BAM

Business as Mission and the Church – a Lausanne Report review

/ Phill

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.

Continue reading →

BAM in a Box

/ Phill

Business as mission is growing in popularity as an approach for outreach around the world. Many practitioners are looking for ways to produce more businesses that will also take God’s love and the gospel to the needy. Lately, they have been looking to franchises as a way to develop business faster, easier, and with a greater chance of success.

The idea of being able to take a known concept that is working and multiply it is attractive and shows some promise. The Business as Mission Think Tank Franchising Committee has been studying models for rapid replication and recently issued their report. They analyzed the state of the knowledge, proposed guidelines, and recommended resources on the “how-to” for would be BAM practitioners.

This article highlights key findings.

Many people getting into Business as Mission are missionaries, often with little business experience/skills, who recognize the opportunity in business as a way for reaching their communities. For them a franchise is like a boxed product that comes with a proven successful model, training, resources and systems to help secure success. The built-in processes provide safeguards to help the less experienced avoid foolish mistakes and failure.

These advantages are desirable not only for the would-be BAMpreneur but for missions agencies and others in the business community looking to multiply BAM opportunities. While the franchise can help business people avoid problems, it is not a cure-all for success. Business aptitude and skills are required, to varying degrees, for all who would enter the world of BAM. Agencies sometimes overlook this fact as was observed in the report, “While agencies will go to great lengths to make sure that people are prepared missionally, they discount the skill set required to do business.”

Building a successful franchise is more difficult than it appears. Few proven BAM franchising models exist. BAM franchising has a lot of work to do to build the necessary expertise.

The report lists a number of best practices, which lead to success, and worst practices which lead to failure. These are worth studying but there is not time in this article to enumerate them. Follow the link at the end to the full report for more information.

A few findings stand out in the report:

1. “Some of the businesses in the profiles had leadership teams where some of the people focused on the business and some on the ‘ministry.’ This divided approach to management and leadership eventually causes tension and can negatively impact the business morale, health, and financial success.”

2. Those looking to get into franchise business need to seriously equip themselves with the necessary skills and expertise.

3. Every BAM business needs to develop a list of success criteria and measure themselves against it as they build the business plan and begin to execute it.

4. Running a BAM operation is complex and requires preparation and strong commitment. One must have the conviction that God is calling you to such an endeavor.

5. There seems to be no shortage of people who want to be experts, advisors, and consultants. What is most needed are people willing to go and be “feet on the ground.” “We need people who are fully equipped and willing to go and invest time and money to start such businesses.”

It seems that the committee was looking to create franchises out of existing BAM companies. One area not explored in the report which may have value is to start with existing “secular” franchises. There are literally thousands of them with varying levels of expense, regulation, and complexity. Many have already developed assessment tools to identify the best fit between the entrepreneur and their business model. Could any of these franchises and tools be adapted by BAM practitioners?

Franchising has many advantages, but also challenges. The BAM Franchise group has created a number of tools and guidelines to help get started.

Captivated with Wonder

/ Guest Contributor

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So profound is Jesus’ coming that we have celebrated it for centuries. God humbled himself to enter our world to reveal himself and to suffer his own judgment to redeem us rebels—What an absolute wonder!

There is no story like this. It is incredible! When we take time to grasp again this staggering reality, we are captivated with wonder. This is why we celebrate Christmas—to take time to “see” again the wonder of Jesus’ incarnation.

Today he has returned to the Father and we are his heart and hands and feet on earth. He can only go where we take him. This is what Christ-filled tentmakers do—they take Christ to those who do not know him. They incarnate him so that people see Jesus in them. They exhibit the supernatural difference so that people wonder and ask questions. And by working, tentmakers exhibit Jesus’ life and power in one of the most central aspects of life.

Business as Mission in Practice

“Robert” builds servanthood into the whole ethos of his company in Asia. It is a stated core value. Employees study and discuss it in optional Bible studies. And the Christians in the company practice it constantly. One day Robert saw an employee looking for something in the break room. When he asked what, she answered, “I’m looking for a clean glass.” When she couldn’t find one, she gave up and left. So he washed one for her and filled it with water. When he brought it to her, she could not believe it and asked, “What is this?” Robert responded, “You said you were looking for a clean glass for water.” Several weeks later in the Bible study, she broke down in tears as they were discussing how Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. Concerned, they asked what was wrong. When she was able to answer, she said, “Robert, do you remember when you gave me that glass of water. No one has ever done anything like that for me before. Now I understand what you were doing.”

