10 BAM Resources That Influenced Us
BAM Global is celebrating its ten year anniversary in 2024, having been formally founded in 2014 on the foundation of earlier network-building efforts. To celebrate, we are posting a new 10 x Series this month; sharing some of our top 10 favourite BAM-related resources and inspirations.
10 favourite resources from global BAM network leaders
We asked some of our partner network leaders to share a BAM resource that has helped them on their BAM journey… and inspired them to create resources of their own.
1. Lausanne Occasional Paper on Business as Mission
Christian scholars claim that the number of Christians in China has increased from less than 1 million in 1949 to over 80 million in 2010. Hence, the Chinese church has a growing potential to participate in global missions. Having the Lausanne Occasional Paper on Business as Mission translated into Chinese has been so important and meaningful for the sending churches in Chinese communities to prepare for their missionaries. – TY, East Asia
Download the original English version of Lausanne Occasional Paper on Business as Mission (BAM LOP)
Download the Chinese translation of the BAM LOP here and access more Simplified and Traditional Chinese language resources at ChineseBAM.com, including BAM Think Tank Regional and Issue reports, BAM case studies and various BAM articles, as well as the BAM LOP.
2. BAM A-Z by Mats Tunehag
Materials like the BAM A-Z help us better communicate what BAM is. In Brasil we’ve translated the BAM A-Z and shared it with the network of entrepreneurs, giving them biblical and practical knowledge on the subject. This helps entrepreneurs on their BAM journey, as many have no references on how to carry out this work and still struggle with the dichotomy. – SB, Brazil
Download the English version of the BAM A-Z from Mats’ website, plus a free BAM A-Z Poster.
Get Portuguese resources and connect with the BAM Brasil network via Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Telegram or at the BAM Brasil website.
3. The BAM Definition, BAM Manifesto and the Wealth Creation Manifesto
Having a ‘working definition’ of BAM that we can all agree on, plus foundational statements like the BAM Manifesto and the Wealth Creation Manifesto have helped (and continue to help) us on our BAM journey, both here in Canada and in the different countries we’ve been able to walk alongside. They are simple to understand but profound in their message and they are always a starting point in introductory conversations on BAM. And they continue to be referenced to ensure that what we do or don’t do as a BAM network — and as missional businesses — remains mission true. – AT, Canada
Read the definition of Business as Mission on the Start Here page. Download the BAM Manifesto and Wealth Creation Manifesto.
Visit the BAM Canada website to access monthly blog articles and over 40 podcasts (and growing).
4. BAM Thesis and Dissertation Repository
When I worked on my doctoral dissertation on How BAM Entrepreneurs Decide to Go into Business, there was very little in terms of academic research and what there was, took creative and energetic searching. The BAM Thesis and Dissertation Repository pools the combined efforts of likeminded advanced degree seekers and provides academics a central location for BAM-related studies, literature reviews, and research methodologies. – MB, Academics
Access the BAM Theses and Dissertations Repository here.
5. The Search for God and Guiness by Stephen Mansfield and local Chapter groups
The Search for God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield is a book that changed my understanding on God honoring Business. The C12 Group and Convene materials I have access to as a member of local chapters of both are an ongoing inspiration. Learning from stories and others’ experiences is powerful and we aim to replicate that through our events and online testimonies here in South Asia with Beyond Business. – JV, South Asia
To hear stories and testimonies from South Asia, visit the Beyond Business Podcast.
6. BAM Moves Podcast by Bill Job & Gea Gort and BAM Global Events
I have two resources that come to mind for my journey. The first is a podcast about BAM featuring Bill Job telling his story about how he co-worked with Jesus in his business (Jesus’ business that is). Unfortunately I don’t remember who produced that original episode, but thankfully Bill has recently recorded a series with Gea Gort for the BAM Moves podcast which shares the same stories. The radical example of someone who actually lived the confession that God is the rightful owner of my life, and therefore all I am and all I have, was new and so challenging and inspiring. I listened to this as I sat in a rented excavator on the backside of my house digging. Bill’s stories together with other BAM stories available at that time (around 2012), fuelled my creativity and motivation and made me believe anything was possible with Jesus. Right there and then, sitting in the excavator, the vision for a franchise like incubator network was born and I couldn’t wait to tell everybody. So then at the Trade Fair in the BAM Congress in April 2013, my second essential BAM resource, I took the daring step of exhibiting my crazy vision, at that time just as an MVP, but now10 years later, glory to Jesus, a reality in many countries. – HS, Europe
Listen to the BAM Moves Podcast here.
