TMB

Twenty dollars that changed a life in India.

/ Ari Rocklin

http://globalopps.org/tmbriefs/Ashok.jpg

Ari Rocklin

Jim a tentmaker to India was used to seeing a man sitting by his scale all day long, hoping someone would come and use his services. For the equivalent of 10 cents, anyone could weigh themselves in a country where the majority cannot afford to buy a scale of their own.

One day Jim decided to sit down beside the man to simply get to know him and have an opportunity to practice Hindi. He learned that Ashok was actually renting the scale and was paying up to 90% of his days take to the owner of the scale. 

While Jim walked toward his own job he thought about Ashok’s business. How could he help Ashok earn a bigger slice of the pie? This thought did not leave him for weeks on end. Each morning and afternoon, Jim would make a point of sitting down beside Ashkok. They became fast friends.

Jim learned the complexity of Ashok’s business. The scale was owned by a man who had many scales in the city. He paid his workers a measly amount of the earnings. If the scale broke, the worker was in debt for months until repayment with high interest was made.

Jim desperately wanted to make a difference, so he went and bought Ashok a scale for $20. Fortunately he had done his homework before hand. If he had just given the scale as a gift, the renter of scales would simply have taken it away from Ashok, who would have no recourse nor police protection.

Before presenting the scale to Ashok, he went to the local police station and asked an officer to come with him to verify the business transaction between himself and Ashok. The policeman watched as Jim loaned the scale to Ashkok. A plan was developed by Jim that allowed Ashok to repay the loan in about six months. Then the loan paper was signed (fingerprinted) by Ashok. Having the policeman present afforded some protection for Ashkok, and having a foreigner involved added a bit more.

Before the six months was up, Ashok had saved enough of his earnings to pay back the full amount of the loan. Jim once again called on the policeman to witness the full repayment of the loan, had him sign the “paid in full” receipt together with Ashok and Jim. Then Jim made a few copies of the receipt and even had one copy laminated which Ashkok could keep as proof of ownership.

Today Ashok keeps 100% of his daily earnings and is proudly able to show everyone that he has paid back the loan in full. Imagine going from keeping 10% of your daily earnings to 100%. Jim continues to disciple Ashok and members of his family…

Principle: Do not be too quick to help, seek wise counsel from locals so that your gift of a loan does not cause difficulty or dependency. Real help requires getting to know people and involves discipling.

FIFA World Cup and the global job market

/ Steinar Opheim

Steinar Opheim

Regardless of who the winner will be, the FIFA World Cup taking place in South Africa is giving us valuable insights into the global job market. 

12 (37.5%) of the 32 teams  playing in South Africa have non-native coaches. Coaches from Argentina are heading three teams. The number of German coaches is also three. Other nations who have for-hire coaches in the World Cup are Brazil, France, Italy, Netherlands, Serbia and Sweden.

There are many things we can learn from this list regarding the global job market. Here are some points:

1. Sports is a growing sector in the international job market

For most nations it is important to perform well at the big sports events. In order to achieve this, the national teams look for the best coaches available. Many nations have realized that they need to start growing their athletes early if they want to succeed. So there is a desire to hire good, foreign coaches also further down in the sports hierarchy in each nation. Other growing sports sectors are the fitness clubs and personal coaching for anyone who would like to get in better shape.

2. Foreign employers look for experts

Except for Serbia and Sweden all the nations listed above are famous for their good soccer teams. Employers hiring people from the global job market are looking for experts. The better you are in your profession, the easier it is to get a job. Since it is usually expensive to hire foreign experts, the employers would like you to pass on your knowledge to the local staff. 
As soon as possible they will try to manage without your expertise. 

3. If you do not produce the desired results, your contract will end

The non-successful soccer trainers will not have their contracts renewed. The same applies to experts in other professions who do not produce the desired results. If you want to stay long term in another country you´ll have to work hard and you need to make sure that you stay on top of your profession.

The list of World Cup coaches also gives us some other interesting facts. Seven of them are in their forties, 14 are in their fifties, 10 are in their sixties and one is more than 70 years old. Notice that none are in their twenties or thirties. The Western job market often fails to value gray hair and experience. Many non-western job markets do. 

Conclusions

1. There is a constant demand for experts in the global job market. We should all aim at being as good as possible in our professions. This is makes us more attractive in the marketplace.
It is also a Biblical principle to make good use of the talents God has given us.

2. We should always try to give our employer the maximum return for the investment he has made by employing us. Equally those registering and starting businesses in other countries should do their best to make their businesses a blessing to the nation they are living in.

3. There is a great need for more gray-haired Christian professionals who are willing to bring their professions and experience with them to other countries.

Tentmaking and national laws

/ Steinar Opheim

“Should Christians Convert Muslims?” was the headline of a Time Magazine cover story a few years ago. In some sense the article implied that Christians going to Muslim countries are doing something wrong because their activities are causing tensions. But is that true?

Among the politically correct only the religion of tolerance is accepted. Christians settling in other countries in order to lead people to Jesus are under attack. Even among Christians, tentmakers working in sensitive areas may be met with criticism. The conception is that a tentmaker often comes with a hidden agenda and that he 
or she are entering the nations through the backdoor. 

