Tentmakers at workplaces

    How can we build the point of contact with the people in the marketplaces and place credible Christian workers into the workplaces where most people work and spend their time on weekdays?
 

    Tentmakers easily can get into the places where no missionaries or pastors are allowed. Tentmakers as teachers, educators, professionals can work at schools, universities, and institutes of the world. Tentmakers as business men, engineers, and professionals, they can serve and do the work of God in their workplaces.

    In February, I was invited at a Tentmaking Mission Awareness Conference in a South–East Asian Country. I spoke on Tentmaking Missions and encouraged the 100 young tentmakers who work at schools and business abroad. I was so excited to meet them and encourage them do the Kingdom ministry at their work places.

    May God use these tentmakers to continue His good work!

Have you ever considered why God made a workplace such a crucial part of the Christmas Gospel? 
 

    The Christmas gospel, as it is given in Luke chapter 2, is usually the one being read in our churches and families at Christmas. Most often we refer to it as the story about when Jesus was born. There is nothing wrong with that. But if the birth of Jesus was the only point in the story, the Christmas gospel could have ended already in verse seven of the chapter. It does however continue for 13 more verses. So, the main part of the story is played out among workers in a workplace.   
 

Workplace proclamation 

    Usually, when a future king is born, the news is announced through official channels. Other rulers, ambassadors and people of power will get the news first. It is thus amazing to see how God decided that the birth of Jesus should be proclaimed in a different way. The first ones to hear the good news were not the Roman emperor, Augustus, nor Quirinius who was the governor of Syria. These high-ranked people are mentioned in the gospel just to tell the people when the event happened. When God decides who to share and celebrate the news with, he does however choose the shepherds tending their sheep outside of Bethlehem – people who did not have a high standing in the society. They were at work when they got to hear an angel say, “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.  The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David.” (Luke 2:10-11, NLT). They also got to see a whole choir of angels singing and praising the newborn king. 
 

Why shepherds? 

    Many people have tried to figure out why God decided to make the good news about Jesus known for shepherds first. Here are a few of them:  

·      The famous evangelist, Billy Graham, believed that God through this act wanted to show that his love is for everyone.  

·      The Jewish, biblical scholar, Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889), believed that God’s act with the shepherds was a prophetic declaration. The men watching the sheep received a message about the ultimate lamb who would take away the sins of the world. 

·      One of the writers in Christian Today, JB Cachila, believes God chose the shepherds because he wanted to reveal Jesus as the ultimate shepherd. 

    No matter what the right reason is, we can conclude that people at a workplace got the news about Jesus’ birth before anyone else. We can also rejoice in the fact that when we bring the gospel of Jesus to our workplace, we are doing the work of the angels.  

60 new tentmakers mobilized within six months. This is the aim as the world’s two largest Lutheran churches are gearing up to equip and send professionals, workers, businesspeople, and students to new places as ambassadors for God’s kingdom. 
 

    “I have never read news like this with any interest before. Our days together here have made me see things with new eyes,” says one of the participants at the leader forum that was held in Nairobi, Kenya in November. He holds up his phone showing an article from a national newspaper in Tanzania. The Tanzanian government has signed a contract with the authorities in one of the nations in the Middle East about recruitment of workers for one of their industries. 400 young men from Tanzania are to be hired to make the business in the Middle Eastern nation run well.  

    “We have these men in our churches. Now we can train them to go as ambassadors for Jesus as soon as opportunities like this one are offered again, says the pastor. 
 

Enhances the work 

    He is one of 19 participants taking part in the East African Tentmaking Leader Forum that was held in Nairobi in November. The event was organized by Norwegian Lutheran Mission and gathered leaders from Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Norway. Tent Nigeria’s director, Victor Agbonkpolor, and director for Tent International, Steinar Opheim, were two of the main facilitators at the event.  

    With its 11 million members the Mekane Yesus church in Ethiopia is regarded as the world’s largest Lutheran church. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) is also among the largest with its six million members.  

    “We have already sent some professionals from our church to other nations. This forum will help us to enhance the work and send more,” comments Tilaye Daba who serves as the International Mission Society Director in the Mekane Yesus church. He took over this position five years ago. Before that he was leading the church’s mission work within Ethiopia.  
 

Growing numbers 

“There are still unreached people groups in Ethiopia that we must reach out to. At the same time, we must also lift the challenge of bringing the gospel beyond Ethiopia’s borders. Our international work has been growing the past years, and we currently have 42 missionaries sent internationally. By sending more tentmakers, we hope to increase the numbers quickly. We aim at deploying 35 new tentmakers in the first half of this year,”  

TILAYE DABA

    He thinks that Ethiopians naturally have many skills that will make them good tentmakers. 

    “Ethiopians are people oriented. Our culture trains us to be good colleagues and good neighbors. Christian Ethiopians are also eager to share about Jesus. From experience we say that wherever there is an Ethiopian, there is a possibility of planting a church,” smiles the mission director.  

    The Lutheran church in Tanzania aims at mobilizing 25 new tentmakers by June this year. In addition to sharing visions about tentmaking widely, the churches in both Tanzania and Ethiopia will reach out to and try to mobilize Christians already living and working abroad. Current migrations streams from the two nations are bringing lots of Christian workers into areas where there are few Christians.