Business as Mission is a Concept, Practice and Learning, Growing Movement
We often say that Business as mission is a concept, practice and a global movement.
Business as mission (BAM) is an idea, a concept, that is deeply rooted in biblical principles and our Judeo-Christian tradition. We see in scripture that business is part of God’s design for human flourishing. We can point to powerful impact through the intersection of business and mission throughout church history.
BAM is also a practice, a set of real-life daily operating procedures for companies around the globe. In every continent today there are business as mission practitioners intentionally demonstrating God’s kingdom in daily business life. They are bringing the ‘whole gospel’ in word and deed, aiming to have a positive environmental, social, economic and spiritual impact.
Furthermore, BAM is a global movement of leaders in business, church, missions and academia. The idea and practice of business as mission does not belong to one organisation, company network, or region. It is a move of the Holy Spirit stirring among Christ-followers in the marketplace, in every corner of the world. And it is part of a much bigger picture of God establishing his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
BAM Global has been developing the concept of business as mission, and connecting people around it, since 2002. Through global conversations and meetings, we have gathered and shared social and intellectual capital. Over 500 people from around 50 nations have participated in BAM Global Think Tank groups that have reviewed and discussed BAM from theological, historical, practical, ecclesiological, missiological, ecological, economical and global perspectives.
This has resulted in about 30 ground-breaking reports, including the BAM Manifesto and the Wealth Creation Manifesto. These processes have also catalysed a growing global movement of national and international BAM networks. Today BAM is practiced on all continents and applied in thousands of companies, operating in over 20 languages.
We rejoice in the growth and thank God for the impact. But we have not arrived. We are on a journey and committed to being a learning movement. To that end we continue to organise consultations to deal with important and pressing issues related to BAM and the world.
The text above is the Foreword for the brand new series of BAM Global Reports that will be published this quarter.
The first Report is now available to download from the BAM Global website:
Click to Go to Download Page
Jo Plummer is the co-chair of BAM Global and the author and editor of many business as mission papers and articles, including the BAM Global Think Tank Report series. She is a Lausanne Catalyst for Business as Mission and the co-editor of the Lausanne Occasional Paper on Business as Mission. She has been developing resources for BAM since 2001 and currently serves as Editor of this Business as Mission website and blog.
Mats Tunehag is a senior global ambassador for BAM and has worked in over half the countries of the world. He is the chairman of BAM Global and contributes to TransformationalSME.org. Visit MatsTunehag.com for BAM resources in 23 languages.
Dr. João Mordomo is co-founder and president of CCI-Brasil, a global church planting movement among unreached peoples. João serves variously as owner, managing director and board member of several BAM companies, and serves in several BAM leadership roles including at COMIBAM, BAM Global and Lausanne.
