has a passion for business and mission and is affiliated with a mission organization overseas.While starting off as more of a traditional missionary approach, in his 20 year career as a business consultant he has been apart of developing several businesses. During the past 3 years he has developed a very profitable business that allows him to fuse together faith + business. A few months ago he had the opportunity to speak about some of the invaluable lessons that he learned to some of the key mission agency leaders across the country. I asked him to share some of his thoughts. Here's what he had to say...
1) God loves Business as Mission
- Doing business (organising people to work together & thus provide for their current & future material needs) is part of the call on God’s people.
- Over the centuries (e.g. Paul was a small business owner & not just a tentmaker) God has blessed organisations which have taken their business abroad & proclaimed His kingdom.
- God is putting in on the hearts of business owners world wide to use their resources for God’s glory.
2) Business as Mission is not just about starting a company in another country
- Starting a company in your home country has a success-rate of 1 in 10. Opening a branch in another country has a similar success rate. Starting a new company in another country does not increase the likelihood of success!
- Starting a company is complicated, time-consuming and requires more money than was forecast. Doing this in another country is rarely less-complicated, less time consuming and never more predicable!
- Effective cross-cultural business takes an existing effective business in one country and adapts it to a new country. Rarely do people who try to re-invent the wheel, succeed in doing something beautiful.
3) Business as Mission is not a way to get more money or more time to do mission
- Running a business is time-consuming so if your workers want more free time don’t get them to run their own company. Being in charge means that they don’t have anyone else to shift the responsibility onto!
- Businesses require money to run. If raising support of US$40,000 a year was hard, why will it be easier to raise at least US$200,000 to open a business in a dangerous country?
4) Business as Mission is vital for communicating the gospel
- The gospel impacts individuals, families and communities. It impacts them physically as well as spiritually.
- Communities need to see the gospel implemented not only in individual lives and in families but also in other social environments.
- After the family, the most common social grouping is business.
5) Business as Mission is not the job of charities
- The type of person with experience to run a business do not often join a mission agency in the way that, say, a teacher or doctor does.
- Charities (and people with a charitable background) have difficulty managing for-profit organisations because of the difference in organisational culture.
- Charities cannot simply own for-profit organisations without risking their charitable status (since the charter for each charity rare permits them to establish or run such businesses).
- The authorities in the US (& elsewhere) are concerned with money-laundering of charitable funds. Moving money to another country to pay money to a business (either for salaries or equipment) with no legal relationship to the charity is likely to be construed as money laundering!
6) Mission agencies have key roles to play in Business as Mission
- Business as Mission people may not join mission agencies in the same way but that does not make them lone rangers. They value professional experience (including in missions) & they expect to work in partnership with the rest of the church.
- Business as Mission people need advice & guidance to how to do mission appropriately. Mission agencies can work with the business leaders to form their Business as Mission strategies & to provide ongoing insight.
- Agencies can specifically encourage certain types of business to enter their fields so that it is easier for other Business as Mission people to enter. For example, if there are experienced sympathetic consultants on the field then it is easier for other Business as Mission people to assess how to enter that market.
- Agencies can fund research into market opportunities to attract Business as Mission people onto their field.
- Agencies can take advantage of effective Business as Mission people by providing them with competent tentmakers with a strong BAM ethic.
7) Mission will look different after this latest Business as Mission wave
- Mission agencies are likely to need to work with Business as Mission people as peers not employees. This means that some agencies will tend towards becoming service providers rather than employers of missionaries.
- Mission will be seen as something done by the inter-dependent church not merely by local congregations sending their members to work for mission agencies.
- If a business leader came to you today, how would you explain what you can do to make the business more eternally effective? How would you relate to that Business as Mission person? How would you enable the Business as Mission person to pay for the services? What happens if that BAMer is from Africa or Asia?
- If a business leader wanted help to do what you do on your field, would they be able to find you at all today? (Business as Mission owner are typically too busy to attend mission conferences so how do they get to hear about you?)
Labels: Editorials, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM
Continue reading '7 Things Every Mission Agency Leader Should Know About Business as Mission'
Details Announced for Introduction to Business As Mission Course
The Director of Training for the Business as Mission Team at YWAM has just released the details about their initial training course on business as mission. Here's what he had to say..."Greetings from the Business As Mission team. I am writing to update you further on the BAM training we are planning to run in January 2008. We are going to run the training in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This location will provide a great experience of Asian business culture as well as being in close proximity to BAM projects we will visit on a 5 day field research trip in the region (Cambodia, Indonesia and China) during the training. The course dates are 26th January through 8th March 2008 inclusive.
