EMQ » April–June 2020 » Volume 56 Issue 2
By M James
In June 2019, Lausanne Global Workplace Forum (GWF) focused on marketplace ministry and its necessity to expand the 1974 objective of world evangelization. As such, GWF hosted speakers, devotionals, and table discussions on the integration of church-marketplace ministry and priesthood of all believers. Speaker Bishop Efraim Tendero stated that in order to fulfill the Great Commission, every believer needs to be a minister and every workplace a place of ministry, and that the mobilization of laypeople is the greatest missing link of world evangelization. The GWF advanced paper on marketplace ministry stated that, “the opportunity for the global church is no longer to send just a few full-time missionaries but to take advantage of globalized work, where people move from everywhere to everywhere, to disciple, equip, and commission an entire generation of missionaries to schools, offices, factories, fields, retail malls, farms, hospitals, stock exchanges, parliaments, governments, courts, to be full-time missionaries, and to adopt their workplace as their mission field and a place to honour God with their giftedness.”[i]
The 2019 GWF focus of marketplace ministry was exemplified in the Bible by exposition on Daniel, the civil servant to the king. In a similar fashion, William Carey, the father of modern missions, stated that every missionary should maintain a trade and himself managed an Indian indigo factory in 1794 while language learning and translating the Bible. In 1997, the International Journal of Frontier Missions focused on tentmaking and the editorial for the issue acknowledged that though tentmaking is not a new concept, perhaps it is just now being realized as an important strategic development by which the unreached peoples of the world can be reached by the Word of God. In 2007, Christianity Today echoed this and stated that tentmaking is considered the magic bullet of Western missions.[ii] Of course this is not true and while I was resident in the Arabian Gulf, various mission agencies attempted to mobilize the thousands of expatriate Indian and Filipino evangelical Christians for cross cultural ministry in 2000, 2004, and about every four years thereafter to the present day.
Definitions and Distinctions
Marketplace ministry, tentmaking, business as mission (BAM), and global professional (GP) are terms for various integrations of ministry, employment, and business. The 2004 Lausanne Forum for World Evangelization sought to define terms by noting that BAM is synonymous with transformational business, great commission companies, and kingdom business. Specifically, the 2004 Lausanne Occasional Paper[iii] noted that BAM is related to but different from tentmaking, which refers principally to the practice of Christian professionals who support themselves financially by working as employees or by engaging in business. The paper further states that like BAM, tentmaking infers the integration of work and witness by lay personnel instead of clergy and ministry professionals. However, BAM is holistic in its approach while the tentmaker may view employment as a means to facilitate ministry. Furthermore, the paper noted that BAM often expands beyond a workplace based ministry and often has an objective to utilize the power and resource of business for an intentional impact in the nation.[iv] As a result, BAM has been further defined as (1) profitable and sustainable businesses, (2) intentional about Kingdom of God purpose and impact on people and nations, (3) focused on holistic transformation and the multiple bottom lines of economic, social, environmental and spiritual outcomes, and (4) concerned about the world’s poorest and least evangelized peoples.
Global Professionals (GP) are defined as employees who are able to easily transition from company to company, location to location, and nation to nation. These employees are highly sought after as they possess skills that straddle various job descriptions for enhancing. As an example: government operations, business efficiency, and academic quality. In relation to ministry, Pioneers International invites people to, “Take your profession to the unreached.” IMB highlights the need for professionals to be working among those who have not heard the good news about Jesus, and TEAM asserts that working as a professional in another country can open doors for ministry that traditional missionaries never have! This assumes a traditional missionary is a cross-cultural worker whose salary is sourced solely from support donations. Personally, I view a GP with intentional ministry as synonymous to a tentmaker involved in marketplace ministry.
