The Business as Mission (BAM) Think Tank of the Lausanne Committee just issued their latest report titled, “Business as Mission and the Church.” It is well worth a read.

Executive Summary

    “We believe the local church can effectively disciple and equip their members to have a positive influence on the marketplace.

    “The BAM and the Church Consultation Group focused on the role of business as mission in and through the local church. While the modern business as mission movement has been growing and expanding globally for several decades, much of this growth has been outside of local church contexts.

    “Yet the BAM Manifesto, published twenty years ago, thoroughly grounded this movement in the Church when it ended with these recommendations:

    We call upon the Church worldwide to identify, affirm, pray for, commission and release businesspeople and entrepreneurs to exercise their gifts and calling as businesspeople in the world—among all peoples and to the ends of the earth. We call upon businesspeople globally to receive this affirmation and to consider how their gifts and experience might be used to help meet the world’s most pressing spiritual and physical needs through Business as Mission.

    “Our goal in this paper is to build a bridge between the leaders of local churches and those Christians called to be ‘marketplace ministers’—and to help them reengage and find common ground. To this end, we chose four areas to focus on:

1. Overcoming Theological Hindrances: We examine some of the significant theological beliefs that have hindered the church from fulfilling its role as an equipper of disciples in the marketplace and we explore how to overcome them.

2. Identifying Structural Obstacles: How the local church is structured has significant impact on what it does or does not do and we examine the impact of structure on message and methods.

3. Recognising Cultural Challenges: We acknowledge the marvel of the Church in its international and ethnic variety and examine some of the unique cultural challenges that impact various national and ethnic environments.

4. Sharing Case Studies: We review case studies that illustrate the positive impact when the ‘church gathered’ in local church communities and the ‘church scattered’ in the marketplace in business reengage with one another.

    “At the end of the report, you will find recommendations and resources, including a self-assessment tool for both pastors or church leaders, and church members.

    “Our prayer is that disciples of Jesus in the marketplace will be committed to making him known to the nations by word and deed. May the local church and the Church globally grow in its capacity to equip these disciples to be a light to the world in their companies and communities.”

Sections

   Some of the sections I found especially compelling were:

• The Church and the Marketplace.
• Church Growth and mission strategy.
• The role of the marketplace in gospel expansion.
• The role of the Church in the marketplace.
• Created to work: a positive theology of work.
• Wealth creation: a biblical view.

Action Plans

    There are some very helpful recommendations to local church leaders.

Appendices

    Don’t miss the appendices. This section has a lot of useful tools for leaders and church members alike.

• Promising practices
• Action plan template for church leaders
• Self-assessment tools
• Commissioning service sample for marketplace ministers
• Business as mission manifesto
• Wealth creation manifesto

    The entire report can be downloaded for free from the Lausanne Group at https://bamglobal.org/report-church/ . You will find a treasure trove of earlier reports as well.

    “You can’t read this book without becoming uncomfortable or convicted.” declares Jones at the beginning of his book.

Who Is This For?

    This is helpful for reaching unreached whether around the block, or around the world.

    The author, Peyton Jones, is a Great Commission church planter. He is a student of the Primitive (early) church. He studies the methods of Jesus and the Apostle Paul and adapts them for today’s context/

    More importantly, he is an out-of-the-box thinker. He brings a fresh look at old themes and brings practical applications to the work of the mission of God for his Kingdom workers.

Churches

    Jones is not the typical church planter. He looks at life through the lens of creating effective churches. Yet, he doesn’t count the number of churches started as the key performance indicator (KPI) for success. Nor does he want to just create another church like the ones that already exist. He wants churches that connect with the “unreached.”

Disciple-makers

    He is a disciple maker who intentionally seeks out the unreached – often found among the “undesirables” and social outcasts.

    His experience as an international and multi-cultural worker makes his approach equally fruitful for domestic and international ministry.

    The book is peppered with stories and illustrations from the author’s experience. He also is careful to square those experiences with the stories and principles found in Scripture.

Tentmakers

    While having church planting as his starting point, I found the book full of insights for tentmakers. It will equip them to share their faith in the marketplace.

    I liked that the author has a bias for action. Sound principles are important, but if the words and ideas don’t result in action they are of little value.

    Each chapter ends with a series of questions for reflection and for group discussion.

Conclusion

    Those who have followed tentmaking for a while may be familiar with Ruth Siemens, the founder of Global Opportunities, now Global Intent. Her most popular article was “Fishing Evangelism.” This book reads like a contemporary update of it, on steroids.

    I enthusiastically recommend this book for tentmakers and disciple-makers.