On a busy corner in Guadalajara, Mexico, the scent of fresh bread beckons pedestrians into a rustic bakery. Once inside, however, the pleasing aroma of Christ draws customers to the bakery's mother and daughter owner-operators, Myriam and Adriana Sanchez.
Rogenbrott was founded in 2014 as a missional enterprise to share Christ among the lost. The Sanchez family had a dream of starting a business where they could use their God-given talents as bakers, provide for their economic needs, and share Christ with others. That is what is happening as God is fulfilling their daily prayer of “Lord, let us be a fragrant scent here; may You be who attends to the true needs of our clients and providers.” The bakery sells homemade artisan bread to the community, and its impact is felt daily. Clients come in to purchase bread, and are charmed by the family who naturally shares Christ with them. Clients have learned that they can find a listening ear and someone who will pray for them. One client loves coming into the shop because she admires their peace and joy. When asked how they could always be so joyous, mom and daughter responded that it is Christ in them. The bakery's providers are also being reached with the Gospel. Over the past year, the Sanchez family has developed a relationship with one supplier. Although he comes from a religious family, he didn´t understand the Gospel. The Sanchez family believes in making Jesus known through their daily lives, so it wasn´t long before their provider asked them to pray for his sick relative. They rejoiced together when the relative was restored to health. After, their new friend began to come to them for counsel, and they began studying God´s Word with him. The Sanchezes hope that this is just the first of many who will come to know Jesus as their Savior because of the bread store dedicated to the Lord. The Gospel is being lived out in this bakery, and the pleasing aroma of Christ is fragrant to all. Will you take a moment and pray for this missional business, for the Sanchez family, and for other businesses serving to make Christ known around the world? “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” (2 Corinthians 2:15 ESV) – GEN Desk Contributing Author
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“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 “One of the great challenges for everyone is finding a place in the world – seeing a lot, hearing a lot, reading a lot, and then deciding where we will be and what we will do. Knowing what we know, what will we do?” - Steven Garber, Visions of Vocation “Knowing what we know, what will you do?” Garber’s question parallels the parable of the Good Samaritan. When the man was left half dead between Jerusalem and Jericho, the priest, Levite, and Samaritan all saw the depleted man. Yet, the priest and Levite chose not to engage in the brokenness. Instead, they continued on their journeys. When the Samaritan saw the man, he knew the man was hurt and in desperate need of help. With this knowledge, he chose to help the man. He brought the man to the inn and took care of him. In Visions of Vocation, Steven Garber stresses the importance of engaging in the broken world around us, similar to how the Good Samaritan engaged with the hurt man. As Christians, he says “it is clear that the way we live shows what we believe.” Through missional enterprise, we have a chance to live in a way that will demonstrate what we believe. As we see problems around the world, we get to engage and create positive social impact, financial sustainability, and spiritual transformation through business. Jesus’ Kingdom advances. As Garber exemplifies in his book, whether you have the desire to start a clinic in an area with inadequate healthcare, an agriculture business that treats employees fairly and grows crops honestly, or a climbing gym to build trust in a society where it is lacking, you get to create positive change that brings glory to God. Just like the Good Samaritan, it is important to see the wounds of the world and to do something about it. Missional enterprise is one context that allows the Kingdom to salve the pain of the wounds. What are some specific ways your business could see the world as it is and step into the brokenness to make an impact? What are ways you could be the Good Samaritan to the hurting in your community or around the world? – GEN Desk Intern
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
First element of the triple bottom line (TBL)– Spiritual Transformation.
Spiritual transformation is the first facet of the TBL and is the most crucial in distinguishing a missional enterprise from any other business venture. It is the hardest to accomplish and measure, but requires living out The Navigator Core and aiming for a multi-generational ministry starting within the context of a business. Although every missional enterprise needs to intentionally pursue the spiritual bottom line, the appearance can vary significantly between enterprises and regions of the world. The intentional pursuit of a spiritual bottom line within the framework of The Navigators Core is the responsibility of every missional enterprise. There are almost an unlimited number of factors that influence the context and therefore the look of the spiritual transformation bottom line in each missional enterprise. Intentionality and integration is required.
