“Tom, you’re no longer strange to me.”
What in the world did Ivan, my close friend of two years, mean by that? My wife, our two middle-schoolers, and I had moved into a country that every national who had the chance was fleeing. Food was scarce. Utilities were sporadic. Unemployment was skyrocketing. Corruption was rampant. New criminal gangs were terrorizing the populace as they were fighting each other and carving out their territories. Our move from the suburbs of America to this collapsing country didn’t seem odd to me. It seemed more like an adventure to make a difference in the world by distributing humanitarian aid and leading bible studies with young adults who had never seen a Bible. I met Ivan and his wife on our first day in his country. They were both college graduates and were unemployed. I hired them as our language tutors, our interpreters, and our first employees. We shared life with them for hours on end for 5-6 days a week for two years. The bible studies seemed to be going well. Ivan was translating the materials from English into his native language. Using his artistic ability he also illustrated them with pen and ink drawings. Ivan was a new believer himself so our times in the Word were rich and special for him. I thought I was really connecting with Ivan, so what was that comment about me, “no longer being strange?” After our first 18 months in the country, I changed my focus from humanitarian aid to missional enterprise (BAM). As the enterprise grew we were able to employ more and more people. Job creation took the place of humanitarian handouts. Gainful employment restored dignity and removed the stigma of inferiority. The needs of our enterprise began to create auxiliary enterprises that provided employment for more people. This ripple effect of wealth creation made more sense to Ivan than our previous attempts of propping people up with bailouts. So why did Ivan think I was strange? When I asked him he gave me two reasons:
He also gave me two reasons why I was no longer strange to him:
It makes me wonder how many others have thought of me as strange when I thought I was just trying to help. - Missional Entrepreneur, GEN Desk Contributing Writer
0 Comments
Adam, University of Wyoming Navigator Campus Director, wanted to help his students get rid of the “cookie-cutter” thinking of what it takes to reach the nations. “Students want an adventure and we all want our lives to matter.” Adam’s thinking on why he wanted the University of Wyoming to host the missional enterprise Entrepreneurial Readiness Workshop: We believed it would bolster the idea among our students that they are uniquely gifted to reach any context where God places them. We hope our students leave campus feeling confident they can see God use their lives in the workplace and neighborhood just as much as He did on campus. NavMissions designed the ERW around the integrated life—where God’s design and calling for each of us meets. We believe there needs to be a destruction of the sacred-secular divide and fresh building of the integrated laborer, especially in the unreached "9-5 Window" (the workplace). The ERW promotes a vision for new mission frontiers for those who don't feel led into a pure gift-income role. One goal of the ERW is to see if anyone fits the mold of an international cross-cultural laborer. But the vision is much broader than international service and we hope to see many people starting or influencing businesses here in our NavCities with a focus beyond a financial bottom line. Kingdom values expressed through the triple bottom line will create a missional enterprise context for our calling in the U.S. and around the world. My hope is that any campus that is seeing a noticeable growth in God's heart for the nations would consider hosting an ERW. I believe it is my job as a Campus Director to introduce our graduating students to more networks and passionate people then myself. If all they know after four years is what "Adam" thinks about ministry, missions and the Lord, then I have failed. The ERW is adaptable for campuses, military bases, churches, mission organizations, and NavCities. If you would like to partner in hosting an ERW, please email NavMissions at gen@navigators.org.
