Unreached peoples, name of Jesus rarely heard or understood, the poorest of poor, rampant unemployment, billions of new jobseekers in the 10/40 window and beyond in the next 20 years. What shall we do and how?
Background:
- 90% of the unreached peoples live where Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism are dominant.
- This is where you find 80% of the world’s poor.
- Unemployment in these countries ranges from 30% to 80%.
- These nations have the fastest population growth as well.
So, the least churched/evangelised areas of our world, with the greatest poverty and highest unemployment–also have the most people entering the market place looking for jobs. Over the next 20 years more than 3 billion people will enter societies where there are few churches and no jobs. What should the response of the church be to such a challenge?
These are some key issues for Issue Group #30: Business as Mission.
Purpose and Objectives for the Group
PURPOSE: To examine the obstacles, challenges and opportunities to glorify God globally by furthering His Kingdom through the strategy of business as mission; and through our deliberations and findings to bring strategic recommendations to the Church worldwide on ways to respond to these opportunities and challenges.
Objective 1.
To examine God’s purposes for business and to develop a biblical perspective on stewardship, work and business as it relates to the holistic mission of the Church in the world.
Objective 2.
Learn from examples of Christians who have made a strategic differences to societies through business—especially on the mission field—seeing the Kingdom impact peoples lives spiritually, socially and economically.
Objective 3.
Explore ways to mobilise the Christian business community, impart a vision for Business as Mission, affirm them in their calling, and provide connection for practical application for their ministry in mission settings.
Objective 4.
Explore Business as Mission’s potential impact and implications on existing mission and development paradigms and practices: theologically and operationally.
Objective 5.
Identify national, regional and global Business as Mission networks and initiatives and support them by producing a comprehensive list of available resources including published materials, training programmes, web based resources and others.
Clarification & Validation
There are several things that are related and important, but they will NOT be our primary concern and focus. Some of these issues will be dealt with by other Issue Groups (especially Marketplace, Holistic Mission and Tentmaking), and our intention is to listen and learn from them where there is overlap:
Not primary focus of Business as Mission Issue Group:
- Relief & Development
- Micro loan & enterprise
- Evangelism in Market Place
- Fundraising through business
- Economic justice
- Business for visas/platforms for missionaries
- Tentmaking
- Poverty relief through redistribution of wealth
- Business development per se, without a Kingdom perspective
Endorsements
"New leadership is needed in the 21st century, as we look at effective and holistic mission strategies. Business has historically been a key frontier in extending the Kingdom. The Lausanne think-tank has the potential of making a significant contribution to the churches rediscovery of empowering its business community to engage enthusiastically and proactively with its role in establishing the Kingdom of God on Earth!"
Stuart McGreevy, Chairman, Transformational Business Network
" The use of business in global outreach is a strategy of choice for the context of the 21st century mission. People involved in entrepreneurial tentmaking, kingdom business, and transformational development through business, should partner with Mats Tunehag—a respected global mission leader—and his colleagues, as they are leading & organizing a Lausanne think tank on Business-as-Mission."
Ted Yamamori, Lausanne Senior Associate for Holistic Mission and Coeditor of On Kingdom Business: Transforming Missions Through Entrepreneurial Strategies
" Economic-based mission will bring a major change to the face of Christian missions, and it is more than just a new strategy—there is a promise connected to it: He who lends to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done. (Proverbs 18:19) The Lausanne Think Tank will serve as a platform of mutual encouragement and inspiration. I am looking forward to be part of it."
Jürg Opprecht, Founder & President of the Business and Professional Network (BPN)
"The Business-as-Mission think tank is providing a wonderful opportunity for reflection on and inspiration for the creation and use of money (and "secular" work!) in the service of God. I enthusiastically endorse this project closely related to Jesus’ call to His disciples—to be "the salt of the earth".
Rene Padilla, Argentinian theologian, missiologist, author and International President of Tearfund UK
"Business-as-Mission is a relevant strategy to meet the challenges in the 10/40-window and beyond. The Lausanne think tank on Business-as-Mission has significant potential of formulating practical approaches in support of God’s mission for the global church in the 21st century."
Luis Bush, USA/Argentina Director, World Inquiry, founder of the AD2000 Movement who put the 10/40 window on the agenda for the church worldwide
"As the market place is to the nations what the blood stream is to the body, created for its support and growth, businessmen and women are being called to embrace a new responsibility under God to transform the societies in world at large through creative acts of love. It is a call to fruitfulness and multiplication for the purposes of the Kingdom of God, and it is time for the poor and needy of the world to experience God’s love through business. This requires a release into a new dimension in our business experience in which corporate goals, strategies and plans become the outward manifestation of an inward walk of faith. Therefore I warmly support Mats Tunehag and his colleagues, all respected global mission leaders, in their efforts in organizing a Lausanne Think Tank on Business-as-Mission."
J. Gunnar Olson, Chairman and Founder of ICCC, International Christian Chamber of Commerce
"God has gifted some with the resources of mind and spirit to be businessmen and women. Business as Mission seeks to support and encourage those who are gifted by God in this way. It aims to stimulate interest in, and commitment to, doing business as unto the Lord. Its desire is to assist business people to see the opportunities that exist, to use their skills and talents to bless those in the poorest and most needy parts of the world, and to provide in those context credible opportunities to demonstrate and proclaim Christ. I warmly support this endeavour and the global think tank, recalling that in the earliest history of the Christian mission the saving news of Christ was often carried to new places by those who were seeking to do business."
Harry Goodhew, Retired Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Australia
Convener:
Mats Tunehag,
Sweden
Consultant
Co-convener:
Wayne McGee, UK
ACM International
Facilitator:
Josie Plummer, England
Resource Developer
YWAM