This morning, J.D. Greear posted a new article, “The next wave of missions,” which led with, “is going to happen on the wings of business.”
Here are several thoughts we need to bear in mind:
- Business and missions have always gone together, although it might not come readily to mind. Very early on of course we know Paul was a tentmaker. My next favorite example is that of the Celts (see “How the Irish saved civilization” and “The Celtic way of evangelism”—both classic readers on the subject). We have examples throughout history; the most notable for Protestants is probably the Moravians and William Carey, both of whom incorporated business (or at least working) in their mission outreach methods. There is nothing particularly new about combining business and mission.
- That said, I think there are still a number of areas where charity will be the order of the day. Charity and generosity are twin cornerstones for the Christian faith, and we will never be without them. “The poor we will always have with us.” Some obvious examples include mercy ministries, humanitarian aid, emergency relief work, medical missions, and other stuff like Bible translation and some educational and literacy work. Often these sorts of things do not have a “market,” but clearly Jesus said we were supposed to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, visit those in prison, etc.
- You generally can’t do real business-and-mission on a short-term mission trip (well, perhaps the training side—but not the actual business-starting side). Staring up a business requires a long-term commitment to an area: learning language, culture, laws, building relationships, gathering capital, doing all the logistical stuff, etc. I like BAM for this aspect alone.
- BAM also carries with it some pluses: if you do real business development, you don’t have to worry so much about long term fundraising, you get to feast off some of the fruits of your labors without guilt, and you get a long-term visa (usually). But it also comes with its own set of challenges: there are huge issues surrounding ethics, integrity, profiteering, making sure your people are taken care of, and so on. I am not a business major and have not a clue as to what all of the issues are, but if you’re doing this rest assured challenges will be there!
- BAM carries with it a bit of a negative legacy of “fake businesses”: missionaries who started “businesses” (the quotes are intentional) as cover for missionary activities. They never did any business, they propped the business up with donations, and the locals new it. The integrity failure here compromised them.
- There will be time management issues! How much time is given to business—and how much time to evangelism? However, I theorize that obedience-based discipleship can be built into typical business training and daily modeling of work ethics.
- Of course one great thing about BAM is that you get all the local relationships. You really incarnate in. You will eventually have respect and influence. Successful businesses in an area can stay when other missionaries are kicked out. Sometimes you’ll get influence with government leaders. All of this is important.
Most important for me: I’ve recently been giving significant thought to the idea of a “venture capitalist” for mission strategy teams, and comparing missionary teams with tech startups. There are a lot of parallels. But if we are mobilizing business-as-mission people (and we are, MUP already has teams in the field doing this, and I know numerous other agencies do as well), then the role of VC-as-mobilizer will become infinitely more important. Does your agency have, or are you contemplating having, a VC-mobilizer? Or someone to train people in business?
On a side note, one reference that may be useful to potential BAM workers: personalmba.com.
What are the thoughts and takeaways for you? What resources have been really useful to you? Follow me on Twitter for continuing conversation about this, or comment below.
