What happens when tentmakers return home after their job contracts have ended and their work visas have expired? In my 22 years of mobilizing tentmakers through mentoring, equipping and follow up, most end up off the radar which makes it hard to track their journeys. It is an unfortunate part of this ministry as the relationships that get built during the process are valuable.

Here are some of the stories of returned tentmakers

Some attend further tentmaker training courses and are urgently wanting to return to a new job so they can continue their mission. The return to the field rate is fairly high among them.

Most do not return. Many are disappointed in themselves feeling they have failed and have nothing to share about their time abroad. Yet, there are many stories of how God has taken the seeds that have been planted and made something miraculous. Discipleship movements have started even though the tentmaker has no recollection of having had a faith conversation with anyone. But that is another story.

As we have been running tentmaker courses in a dozen countries to hundreds of new candidates, the fact remains that not everyone ends up going to the unreached. Some join traditional mission agencies and see that as a valid model of mission for themselves. Even as the challenge of raising funds gets tougher, the mission agency model is still by far the larger vehicle for mobilizing and sending new missionaries.

A developing trend is for tentmakers to be directly sent by their home church.

We have seen many mission agency leaders and staff at our courses. They have taken what has been learned to change the direction of their agency. This is one of the most encouraging outcomes of our work.

The dictionary says that a generic person is “a person who is normal, who fits into the mainstream”.

Sometimes we are guilty of highlighting the superheroes of tentmaking, you know, the ones who start multiple churches, win dozens to Jesus, start disciple making movements, build God honoring companies that also disciple their employees and communities.

Stephanus, one of our mobilizer team members once asked me to share stories that were not about these superheroes and talk more about the common tentmaker. My response at the time was that sharing these common, i.e. generic stories would not inspire people to become tentmakers. Since that time, I have also shared stories of the average tentmaker.

The average tentmaker

What about the average tentmaker? The one who does not dare to share their story because they firmly believe they don’t have a WOW story?