The course fee is approximately $3500 and will cover food, lodging and travel during the 6 week period. (Scholarships available to those involved in full-time missionary or non-profit work)
We will be sending out application packs in July but if you have any questions now we would be happy to answer them. Please write to bamtraining@oval.com."
The course fee is approximately $3500 and will cover food, lodging and travel during the 6 week period. (Scholarships available to those involved in full-time missionary or non-profit work)
We will be sending out application packs in July but if you have any questions now we would be happy to answer them. Please write to bamtraining@oval.com."
Labels: 20 and 30 Somethings, Business as Mission News and Notes, Practical Tips and Tools, Recruitment and Job Opportunities, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM
Continue reading 'Details Announced for Introduction to Business As Mission Course'
"What Can Business People and Pastors Learn from One Another?" by Corey Cleek
As a business person who is spending more time with pastors and church leaders these days, I’m noticing an interesting trend: Pastors are reading business books. Good to Great, The World Is Flat, Now Discover Your Strengths, The Tipping Point… These books, and the themes that are covered in them, are becoming a part of the vernacular of not only business professionals, but also church leaders. Church leaders are also exploring how to apply these principles to their church and ministry organizations.I’m also noticing another interesting trend: Business people are reading faith-oriented business books…Anointed for Business, God is at Work, Jesus CEO… as a part of an exploration process to better understand how our faith applies to our lives as business professionals. This growing number of books oriented towards applications of faith in business, and the growing number of business fellowship groups (local and national) around the country, are indicators of this growing trend of business professionals exploring how to apply our faith in our lives as business professionals.
As professionals in business and as church leaders leading organizations of various sizes, what can we learn from one another, and how can we best support and serve one another as we explore each other’s worlds to figure out the applications?
It used to be that church leaders and business professionals were intimidated by one another because of a lack of understanding of each others’ worlds and cultures (and acronyms and language), but now that we’re reading the same books and realizing that we face very similar challenges and opportunities to better serve the communities we live in and the “shareholders” we’re accountable to, that is no longer the case.
This presents a tremendous opportunity…The opportunity is to figure out how to spend more time together to directly learn from one another and to better apply the principles that we’re learning about this intersection of ministry and business.
I propose the following as opportunities for us to consider:
Business people, invite your pastor to your workplace, share a bit about what the opportunities and challenges are that you are facing, and ask them for input. Remember, foundational business principles are also biblical principles, and church leaders are very adept at organizational and personnel development.
Church leaders, invite the business people in your congregation into the “church business” to leverage their skills and passions. You’ll be amazed at how excited they will be to be able to use their gifts to serve the church in this way.
Business people and church leaders, encourage small groups and Bible studies within your church specifically for business people and focused on topics related to the ministry of business. You’ll be surprised by the enthusiasm that an intentional effort in this area will generate.
Business people, invite your pastor into a board meeting or a staff meeting to share principles that apply to your staff and your business. Especially if you keep the conversation strictly business, your staff/co-workers will be impressed with how well your pastor “gets it”.
Pastors, provide additional platforms for business people to take an active role in teaching and leading the church in various ways. Business people are typically very good presenters and teachers, and many would enjoy this opportunity if asked. When was the last time you asked a business person in your church to teach in a Sunday morning service?
Business people and church leaders, organize and lead a business missions trip to provide a missions opportunity for the business people in your congregation to utilize their skills to serve and train business people locally and/or overseas. There is a growing business as mission movement around the globe, and now that “the world is flat”, there is a growing number of business-specific missions opportunities where they didn’t exist before.
Pastors, teach lessons from the pulpit about workplace matters and how scripture applies in the lives of business people...The Theology of Work, Spiritual Disciplines, Calling, Ambition, Rest, etc. This is not happening enough these days. As business people seeking to serve in the marketplace, we are longing to better understand how our faith applies to our business and our work.
By spending more time together, and by inviting each other into the environments where we live and serve, we as business people and church leaders will learn from one another, and we will realize how very similar we are in our skills, gifts, interests, and passions and how similar the challenges are that we face and the opportunities we have to serve one another and to serve our communities.
Previously with eBay and Amazon.com, Corey is an angel investor and consultant with Early Stage Internet Media and E-Commerce companies. Corey is the General Editor of "Devotional Ventures - 60 Inspiring Devotions By Business Professionals For Business Professionals" and a frequent contributor the discussion at the business as mission blog.
Labels: Editorials, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM
Continue reading '"What Can Business People and Pastors Learn from One Another?" by Corey Cleek'
Panel Discussion: What Role Should Churches and Mission Agencies have in Business as Missions?