The next ERW is September 30, 2016 in Colorado Springs. Get info and register at gendesk.org/erw. – GEN Desk Director Missional Enterprise: a Vehicle for Reconciliation “Throughout history, business has brought people together and pulled them apart. It has helped humankind progress while also revealing our darkest impulses.” It’s no secret that we live in a broken world … poverty, injustice, oppression, violence and corruption are all realities of the day and age we live in. Many businesses have been used as instruments of evil and exploitation, contributing to much of the brokenness in the world. However, “business can be an instrument in providing for humanity, an avenue to serve others, a place to exercise one’s gifts and skills, and a vehicle of reconciliation.” Which is why we need to understand God’s purpose for business and not let it remain in it’s broken state. In The Missional Entrepreneur, Russell presents four spheres of life that are broken and that God is on mission to reconcile:
Missional enterprise is an incredible opportunity to partner with God in bringing healing and renewal to each of these areas of brokenness. We easily understand how business can effect the economy in great ways and in more recent years, people are realizing the positive impact that businesses can have socially and environmentally; but the spiritual aspect of business bringing healing seems to be more allusive, yet crucial. The uniqueness of business is that it is an open door to everywhere and not just into physical places but also into the hearts of people. Everyday around the world people engage in business in a plethora of ways from the rich to the poor from the consumer to employee to owner. “Being missional is about living in a state of being that is at the center of God’s mission wherever you are … and the spiritual mission of business is not to establish a kingdom of wealth and power but to bring the Kingdom of God to tangible reality.” As businesses help build communities, provide for humanity, serve people according to their needs, and more; they become a physical expression of spiritual realities. This is what we strive for within the Global Enterprise Network; using the Triple Bottom Line to see Kingdom Values permeate all dimensions of enterprise unleashing the gospel. We do realize that God doesn’t need business and doesn’t need us to bring healing and reconciliation to the world but what a privilege that He invites us to join with Him to carry out His mission. What are some specific, small ways businesses can bring renewal and restoration to your corner of the world? And where do you see yourself called to join God in His mission of renewing the world? – GEN Desk Coordinator
By JACK BENJAMIN
I will never forget the moment 24-years ago when Aldo Berndt, the Latin America Regional Director at that time and a man for whom I have deep respect, made this stunning comment: “It is cruel to talk about the Great Commission in two-thirds of the world.” “How could that be?” I thought to myself. “The Great Commission is the reason my wife and I just moved to Colombia with our three young children!” After Aldo’s bold statement, he saw my distress. So with a gentle smile, Aldo went on to clarify. When fully funded gift-income missionaries launch a new work with the hope of reproducing and sending out laborers, those new laborers often don’t have the funding capacity or time to replicate what the missionary had modeled. The consequence is that future generations of laborers may become discouraged and end up giving the work of the ministry to the “full-time” workers. “If we want to see nations reached for Christ,” Aldo went on to say, “we must offer the majority of people a different model, one that is more realistic and replicable in their context.” Since that time, Navigators in Latin America have been taking strategic initiatives in response to the challenge that their Regional Director articulated. For example, Jimmy Payton had started a leather goods manufacturing and export business in Bogotá, named Tenazcol. Employees, customers and suppliers—all those relating in some way with Tenazcol—saw that this business was different. They heard the Gospel message and saw it in action. Many were irresistibly drawn to Christ and followed Him. The daily opportunity for Jimmy to work side-by-side with his staff proved to be an ideal arrangement for life-on-life discipleship. Some of those employees were discipled well and have gone on to lead the next generation in Colombia. A decade later, Jimmy and Roberto Blauth (from Brazil), who were serving in Aguascalientes, Mexico, began a construction business called Casas Mas that provided low-cost homes to the community. As with Tenazcol, Casas Mas became a place where life-on-life discipleship and the Scriptures combined with God’s Spirit to make Jesus real to many. It wasn’t long before a vibrant community of faith grew up in Aguascalientes and, energized by Casas Mas, contributed significantly to a new generation of laborers in Mexico. The word spread and a number of emerging laborers from around Latin America chose to intern in Casas Mas and serve in the Aguascalientes work as part of their ministry training. Today most of them are laboring fruitfully around the region. In recent years, a group of Navigator alumni who are successful Mexican professionals, including a former Casas Mas general manager, have come together to launch a new generation of missional enterprises like Tenazcol and Casas Mas. United by this passion, they provide mentoring, subject matter expertise, whole-life discipling and funding to aspiring missional entrepreneurs—people who can serve as Gospel