Month: September 2011

Preparation for Today’s Mission Challenges

/ Phill

http://globalopps.org/tmbriefs/goe.png

Phill Sandahl
 

Mary was a successful professional pursuing her career. But there was a restlessness in her soul. There was a sense that God wanted her to be involved 
in overseas missions. What should she do? At a conference she heard about tentmaking, and that looked like it made more sense considering her skills and career. She felt like she needed some specialized training. She could not put her income on hold for a year or more to return to school. Besides, what would she take? She already had a degree in her profession.

The Lausanne group studying tentmaking/business as mission highlights the lack 
of training options as one of the obstacles to the development of the tentmaking movement.

One of the weak spots within the tentmaking movement over its recent history 
has been the question of training. People involved (in tentmaking/BAM) have generally been highly motivated, often well trained professionally and rarely in a position to undertake extended training comparable to that of career missionaries.
    Lausanne Occasional Paper #39

 The solution is training to supplement professional preparation that is:

•     Biblical
•     Focused
•     Practical and Actionable
•     Short duration
•     Foundational for further self-study

Mary found the solution in a 4 ½ -day intensive GO Equipped! course which prepared her to share her faith in the marketplace and live in a foreign culture.

She was able to take the course without interrupting her regular work and then begin the process of seeking placement overseas in the area to which God had called her. One year later she was living self-supported in a country that does 
not issue religious worker visas.  

She writes, “Thank you Global Opportunities for this invaluable course! I am now serving as a tentmaker in an unreached country. Truly, there is no other course out there that is specifically designed by and for tentmakers”  “Mary”

“God began to open my eyes to new areas of service to Him. GO Equipped prepares the Christian to fulfill the great commission not only on the foreign field, but right here at home.” Patricia

GO Offers Free Workplace Missions

/ Guest Contributor

http://globalopps.org/tmbriefs/goe.png

Dave English

One of the greatest joys you can ever have is to help someone come to Jesus and follow him. Even greater is helping someone in another culture who has no knowledge of Jesus. If you’ve ever thought of this, then this seminar is for you.

The global job market has opened a huge door through which God can use you in your profession without raising support. North Americans are in demand around the world for their professional skills including running businesses. Copying the Apostle Paul’s model of earning his living by making tents in order to spread the gospel, this strategy is called tentmaking. The term Business as mission (BAM) is often used for running a business.

Come to the seminar to explore this option. Find out how God can use you. Discover how tentmaking opens doors you never imagined. Billy Graham believed this was the wave of the future. He said, “I believe that the next great move of God is going to be through believers in the marketplace.”

This seminar covers the issues. Learn advantages of workplace missions and answers to major challenges. Learn the core tentmaking model. Discover keys to being effective. And get a roadmap for going. Hear from those who’ve done it and coached tentmakers for years.

  • See the power of being a tentmaker:
  • Meeting real needs through your work
  • Not having to raise money for ministry
  • Regular connections with people who need Jesus
  • Enhanced credibility as an unpaid witness
  • A natural context for showing Christ to people

 And more. 

  • You will also be primed to meet tentmaking challenges like
  • Finding a job overseas
  • Bonding with a “strange” people
  • Witnessing without fear at work
  • Being effective in making disciples

Gain insights that open possibilities you have not seen before. Hear brief stories of real tentmaking impact. And have a chance to ask questions in sessions, during breaks and afterwards.

Finally, receive suggestions and resources for going further, learn about a tailor-made course to equip you to become effective, and take away a roadmap to going overseas as a tentmaker.

 What others are saying:

  Invaluable!! I’m so excited and motivated! — M.H.

There is also an increasing number of missionaries going out as professionals who support themselves through their own occupational employment…  Many countries which have restricted missionary presence are being served through Christians who have re-located to those countries and work in a wide array of fields for strategic purposes… Today one is likely to meet someone who is an English teacher or who is utilizing their technological expertise in some strategic part of the world.  Nevertheless, this is an important avenue through which many missionaries are being effectively placed around the world.