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. We often praise individuals who are entirely themselves, pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps and achieving success. We are exhorted through scriptures like Psalms 139:14 to stand as individuals and focus on how God has created us. “ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. It is true how God has uniquely crafted every person. But if we are imposing or separating ourselves from others through our "uniquely individual" perspective, how do we address "adapting" to engage the values and customs of the other cultures we are seeking to live and disciple among? In “The Missional Entrepreneur,” Mark Russell addresses a crucial topic regarding the necessity for missional entrepreneurs to understand and respect their new cultural context. In the past, many missionaries sent to the "lost " were Americans. As Americans, we have been raised in an “Individualistic, Universalistic, and Monochromatic” environment. In other words, Americans are taught and naturally bring to the mission field how to:
The cultural values Americans have been raised in are viewed differently in the cultures they are seeking to live and disciple among. For example, Asian and Latin American cultures often function as “Collective, Particularistic, and Polychromatic” socities. This challenges missional entrepreneurs to:
Understanding and abiding to these cultural adaptations is not denying your self or your heritage. “Contextualizing” is living out the calling to serve as a relational and personal witness, to give up our self, and to love others first in a new set of cultural values. Paul describes his journey as: "For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Every missional entrepreneur will face the challenge to remain comfortable and stagnant in their own cultural context. Yet, remaining unwilling to see the world through a different perspective, or understand the customs of different cultures, will weaken our ability to see the gospel of Jesus and his Kingdom advance through generations of laborers living and discipling among the lost. - GEN Desk Director Consider Foreign to Familiar by Sarah Lanier for further reading on cultures, adaptation, and contextualization.
Every person in the world spends the majority of time at their place of work. Utilizing business as a method to effectively love and express the redemption of Christ through fair labor treatment and positive management correlates to increased personal contact with individuals out-of-touch with God’s calling for their life. Additionally, business is applicable in virtually every part of the world. Many missional correspondents are realizing that impactful change is best initiated at a level that affects an individual’s bottom line. One leader from Croatia explained that, “Sending us missionaries is good, but we'd prefer that you send us godly businessmen, who can teach us and help us to start businesses and create jobs in a Christ-like way." An individual will know they are truly cared for when the evidence of love is displayed through how they are treated, and how their lives are changed. Impacting someone’s lifestyle and improving their quality of life is fundamental in tangibly illustrating genuine compassion. The Lausanne Conference articulated the truth behind the difference that economical advancement can have in an individual’s life by outlining the following statistic, “… the richest 20% of the world’s population own approximately 80% of the world’s wealth; whilst the poorest 20% own approximately 1%. There is a tragic correlation between poverty, disease and unemployment.” It is difficult to explain to a financially disadvantaged fellow how important their life is, when they are faced with the belief that their current station in life determines their future. Employment and empowerment through financially profitable work reinvigorates those whose perspective of life is defined by scarcity. In the western world and other developed nations, it is easy to focus on, “...personal holiness and individual transformation rather than social holiness and societal transformation.” Missional Enterprise however attempts to shift this concentration to envelop a broader perspective of improvement and growth. Business is, “especially good news for the materially and financially poor of this present world.” Those who look outward and see the breadth of impact business can make and who, “…live by biblical principles of work, stewardship, faithfulness and justice will alleviate most causes of human suffering and poverty.” More and more missional enterprises are experiencing pushback from secular nations against the immersion of foreign ministries. This is largely based on the inability of a traditional missionary to effectively improve the economic climate of a country. Most missionaries are considered “unemployed” persons who fail to contribute to society at large. Business on the other hand, “is a recognized institution in society that brings credibility to relationships with the community as a whole. Thus business brings opportunities to influence and disciple the wider society through the relationships it brings.” This means that the missional entrepreneur, “becomes ‘salt and light’ to the community (or nation) in the marketplace.” Business practices impact not only the financial climate of nations, but also the physical environment. Environmental stewardship (social impact bottom line) is practiced by BAM operations through, “the types and locations of products fabricated and services rendered, of production methods, of types of resources used, and of the disposal of waste.” In a time when scarce resources are being depleted faster than ever, it is critical to ensure long-term sustainability through cognitively sensitive environmental decisions.
At the core, human beings are relational creatures. This is true in any culture and in every part of the world. The fantastic mystery of the redeeming love of our Lord and Savior is His willingness to die for our sins, and take our burdens upon himself. As Christians, we know that we are fully loved, and ardently accepted. Many who are lost, and in need of The Good News, do not know these truths and fail to see how their lives could ever be worth the sacrifice of another. BAM offers a unique avenue to demonstrating the importance of each individual. “Business restores dignity through creating employment, through righteous and equal treatment in relationships and through empowerment.” The truth is, the Lord’s Will is done according to His purpose. He does not need us, but He wants us. His burning desire for us transforms life and produces fruit of the heart. There are many ways to show His mercy, and to spread The Gospel. It is important to realize that changing times require changed tactics and revolutionized perspectives. Business was once seen as purely secular. No longer however, is business defined by this restrictive stereotype. In truth, “Business as mission looks beyond a financial bottom line to a ‘multiple bottom line’; taking into account financial, social, spiritual and environmental returns.” As defined by the Lausanne Conference, and the practical application of BAM operations thriving throughout the world today, “The real bottom line of business as mission is AMDG - ad maiorem Dei gloriam – for the greater glory of God.” - 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. "What We Do." Transformational Ventures. Tranformational Ventures, n.d. Web. 24 July 2015. 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. |
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