The Business as Mission (BAM) Think Tank of the Lausanne Committee just issued their latest report titled, “Business as Mission and the Church.” It is well worth a read.

Executive Summary

“We believe the local church can effectively disciple and equip their members to have a positive influence on the marketplace.

“The BAM and the Church Consultation Group focused on the role of business as mission in and through the local church. While the modern business as mission movement has been growing and expanding globally for several decades, much of this growth has been outside of local church contexts.

“Yet the BAM Manifesto, published twenty years ago, thoroughly grounded this movement in the Church when it ended with these recommendations:

We call upon the Church worldwide to identify, affirm, pray for, commission and release businesspeople and entrepreneurs to exercise their gifts and calling as businesspeople in the world—among all peoples and to the ends of the earth. We call upon businesspeople globally to receive this affirmation and to consider how their gifts and experience might be used to help meet the world’s most pressing spiritual and physical needs through Business as Mission.

“Our goal in this paper is to build a bridge between the leaders of local churches and those Christians called to be ‘marketplace ministers’—and to help them reengage and find common ground. To this end, we chose four areas to focus on:

1. Overcoming Theological Hindrances: We examine some of the significant theological beliefs that have hindered the church from fulfilling its role as an equipper of disciples in the marketplace and we explore how to overcome them.

2. Identifying Structural Obstacles: How the local church is structured has significant impact on what it does or does not do and we examine the impact of structure on message and methods.

3. Recognising Cultural Challenges: We acknowledge the marvel of the Church in its international and ethnic variety and examine some of the unique cultural challenges that impact various national and ethnic environments.

4. Sharing Case Studies: We review case studies that illustrate the positive impact when the ‘church gathered’ in local church communities and the ‘church scattered’ in the marketplace in business reengage with one another.

“At the end of the report, you will find recommendations and resources, including a self-assessment tool for both pastors or church leaders, and church members.

“Our prayer is that disciples of Jesus in the marketplace will be committed to making him known to the nations by word and deed. May the local church and the Church globally grow in its capacity to equip these disciples to be a light to the world in their companies and communities.”

Sections

Some of the sections I found especially compelling were:

• The Church and the Marketplace.
• Church Growth and mission strategy.
• The role of the marketplace in gospel expansion.
• The role of the Church in the marketplace.
• Created to work: a positive theology of work.
• Wealth creation: a biblical view.

Action Plans

There are some very helpful recommendations to local church leaders.

Appendices

Don’t miss the appendices. This section has a lot of useful tools for leaders and church members alike.

• Promising practices
• Action plan template for church leaders
• Self-assessment tools
• Commissioning service sample for marketplace ministers
• Business as mission manifesto
• Wealth creation manifesto

The entire report can be downloaded for free from the Lausanne Group at https://bamglobal.org/report-church/ . You will find a treasure trove of earlier reports as well.

By Phill Sandahl