Five years of tentmaking in China

/ Guest Contributor

reflections on a rich journey
 – a story from Scandinavia

My husband and I spent five years in China, with the purpose of serving God there. Of course, China is a place where traditional mission work is not possible and where limitations are many. So before we went, we read as much as we could and followed a one-year course focused on tentmaking.

And yet, when we reached China, we felt totally unprepared for what would lay ahead. Armed with only a few words of Chinese, we felt like we were diving straight into the deep-end of the ocean.

Fortunately, we were not totally on our own. Once we arrived at our final destination, a large city in the heart of the country, we were met by an enthusiastic group of other tentmakers originated from different Western countries. This small group was to become like a second family through fellowship: people that we would work with, pray with, and support one another through the ups and downs of life in China.

What on earth are we doing here?

I remember that one morning, a few weeks after settling into our small flat and life as language students, my husband was gazing through the window, watching the endless stream of cars, buses, bicycles and people. He suddenly turned to me and said in a sigh: “What on earth are we doing here? Who am I, just one limited man from a small European country, to pretend to do God‘s work here and ‘save’ any of those millions of people? What was God thinking when He sent us here?…” I could not answer anything then, beside a feeble: “Let‘s just take one day at a time. God knows what He is doing.” In truth, I had been asking myself this same question. But eight years on, we can see that this question has been answered many times and in different ways.

In a way, the biggest blessing of following God‘s call and become a tentmaker in China has been our own growth. There hasn‘t been a day when we have not felt God‘s presence with us, and in a strong way.

As any Caucasian Westerner who has been in China knows, it is easy to feel like a complete “alien” in the Chinese world. You look different, you behave different and people often point to you like you are a kind of “circus wonder“. It is partly because of that feeling that God‘s presence has felt so strong. We felt strangers but never abandoned. Again and again, God has shown us that He did not make a mistake in sending us to China. We were right where we should be.

During our experience of tentmaking in China, God has truly worked in us and through us. We had the privilege to see Chinese friends putting their trust in Jesus Christ. Others have walked with us on their journey of faith and we were able to bring support and encouragement. Numbers don‘t really matter, neither is it crucial whether we started “churches” or not. Every opportunity that we had to explain the Gospel to a Chinese person has been very precious, because it was God-given.

Of course, there have been some steep learning curves. One challenge was particularly having to be extra flexible with circumstance around us. When you do ministry in China, you can never allow yourself to be too attached to a strategy. Of course it helps to have a vision, but allow this vision to be molded by the unfolding events around you. This is what we experienced again and again.

From day one we needed an open heart and mind. Humility and flexibility are key ingredients to any successful cross-cultural experience, but you need an extra-dose of it when serving God in a country with limitations. There are many things that we wished we could do, especially related to the local Chinese Church. But there was no point focusing only on what we could not do and become increasingly frustrated about it. Instead, we tried to look towards what we could do and with time, the opportunities were many.  

Many Chinese have a great hunger for God

With patience and understanding, you can go a long way in Chinese culture. Some fantastic doors were open to us, such as the time when my husband was asked by a representative of the Communist Party at his workplace to explain more about the Bible. Or when I was able to share Biblical principles for love and relationships to several hundreds of students, many of them coming to me afterwards to hear more. We never tried to keep secret that we were Christians and tried to model our faith the best we could, through our daily lives. The result was often that people wanted to know more. Many Chinese have a great hunger for God, for truth and purpose in their lives. In fact, we saw how much more open than in the West Chinese people are. Almost every week, someone asked either one of us about our faith, God or the Bible, and why we believed. The key was to be ready and to allow God to speak through us.

This is a precious lesson not just for tentmaking, but for every day of our lives as Christians, wherever we are. Since coming back to our home country, we have tried not to go out off our tentmaking lifestyle. There was nothing so extraordinary about our Christian work in China and this is a calling for every believer whether at home or on the mission field. We are all called to put God first into our lives and to reach out to the people around us. Jesus said: “Be ready for service and keep your lamps burning.” (Luke 12: 35).  And His disciple Peter wrote: “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (1 Pet. 3: 15)