Though both are types of marketplace ministry, there is a significant distinction between BAM and GP ministry. The BAM professional owns and manages the company, division, branch, or franchise, and is responsible for establishing the business environment whereas the global professional joins an established business that is managed by someone else. Therefore, BAM professionals feel more in control of their circumstances, better able to establish influential relationships, and have an increased ministry impact. However, BAM professionals also carry extensive responsibilities that stress resources for meeting ministry objectives. The BAM professional is accountable for investors, employees, government regulations, public image, and anything else related to the company. These require business skills that are often beyond the capability of most professionals. Actually, joining and turning around a failing company is far easier and less stressful than establishing a new business, which requires significant finance, new employees, government permissions, and relational marketing. As such, though BAM has the potential for a company-wide, Kingdom impact, most global accountant, doctor, engineer, nurse, and teacher GPs are better suited to engage in marketplace ministry through employment than business management. Even so, the rural / urban context may dictate a need for BAM due to the unavailability of employment.
Considering part-time employment and the equivalent of part-time BAM, it is noted that part-time often results with insufficient finances for livelihood and a company that does not actually provide real economic value. Consequently, this requires external funding and can attract curiosity as to the real reason for the GP or business. In fact, undisclosed income is more likely to elicit investigation than evangelistic ministry, and often demonstrates to new believers that Christians do not need to earn a salary. The assumption becomes that donations for livelihood are available from the Church, much like government aid and welfare.
Like supported missionaries, cross-cultural BAM and GPs are called by God to extend his kingdom through evangelism, discipleship, and church planting ministries. However, their preparation and path to the ministry context is often quite different. Table 1 compares the pre-field preparations, on field work, and post field return for typical salary-supported missionaries (SSM) and GPs. In general, the SSM completes over a year of fund raising, cultural learning, and language acquisition before entering the field, while the GP is able to transition quickly to new, foreign employment. While on the field, the SSM has resources for continuing education, ministry evaluation, and home assignments. The GP may participate in some of these activities though home assignment usually means loss of employment. And at completion, the SSM has resources for re-entry care and retooling for another assignment, while the GP is often stressed in the search for new employment.
Some Comparisons
Even so, international marketplace ministries like BAM and GPs are on the rise and there are a number of advantages over the traditional, salary-supported missionary. Table 2 is a SWOT analysis of the GP in relation to cross-cultural ministry. In general, the GP has strengths in finances and a natural connection to the community. GPs have easier access into difficult to enter nations and sending agencies are recognizing this ministry potential. Unfortunately, GPs tend to enter cross-cultural ministry with little preparation, skills for engagement, or connection to ongoing ministries. Limited time and non-salary resources may also inhibit on-the-field training and improvement. However, on-field training is available and even in 1998 Sells discussed the importance of on-field training for both the professional [salaried] and amateur [non-salaried] [GP] missionary.[v] As such, sending and training agencies, like those listed in Table 3, are continuing to develop and offer relevant, practical, ministry training for GPs that considers their employment context.
Personally, I consider myself a hybrid professional. After completing a graduate degree and working a few years in industry, my wife and I were sent out from our home church through a sending agency to the field. In order to prepare for this assignment, we completed the Perspectives course, our church-based training program, and a MATS qualification with a missions emphasis. Beyond that, we traveled to other churches and met with individuals to highlight the vision and call God placed on our lives for ministry and church planting among the unreached. Upon arriving on the field, we focused solely on language and cultural training for two years before relocation to a ministry team. There, I accepted a faculty position at a university, which covered our housing, travel, and salary needs. That freed our ministry funds for support of ministry needs such as literature distribution, on-field training, conference attendance, translation projects, and even video production.
During our subsequent twenty years of service, we experienced many GPs come and go with frustrations in language acquisition and cultural understanding. One national seeker expressed joy in meeting me, as he was frustrated with my GP colleague’s use of Google Translate to explain Christianity. I experienced a similar frustration with GPs who arrived, lived, and worked as a typical Western Christian, which in our context, was often viewed as secular and even risqué.
Conclusions
God is extending his to church to every tribe, tongue, and nation. He has promised this and since the day of Pentecost, God has been raising up his people to go and make disciples among the nations. As the master coordinator, God uses a multitude of professions and methods to spread his glory. In recent years, God is raising up an extraordinary number of GPs and business entrepreneurs to extend his reach through marketplace ministries. In order to be better used by God, sending churches and coordinating agencies need to further innovate relevant methods for enhanced preparation, mentorship, training, supervision, and care of those involved in marketplace ministry. Similarly, the GP needs to better value the importance of being sent out though enhanced accountability, prayer support, and financial connections for training and ministry. Together, we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession who strive together to proclaim his excellencies among the nations.