In this picture it is important to sort out what is right and what is wrong. First of all we should underline that Global Opportunities and Tent are training people to respect the laws of the countries they are going to. When it comes to sharing faith, the laws in most nations are not causing too much trouble. With maybe one or two exceptions, no countries in the world have laws against people talking about their faith in a private setting. In most non-Western cultures religion is an integral part of daily life. So it is common to talk about faith and share thoughts about the big questions of life in day-to day talks. In fact, it is socially expected to talk about your faith when asked. It is inappropriate not to. Getting people to ask questions is key to sharing Christ. This creates many opportunities for sharing about Jesus also in nations that 
are regarded as “closed” for the Gospel. 

A Christian who had lived in Pakistan for several years, testified that he did not have the gift of evangelism. “But in Pakistan I didn’t need that gift. There people talk about faith all the time,” he concluded.

Many nations have laws that makes it illegal for the citizens to change their religion. So the people the tentmakers are living among, break the law if they accept Jesus as their saviour. Many of those who receive the gift of salvation and eternal life through Jesus, realize that 
the suffering they may have to face here on earth is nothing compared to the glory they will receive (Rom 8:18). The tentmaker may of course be considered as a partner in crime to those who break the law by changing their faith. But in this case the authorities who prohibit their citizens from having the freedom of belief are the ones to blame. It should also be mentioned that many of the countries prohibiting religious conversions have signed the declaration on human rights giving everyone the right to “change his religion or belief.” 
(UN Declaration on Human Rights, Article 18).

No missionary, nor any tentmaker, will force anyone to follow their faith. What these ambassadors of God’s kingdom are doing, is to point towards a man who said he had come to restore our relationship with God. In nations where exchange of ideas and beliefs is prohibited, even the politically correct should aim their criticism at the authorities who are denying their people basic human rights. Those who share their faith with others should not be the target. 

Note: Dave English, Executive Director of Global Opportunities was interviewed for the 
above mentioned TIME article.

Creating a Kingdom Values Based Corporate Culture: 

/ Phill

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

Putting the “M” in Business as Mission

The BP oil platform failure and subsequent leak in the Gulf of Mexico is a major news focus these days. People are asking, “What could have led to such a catastrophic failure?” In the days to come this will be analyzed ad nauseam. Many factors are being discussed. One that keeps coming up is that there was a corporate culture of indifference.

Business gurus are nearly unanimous. Clear core values are essential for success. They need to be understood and internalized by everyone in the company. They do not guarantee success, but their absence guarantees mediocrity or failure. I want to look at the idea of corporate culture in light of the growing interest of Business as Mission (BAM) as a type of tentmaking work.

In Christian circles a lot of interest has been generated about BAM and the importance of having businesses run by Christians in order to bring a witness to the international marketplace. It sounds great. But what does it actually mean?

What makes a business Christian?

Is it enough that the business is run by a Christian?Can there be a corporate culture based on Kingdom values? If so, what does it look like? Should the employer use work time for “devotional meetings”. Can he obligate employees to participate?

Maybe the path one takes is to have a chaplain on staff and make that person available to staff or even to customers. Does this make the company a business as mission company.

What if the business measures its success by looking at the “Triple Bottom Line” taking into account more than just profit, but also social and spiritual impact?

These activities may be desirable, but in some ways they miss the main point. They are not what make a company a BAM company.

Companies, like people, have a “personality” or “style” in the way they act and in the way they relate to their staff and constituencies. Our core values determine how we interpret and interact with our environment. In organizations we refer to this as its corporate culture.

Every company has a culture, whether consciously developed or not. Sometimes the corporate culture is given slightly different names: culture of the organization (Eldred), core values (Johnson), core ideals (Collins), for example.

Corporate culture, like our social culture, is instilled in us by everything around us, people and environment, and we are not always consciously aware of it and how it influences everything we do. It shapes our worldview and informs all of our decisions.

When the company culture is well aligned, fewer rules are needed because the staff is motivated internally to do the right thing. The company values are internalized and guide all actions assisting staff in the interpretation of the messages they receive and in determining what the appropriate response should be.

Having a Christian corporate culture means incorporating Kingdom values not only into our goals, but also into the staff’s way of thinking and operating – into the core of the company’s “being.” The values need to be a part of who the company is and how it behaves. In other words Kingdom values need to be part of the personality of the company.

No one activity makes a company a BAM company. It starts with an understanding of the the values of the Kingdom of God and exemplifies it in the sum of its attitudes and activities. Essentially the company runs as one company simultaneously under the sovereignty of the the Kingdom as God with its requirements and the laws or legal requirements that govern its host country.

What are those values? Ken Eldred has a useful list to prime our thinking in the third chapter of his book, God Is at Work.

He gives 10 common features that characterize BAM companies.

1. The presence of a Christian or Christians with a sphere of influence.
2. A product or service in harmony with God’s creational purpose.
3. A mission or business purpose that is larger and deeper than mere financial (though including it) so that the business contributes in some way to the Kingdom of God.
4. The product or service is offered with such excellence that it suggests the presence of the Kingdom and invites opportunity to witness.
5. Customers are treated with dignity and respect and not just as a means of profit.
6. Employees and workers are equipped to achieve greater potential in their life and, if they are Christians, to work wholeheartedly with faith, home and love.
7. All aspects of the business are considered to be potentially a ministry and subject to prayer.
8. The culture (values, symbols, governing beliefs) of the organization line up with God’s word and Kingdom purposes.
9. The business runs on grace.
10. The leaders are servants, dedicated to serve the mission of the business, the best interest of the employees, the customers and the shareholders because they are first of all servants of God.