I am very grateful for every tentmaker connected with GO-Tent who has gone or is serving now or is considering going. Seeing them incarnate Christ in some of the darkest, hardest places on earth makes our work worth it. We are thankful to have equipped tentmakers from 36 nations to go to over 80 nations.

Many of you reading this Tentmaking Brief are part of this number and all of you desire to see more people captivated by the wonder of Jesus’ coming. You know that GO and Tent are untiring in calling Christians to go as tentmakers. Yet many, many more are needed. So we also want to give you the opportunity to help GO-Tent financially so that more people are captivated with the wonder of Jesus’ coming!

Have a Wonder-Full Christmas, captivated again with the wonder of Jesus’ coming.

Dave English

5 Facts God Wants All Marketplace Workers to Know

/ Phill

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Christian Business Impact

It is my firm belief that God has much greater plans for impacting the world through Christian business owners and leaders than most people realize or acknowledge. In the right hands (and heart!), a business running according to Scripture can have immeasurable influence for eternity. Unfortunately, because there are not enough pastors talking about this to their congregations, it is up to the rest of us to get the conversation started!

5 Facts You May Not Have Heard

Here is a brief list of things I believe need more attention among Christian business owners and leaders today:

1. God cares about your work and business.

Too many people think God is only concerned with what we do on Sunday or after hours at the church. They mistakenly segment their lives into compartments and think God only cares about the “spiritual” things.

The truth is that we were created with work in mind. God told Adam and Eve to subdue the earth. Later, Paul reminds us to do our work as service to the Lord. Add that to the fact that He cares enough to number the hairs on our head. I am convinced He cares about our work. (Ephesians 6:6-7; Colossians 3:23-24)

2. You are a full-time minister.

Though it sure would be easier for all of us if we could just leave ministry up to our church’s paid staff, that is not how it works. We are all given different talents and gifts and we are each parts of the body of Christ – each with a different function.

We are also called ambassadors for Christ. As ambassadors, we are to live in a foreign land (the world) and represent our King (Jesus) to the people (non-believers) of that land. This is a full-time job, not something reserved for one day a week! (1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 2 Corinthians 5:20-21)

3. Your business is a gift and a responsibility.

God has given you the gift of owning or leading in business. This gift can produce rewards, financial and otherwise, that the vast majority will never experience. This is a tremendous gift. You should be thankful for it.

The gift comes with added responsibility. Just like in the parable of the talents, more is expected of you because more has been given to you. This responsibility takes many forms. You are to use your God-given resources to build what will survive into eternity. Simply using your business to provide a better lifestyle for your brief stay on earth is not Biblical. (1 Timothy 6:17-19; 1 Corinthians 3:9-15)

4. Your words can carry more weight than his.

Though you may not have thought of this before, it is a simple truth. If a pastor says something about living his life according to the pattern that Jesus gave us, no one will think anything of it. That is his job. He is paid to say and do things like that.

However, if you say the same thing in a group, people will take notice. They take you more seriously because they know you are not paid to say that. It will get their attention. It will be even more powerful when they see you living it out.

5. You can have a greater impact than he can.

Your pastor will most likely only have significant influence with those who attend his church. While there are exceptions, few pastors have much impact among those who do not attend church.

Your situation is likely different. As a Christian business owner or leader, you have the opportunity to influence your employees, customers, and the community where you work and live. You will regularly come into contact with people who may never darken the door of a church. The impact you can have among these people dwarfs that of your pastor.

So What?

If this is all true, what does that really mean for you? Well, I believe it means you need to get on your knees and seek God’s guidance as to how you should be running your business. Is your perspective eternal or temporal? What do you think He wants from you?

Get in a deep conversation with God and start pressing into Him for answers. At the same time, get more familiar with what His Word has to say about your purpose. The answers will come.

  • Do you agree with the items on the list? What would you add?
  • Are you already impacting eternity with your Christian business? How?
  • How could you increase your influence beginning today?