Subscribe to BAM Global News for announcements about future BAM Global Events.
7. BAM as Mission is Bigger Than You Think and other articles by Mats Tunehag
The important resources for me were the official BAM documents, such as LOP on Business as Mission (already mentioned above) and also some of Mats Tunehag’s articles I’d come across on the internet. Then I found Mats’ website, which had articles such as ‘Business as Mission is bigger than you think‘, ‘The Mission of Business CSR+‘, ‘BAM in a Box‘, ‘God Means Business‘ and others, including articles and papers in 23 different languages so far. These have been some of the most helpful and important resources for me. BAM Resources in different languages are so important for the growth of the BAM movement. We’ve been developing Russian language BAM resources on the BAM Russia website, and especially on our YouTube Channel that has a collection of video recordings of conferences in different cities of Russia, interviews with Christian entrepreneurs and short videos describing what is business as mission – MD, Russia
Discover BAM material in 23 languages at MatsTunehag.com
Access Russian language resources at businessasmission.ru and BAM Russia on YouTube.
8. Regional BAM Events
For me the BAM resource that helped me most in my journey is the One Day BAM Conferences we organized in three locations in North East India two years ago. During these conferences and training, I came to know how BAM practitioners around the world transformed their ecosystem and saw transformation into the lives of the communities they are serving and engaging with. Mats Tunehag took us through the historical, concept and practices of BAM from his rich experiences. It convinced me that BAM can be one of the foundations and answers for transformation in this part of the world. These conferences were also meaningful to me as they brought me closer to BAMers on the field and other aspiring business people. The participants were from various backgrounds and diverse business ventures and listening to their stories – failures and success – gave me greater insights into the complexities of the region and nature of work in this regional ecosystem in North East India. We had a very rich and diverse ethnic representation which gave me hope and a vision that BAM can be our commonality and a way forward for unity, as well as ushering in a healthy and dynamic transformation and empowerment of local economy of the Churches in the region. – MT, NE India
Discover upcoming regional events here.
Connect with the BAM network in North East India here.
9. Business for Transformation: Getting Started by Patrick Lai
My introduction to BAM Global was through reading this book; I was in a start-up phase of my own business and knew that the connection between business and ministry was significant. This resource helped me to connect the essential dots and issues that I needed to address. Especially one of the very first issues Patrick addresses in the book – Know yourself! This quote from that section of the book was significant in my journey – “A passion for both business and ministry is needed. Thus, you need to develop a business that fits your ministry calling – and not one that fits your support strategy.” – DS, Southern Africa
Connect with the BAM Southern Africa Network.
Discover more book recommendations.
10. The Redemptive Frame and Redemptive Business Playbook by Praxis
I love the Redemptive Framework resources from Praxis, and they have a free book The Redemptive Business Playbook. We did the Redemptive Labs training as a BAM Romania team in order to bring it back to Eastern Europe, where we combine BAM, Redemptive Entrepreneurship, social ventures and ministry together. These resources have helped us as we focus on our work of capacity building, fostering connections, and improving the impact of organizations. – AB, Eastern Europe
Discover more resources from Praxis here.
Find out more about BAM Romania and their initiative BAM Connect.
Bonus: BAM Resource Library, Blogs and Reports
Our goal at BAM Global is to aggregate and share as many BAM resources as we can find – we do that here on businessasmission.com, which is an initiative of BAM Global. One of our leaders said, ‘The best BAM related content we’ve read is from this amazing resource hub [yes, the website you are on now!] Honestly this has been the most foundational and BAM-formative resource for us.’
Discover many more BAM Resources at our BAM Resource Library, plus 600+ BAM-related short articles on The BAM Review blog.
Download 30+ BAM Global Reports free from our own organisation website, bamglobal.org.
What are your favourite BAM-related resources? What helpful resources have you discovered in your language? Share them with us via our Contact form.
With thanks to the BAM Global Partner Network Leaders who shared their experiences and favourite resources.
Celebrating 10 Years of BAM Global
Help us accelerate the global business as mission movement in the next decade,
give a once off financial gift or join the BAM Global Patron’s Team of monthly supporters
Photo by Nourdine Diouane on Unsplash
