Business as Mission

One of the great developments and trends over the past 5-10 years has been the involvement and participation of business and professional people in global missions. Many business people are seeing what they do as an opportunity for reaching the lost -- and assisting the emerging church around the world through providing employment and other business opportunities. This movement is called "business as mission (BAM)."

In the past, it seemed like the only way business people were involved in mission was either through the funding of missionaries, or assisting others in their "tentmaking" adventures. I called the latter "business as platform (BAP)," because the only interest from missionaries was just looking for a way to gain access to restricted countries. Those BAPers often gave Christians a bad reputation since most of them did so little business (and the locals knew it!).

These days, the list of restricted access countries is much smaller than it ever has been. Probably only North Korea and the Maldives are truly what can be described as restricted access countries. Thus, the opportunity for business and professional people to make an impact through what God has called them to has increased exponentially. Mostly, they seek to develop higher excellence in leadership which relates to business and ministry. It's an exciting development when the Body of Christ continues to learn and see how each of us has unique and great gifts to bring as God build His Kingdom.