I was on my way to meet tentmakers from North Africa on Malta, for their encouragement and for me to learn about their lives, work and ministry in a very hard place. There was a layover in London of some hours which had me wandering around to kill time.

Suddenly there was an urgent message that I should go to Tunisia as soon as possible. I looked up, and there was an airline I had never heard of promoting flights to Tunisia. There was no lineup at the desk, asked how much a flight would be. In about 10 minutes I had secured a very inexpensive flight from Malta to Tunisia the following week.

A week later, after a short 70-minute flight, I landed at Tunis airport. To my surprise there seemed to be no customs at an almost deserted airport. While walking around wondering why I was even there, the quietness seemed eerie. From behind a pillar a man in black appeared and walked directly toward me. I had time to think that this would not end well. He stared at me, asked me if I was Ari Rocklin from Canada? I said that I was he. On hearing that the big man smiled and said, I have been looking forward to meeting you! My name is Ahmed, I will take you to your hotel.

• How does your agency handle home assignment (furloughs) and what happens if I can’t follow this policy because of my job?
• How much will it cost to be a member of your agency?
• How am I expected to pay for my costs of being a member?
• What happens if I make more money from my work or business than the agency typically allows in the missionary support budget?

In the 23 years that I have been involved with mobilizing and training tentmakers, one of the more frequent discussion topics among agencies and groups has been to get rid of the term tentmaker. 

The latest term that seems to be getting traction in a number of languages is Global Professional or Global Worker. I am sure there are some new ones being used or coming soon.

Here are some of the alternatives that have been either suggested or implemented in the past.

• Kingdom Professional
• B4T (Business for transformation)
• Self-supported missionary
• Pauline missionary….and many more.

Several decades after it was written, one specific article still has a massive impact in calling professionals and businesspeople to serve God through their work. 

“The church needs thousands of Christian professional people to finish evangelizing the world – like engineers, scientists, businesspeople, health care workers, athletes, agriculturists, computer technicians, media specialists and educators of all kinds – tentmakers who can integrate work and witness in the twenty-first century as the Apostle Paul did in the first century.”