tentmakers

First ever mass evacuation of tentmakers! 

/ Ari Rocklin

Ari Rocklin

This has been a tough month for tentmakers in the troubled region of the world. As I watched this quickly developing turmoil, from one country to the next, I received a word from the Lord which has been of comfort to those who have had to leave, sometimes with only their clothes on their backs, to an unknown future.

   ” I am the Lord God, I have not been caught by surprise by these events. 
   Tell those who have to leave in haste that their service to my Kingdom has 
   run it’s course this time around. They could not have done anymore. 
     Their service and obedience has been noted and I am pleased.”

How does anyone prepare to evacuate from countries where an already weak system breaks down completely? The terror of gunfire, air attacks, bombs blowing up at all hours of the day, seeing bodies on the streets from your windows, spending time with locals who do not have the luxury of being evacuated and must stay behind.

At our tentmaking business as mission courses, we try to prepare people well for all known challenges. However this one has not been a part of our program, but will be in the future. We have learned a lot from the experiences of tentmakers who have faced forced evacuation in the past weeks, and those now being trained will benefit from their tragic experiences.

God is in control!

We are hearing reports of a new openness to the Gospel in this region already. One house church that seemed incapable of taking leadership without the tentmakers, were forced into doing it simply since they knew they would be alone in a matter 
of days. The report told us of a confident, joyful, mature house church telling the tentmakers that we will be fine now, is encouraging to everyone involved.

One tentmaker refused to leave with the initial waves of evacuations, and was seen as a hero by the local people. Even taxi drivers were telling him that this is 
a new time in their country, and talking about your faith is now OK.

Another tentmaker who also stayed behind until the last possible moments (just before the bombs fell from the coalition forces) was actually invited to sit at the table where the new constitution was being drafted. Imagine the joy of being a part of something like this? Add to this joy, being asked what he thought should 
be in this constitution. He suggested freedom of religion, and was told that it was already in the document. Then he suggested freedom to change ones religion. 
This too was added, after a rather lengthy explanation of what he meant by that statement. You can understand why this would be a new line of thinking in this region. Again, in the middle of turmoil, God is doing a new thing.

It is impossible to share all the good news that are coming out of this tumultuous time, but trust that God is doing something amazing even as we watch the news 
in horror. 

Pray for the local believers, yes there are many. 
Pray for the local friends of our tentmakers who have had a chance to hear, 
but have not yet made decisions. 
Pray that the tentmakers will find encouragement, that their needs will be taken care of, and that they will be able to return to a better situation than the one they were forced to leave.

“Huge increase in American tentmakers”

/ Steinar Opheim

http://globalopps.org/tmbriefs/tmb12.jpg

Steinar Opheim

The US is sending out more tentmakers today than ever before according to statistics from US mission agencies.

From 2005 to 2008 the number of tentmakers deployed by US agencies grew a dramatic 73.4 percent, an annual growth of 20.1 percent, writes professor A. Scott Moreau in the latest issue of International Bulletin of Missionary Research (IBMR).

Figures in the bulletin show that 3,354 US citizens were serving overseas as tentmakers in 2008. Ten years earlier the number of tentmakers was 1,853.

Overall fifty-nine agencies reported more tentmakers than in 2005, while sixty-two agencies reported fewer, writes Moreau.

Unclear definitions

This is great news and it is wonderful to see that so many agencies make more use of tentmakers in their work. At the same time the IBMR-article raises some crucial questions regarding the nature of the tentmakers reported.

Certainly one advantage to agencies in a tighter economy is that tentmakers can earn at least a part of their salary through their employment or business ventures, states Moreau. This indicates that many of the tentmakers in the statistic cannot live by the money they make and are therefore partly supported by their sending agencies.

The title “tentmaker” is not protected in any way, and anyone who wants to may call themselves tentmakers. Often we hear people describing themselves as tentmakers even when they work and live in their own culture. As long as this label is helping people to gain an identity of being God´s ambassadors where they are this is very well. Then God´s kingdom is made known in new circles and more people are led to Christ. 

Great advantages

In the GO-Tent alliance however we promote tentmakers as people crossing cultural borders in order to bring the gospel onwards through their professional work. Most of the people we work with are fully supported through their jobs or through the businesses they have created. There are several advantages to this way of doing tentmaking. Here are some of them:

– When you get your full salary from your job you live under the same conditions as the people around you. Thus you can model what it means to follow Jesus Christ in a common, everyday life.

– Through your work you´ll get in touch with a lot of people in a natural way.

– No one needs to ask you where you are getting money from since you have your full salary from your work.

– All nations are open to Christian professionals. Even countries that are closed to missions have a desire to recruit skilled, Christian workers.

The most sad part of GO´s and Tents jobs as tentmaking mobilizers is to face the fact that we are unable to find workers for so many of the wonderful job openings we get information about in places where Christ´s love is not known. Maybe it is time for you to sign up?