Estimates done by The International Labour Organization (ILO) indicates that 25 million jobs can be lost worldwide due to the corona pandemic. The expansion of the Gospel may also be hard hit by the financial downturn caused by the Covid 19 virus.
“Global Intent and Tent International operate entirely in the global job market. The loss of jobs worldwide makes it much more difficult to find international assignments,” says Steinar Opheim, director of Tent International.
Global Intent and Tent have specialized in sending Christian professionals, workers and students across cultural borders.
“Market place ministry and bringing you faith to work have become well-known concept in the churches. We do the same thing internationally. Financial downturns like the one we see now, makes our job a lot more challenging. The major downside of this is that there over time might be less Christian workers in nations where the Gospel is not known,” explains Opheim.
Hard hit sectors
According to Forbes Magazine “companies that are in the travel, hotel, airlines, sporting events, concerts and restaurant sectors” are hardest hit by the Covid 19 effects. A magazine issued by the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW), points out that the job market has gone further down now than during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.
“It is really a global crisis not just in terms of its outreach but also in terms of it economic impact. Literally all sectors will be impacted,” says ILO’s Dorothea Schimdt-Klaus to DW.
“God is in control”
The picture is not all dark, though. According to Financial Times “tech companies are still hiring feverishly as they move to take advantage of a world shifting increasingly to digital as a result of the coronavirus.” Deutsche Welle points out that healthcare workers are also in high demand.
“We do not know exactly what the international job market will look like after this pandemic. None of us have experienced a situation like this before. We do however know that God is in control and that his mission will be fulfilled. No matter the environment, we should stay faithful to the calling that God has given us and share the Gospel of the kingdom in all nations,” says Steinar Opheim of Tent International.