pioneers in other nations. The Navigators have been involved with missional enterprises for more than three decades. Each of the seven regions in the Worldwide Partnership has missional enterprise initiatives as part of their overall strategy to advance the Navigator calling. Such enterprises help not only to gain access to closed or hard-to-reach places, but also to establish credibility with the local community in which they are operating. Please pray that God will continue to lead our leaders to work together to start and sustain missional enterprises that truly fulfill our calling. You can watch a short video about Jimmy and Roberto in Aguascalientes below. Jack Benjamin is director of the Global Enterprise Network for our Worldwide Partnership. Every mission agency wants to start up a new BAM program. Why and what is Business As Mission (BAM)? What purpose can it serve in advancing the Gospel? Can transformational discipleship be espoused through practices commonly associated with a secular lifestyle? These questions and more are ruminated in the Church and Christian ministries. What is now being introduced as utilizing business to promote missional evangelization is scrutinized by many and only fully understood by a few. The Lausanne Occasional Paper No. 59 is the organized effort of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization to effectively explain, and endorse, the worldwide adoption of BAM practices. The paper identifies the misconceptions of BAM implementation, and the foundational principles necessary for effective discipleship through business practices. At a meeting last summer, a question was raised, “Is it easier to turn a businessman into a Navigator, or a Navigator into a businessman?” The coordinators at the Lausanne Conference encountered the same question, and deduced the following response: “It is easier to teach ministry to a businessperson than business to a mission person. They focus on good business practice and integrating ministry into the business rather than starting a mission and trying to posture it as a business. If the business thrives, so does ministry to its employees and community, all without foreign funding or donations.” Business practices receive a bad rap due to their focus on monetary gain. Yet the focus of BAM is not to raise money purely for the dispersal of financial profits to existing Christian organizations. It is true that this is one of the goals, and is often a practice highly prioritized in BAM operations. However, the pursuit of BAM is to utilize the context of business as a powerful tool for evangelizing to the lost. In the Navigators, the Global Enterprise Network (GEN) has a wide variety of BAM works and describe them as missional enterprises. A missional enterprise (also known as Business for Transformation – B4T) is a small subset of the BAM space but is distinguished by the triple bottom line. Read more from Larry Sharp about the BAM Movement. - GEN Desk Intern For more information on the Lausanne Movement and BAM visit: http://businessasmission.com/library/articles-papers/ Tunehag, Mats, Wayne McGee, and Josie Plummer, eds. "Business Goals And Mission Analysis." Business As Mission (2008): 1-88. Lausane Occasional Paper No. 59. Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. Web. 24 July 2015.
"Business as Mission Research." Eden's Bridge. Eden's Bridge, 27 May 2012. Web. 24 July 2015. “We were called here to serve.” Many overseas missionaries and domestic missionaries have used this phrase to explain where and why they are serving in a specific region or vocation. As powerful as this phrase is, it can also be a hidden challenge for missional entrepreneurs to confront. Missional entrepreneurs face the hard test of serving as both business owners and missionaries. So what service comes first, their call to witness or their call to operate as business leaders? The question of these priorities is a tough, but necessary, topic to address. A fine balance exists in the BAM world as missional entrepreneurs. A business may fail because it is not given proper time and attention. On the other hand, personal relationships may suffer at the expense pursuing a prosperous business. So what is the answer? Missional entrepreneurs are blessed with the unique opportunity to influence fellow co-workers and employees. With the guidance of Christ, the workplace is the missions field. Intentionally focusing on business operations, and seeking to serve employees as an involved leader, allows the real Mission to manifest itself into the daily lives of the lost. A story in Mark L. Russell’s “The Missional Entrepreneur," is told about two small businesses that were both located in the same cultural context, supported by Christian missions, and run by faithful believers. One business excelled, the other failed. What was the difference between the two businesses? One owner became overwhelmed by the need to spread the gospel and run a full-time business, the other intertwined the gospel with daily business operations and devoted his missional efforts to reaching the lost and hurting who came to work at the company. Discovering the balance between serving in the missions field and running a business is not an easy path to traverse. Have faith in where your heart is being led, and rest in the peace that the One who sent you has gifted you specifically with the desire to meet the needs of His children through the capacity of business. (Romans 8:28) As you are called to serve as a missional entrepreneur, so His will and glory will be done. “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 - GEN Desk Intern
-GEN Desk Intern