Recently I caught up with several CEO's of business as mission companies, ministry leaders, and authors. I asked them to share their thoughts on a few of the key issues facing the business as mission movement. None of those could be more pivotal that identifying the role that the local church and mission organizations will play in fueling this movement. Here's what they had to say. Feel free to chime in and add your thoughts!What role do you think churches in the United States, traditional missions agencies should have in the business as missions movement?
"Believe it or not, some of the best and most sustainable BAM is happening through traditional missions agencies. It's helping them to be financially sustainable and a more compelling witness to the locals. At the same time, we need honest dialogue about what works and what doesn't and learn from both our successes and failures. We need to learn from each other between missions agencies and straight for-profit BAM businesses. Churches can help by supporting their business professionals to think missionally about their own workplace and to remind them of God's heart for the world.
Missions is more complex than ever -- we need to address the hunger and disease a person faces in addition to sharing with them the story of Jesus Christ. That means that mobilizers like need to be champions of people building professional skills that will be assets on the field and not short-changing that process."
***********************************************************************
"Mission organizations and Churches should do what they do best. Help with spiritual accountability and develop healthy models for business and faith."
************************************************************************
"As much a role as they do in church-planting, evangelism and discipleship! They should embrace it (Business as Missions) wholeheartedly. I see absolutely no reason why people being trained to go overseas shouldn't receive as a bare minimum basic education and awareness about BAM, and then given the option to pursue it further, if that's where God burdens their heart. I also think Christian business schools should also have a very high level of awareness and training on BAM."
************************************************************************
Labels: Editorials, Panel Discussion, Traditional Mission Agencies and BAM
Continue reading 'Panel Discussion: What Role Should Churches and Mission Agencies have in Business as Missions?'
#6 Missions Agencies: Infrastructure, Passion, Business as Mission?
Some experts estimate there to be anywhere from 40,000 to 60,000 people living around the world that would identify themselves as a being a full time missionary. At last count there were hundreds of mission sending organizations.The business as mission movement wouldn't hold as much potential as it does today had it not been for the missionaries and the hundreds of sending organizations that have laid the foundation over the past half century. Their sweat, blood and tears are a big part of the shoulders up which we stand today.
Outreach and cross cultural evangelism has had many new faces that have adapted and changed over the years. The freedom of modern day transportation and globalization has made it possible for us to reach the far corners of the earth in hours, if not days. For better or for worse, that led to the idea of short term mission explosion. Today, the increase in "closed access countries" and the cry of impoverished countries for basic needs and economic development have led to an accelerated attention on the business as mission movement.
Business as missions has a unique ability to have an influence in areas where traditional methods cannot go. It has also attracted businessmen and women with unique skill sets that have not previously been interested in cross cultural ministry.
For those reasons, along with many others mission agencies are investigating what their role should be and how they can use their infrastructure and resources to make a difference. I welcome those conversations and I'm greatly encouraged by their work. It has been refreshing to see traditional mission agencies like Pioneers, SIM, United World Missions evaluate what their role should be for people on their team who want to get involved. It is refreshing to see groups like YWAM embrace business as mission by creating resource centres and be a part of launching entrepreneurial efforts like Cards from Africa.
One recognizable ministry leader in the United States recently said "Believe it or not, some of the best and most sustainable BAM is happening through traditional missions agencies. It's helping them to be financially sustainable and a more compelling witness to the locals. At the same time, we need honest dialogue about what works and what doesn't and learn from both our successes and failures. We need to learn from each other between missions agencies and straight for-profit BAM businesses. Churches can help by supporting their business professionals to think missionally about their own workplace and to remind them of God's heart for the world. Missions is more complex than ever -- we need to address the hunger and disease a person faces in addition to sharing with them the story of Jesus Christ."
Yes, we all can agree that the non-profit culture of a mission agency is vastly different than a for profit business. The definitions and roles that both traditional agencies and for-profit businesses play in the movement will be different. Although different there is a dire need for both. It is disappointing to watch some conversations between agencies and business become somewhat adversarial. There's far too little resources and people living it for us to be divided.
The infrastructure, people, and lessons that have been learned in the past 50 years by traditional mission groups can be an incredible catalyst to the business as mission movement if channeled correctly. This can only be done if we are patient and willing to work towards the common goal.
Recently I witnessed a thread of emails develop on the topic of defining "real business as mission." I thought one individual who has experience as both a businessman and working for a traditional missions organization said this...
"In general, I fear much energy is being expended on the potentially divisive and distracting debate as to what is "Real Business as Mission". Globally, we operate in a diverse, complex and confusing world with a lot of "grey zone" reality (referring to economies and business). It seems to me that part of the essential spirit of business and the entrepreneur is that they will not and cannot be herded into one pen, and that they are essentially opportun