M James and his family were sent out to serve for more than twenty-five years in the Arabian Peninsula, where he was employed in higher education. Together with a team, they co-labored to minister to seekers, disciple believers, and, by God’s grace, establish churches.
Table 1. Comparison of typical events of the traditional, salary supported missionary and global professional
| Salary Supported Missionary | Global Professional | |
| Pre-field preparation | Feel a calling from God Join a sending agency Complete agency specified training Complete financial support raising Establish a prayer support team Sent out from the home church | Feel a calling from God Accept cross-cultural employment Sent out from the home church (maybe) |
| Field assignment | Full-time language and cultural training Agency field-based supervision Team ministry among the people Field-based ministry projects Field-based training and conferences Agency annual evaluations Agency-sending church communication and reports Four-year home assignments | Full-time employment among the people Part-time language and cultural training Possible membership in a ministry team Consideration of joining a sending agency Month long opportunities for time and possible training in the home country (during employment vacation) |
| Post field return | Agency end-of-term evaluation Re-entry care Possible retooling for next assignment | Full-time employment back in the home country |
Table 2. SWOT Analysis of Global Professional
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| God is raising up many GPs from a wide range of nations with visions for evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. There are a number of sending agencies with good connections to churches, colleges, and conferences to mobilize professionals. There are mission agencies and international training organizations able to instruct on cross cultural relations, church planting, and language learning. GPs are naturally located in the marketplace of the nation. GPs are more easily placed in unengaged and unreached urban settings. GPs require less financial support to relocate in a cross-cultural setting. | GPs often do not comprehend the benefits of a sending agency and training before being placed on the field. GPs often arrive on the field without knowledge of the ministry situation, team needs, and skill requirements for effective ministry. Sending agencies often have insufficient placement networks and strategies to recruit and training global professionals, especially those on the field. In consideration of time commitments to family and employment, global professionals have reduced margins for ministry. |
| Opportunities | Threats |
| Successful ministry teams consist of a community of members with complementary and coordinated skills. Sending agencies and international training organization are available to instruct, coach, and mentor global professionals in cross-cultural ministry, cultural adaption, and language learning. Sending agencies are aware of ongoing field ministry and able to coordinate possible team membership and member care. GPs are able to initiate new ministries in nations with relatively difficult access. | Sending agencies and training organization not cooperating and coordinating strengthens. GPs feeling membership in a sending agency is a security threat. GPs not valuing the accountability, field administration, and training available through a sending agency. Agencies and global professionals continue to operate independently and without ministry cooperation and coordination. |
Table 3. Partial list of global professional sending and training organizations
| Agency |
| Crossworld: https://crossworld,org Global Intent: https://intent.org IMB: https://www.imb.org/training-for-professionals Operation Mobilization: http://omusa.org/work Pioneers International: https://pioneers.org/2018/02/28/take-profession-unreached Professionals Global: https://professionalsglobal.org Scatter Global: https://www.scatterglobal.com TEAM: https://team.org/lengths-of-service/kingdom-professionals Tent International: http://tentinternational.org |
[i] Liu T and Harp R, Workplace Ministry Advanced Paper, Lausanne Global Workplace Forum, Manila, Philippines, June 2019
[ii] Guthrie S, Tentmaking Movement Puts Down Stakes, Christianity Today, June 21, 2007.
[iii] Claydon D, et el, Business as Mission, Lausanne Occasional Paper No. 59, Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, 2004
[iv] Sharp L, “Business as Mission and the Planting of Churches,” EMQ 55, no. 1 (January 2019): 23-25.
[v] Sells B, Horizon Three: Re-thinking Mission Education, The Breakthrough for On-Field Mission Training, New Horizons in Mission, September 1998.