There’s an interesting sensation that an individual feels when exposed to a possibility that is exhilarating, feasible, and personal. This sensation was shared between each of us touring the YWAM Aquaponics facility in Colorado Springs on a warm Friday afternoon in the middle of June. Youth With A Mission, commonly known as YWAM, is an international, non-denominational Christian Organization with 18,000 kingdom workers strategically placed in 1,100 locations in over 180 nations.[1] The Aquaponics Farm in Colorado Springs is an YWAM initiative that seeks to mobilize and empower citizens to produce naturally grown plants and vegetables. The idea for the plant originated after Loren Cunningham, founder of YWAM, encouraged YWAMers to innovatively discover sustainable ways to operate bases, with an emphasis on utilizing food production to create lasting stability. (Genesis 2:15) The individuals in charge of the Colorado “Emerge” Operations designed their Aquaponics plant to meet the nutritional needs of the state and to develop a model that may be utilized across nations. The business mission of the Colorado Springs Aquaponics Farm is to produce a local commercial product and to generate profit that assists the community and decreases worker dependency on external aid. The leaders at the plant are driven to formulate a standard process of planting and operating Aquaponics Farms to provide profitable and self-sustaining aid among the nations. Watch the video: AQUAPONICS TOUR VIDEO As I walked down the hill out of the abject poverty of the Roma (Gypsy) district in a southern Bulgaria town, my stomach began to turn. The smell, the filth, and the despair were all overwhelming. While trying to keep my stomach content where it belonged, I prayed. Noticeably, I sensed Jesus saying, “I am up there.” My perspective changed. The powerful filth and smell suddenly dissipated. Jesus was present and his promises alive, even in the lowliest of places, to redeem and restore people who are precious in his sight. And He’s inviting laborers to bring His kingdom to these undesirable places. This experience was at the tail end of a seminar on social enterprise sponsored by The Navigators’ Global Enterprise Network in Central and Eastern Europe. Over 50 Europeans sought input from Christian experts in social enterprise from around the US and Europe. Everyone was united on how to bring the hope of the Gospel and answers to address the desperate poverty. Two themes emerged:
In post-Christian secularized Europe, the Bible has been discarded as old-hat. There is rampant mistrust toward the church. Pastors and missionaries have no respect in society. And generally the Gospel is seen as wishful thinking. Everyday life is the greatest opportunity to share about Christ. But in order for this to happen, the messenger needs to be normal to the listener. A key means for the messenger to gain this heart access is through enterprise. When followers of Jesus own and run enterprises, they are afforded opportunities to be Jesus in everyday life to everyday people and bring real answers to things like poverty through work. An added bonus: We’ve discovered that when you connect a secularized person with the needs of the poor or marginalized, that person starts asking questions about the meaning of life, purpose, and faith. Throwing open the doors for the answers found in the truths of the Gospel. Enterprises aiming to help people in need become a vehicle for the Gospel to be demonstrated. Currently, the Global Enterprise Network in Europe is starting and supporting enterprises that serve handicapped children, provide jobs for the homeless and addicts, and promote education for Roma children. We long for greater impact as the movement grows. After all, Jesus is there among the desperately needy. - GEN Consultant GEN Desk Commentary –
What kind of enterprise do you feel would best help address poverty? Would you like to peel back the skin of one of the best examples of a missional enterprise in the world? Well, maybe it is not currently on your bucket-list, yet. But if you are considering missional enterprise as a possible pathway to serve internationally, I would highly suggest this developmental vision trip!
The trip is planned for the beginning of August 2015 and will take an inside look at the Triple Bottom Line (TBL). How do you successfully run a business in light of a new culture, potential corruption, and unstable economy? What does it look like to bring holistic change and social justice? Is it possible to share your faith and begin a gospel movement through a business? How do you begin to engage an unreached people group? Participants will examine key elements of a successful missional enterprise by living it out throughout the week long trip. Participants will also engage with the founders about their vision and calling, start-up process, developmental phases, metrics, challenges, and life. The ideal participant would be future missional entrepreneurs, current missional entrepreneurs, business coaches, investors, or missions minded people, churches and leaders. The outcomes for each participant will vary drastically. But no matter whether exploring a missional enterprise helps develop yourself for future opportunities or someone you will eventually come alongside, we want to invest in you. Serving missionally among the unreached is not for everyone. Missional enterprise is also not for everyone. The Missional Enterprise Expedition is designed to host anyone who wants to seriously consider their best fit and next steps. For more information about the trip, visit the trip page or contact us at gen@navigators.org. - GEN Desk Director |
Categories
All
Archives
March 2020
|