Staying Mission True: Business as Mission Looking Forward

/in , , /by

by Mats Tunehag

Part 3 of a 3 part series on Business as Mission: Roots, Scope & Future. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

BHAGs: Big Hairy Audacious Goals

We have briefly reviewed the BAM concept’s historical roots, and painted a picture, albeit incomplete, of the scope and nature of the global BAM movement. Now, let’s look ahead. What are some of the challenges facing us?

Over the years and through the global conversations we’ve had, three major challenges have been identified. We call them BHAGs, these are major issues that can only be dealt with if we continue to stay on course and grow the strength of the movement. These are macro issues, which force us to think and act intergenerationally, and to intentionally build an eco-system to optimize holistic impact. They will not be achieved by one company, organization or network alone, but through collaborative effort.

Let me briefly describe them, in no particular order.

1. Align Views of Business with Biblical Principles

BAM is not a technique, but a worldview and a lifestyle. Or as BAM Global puts it: “Business as mission is not simply a method or strategy; it encompasses a worldview and business praxis based on biblical principles and the church’s teaching.”[1]

The sacred-secular divide has been an ongoing issue throughout the history of the church. But Pope John Paul II clearly states: “There cannot be two parallel lives in their existence: on the one hand, the so-called “spiritual” life, with its values and demands; and on the other, the so-called “secular” life, that is, life in a family, at work, in social relationships, in the responsibilities of public life and in culture. … This split between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age.”[2]

Back to BAM Global’s BHAG statement:

Read more

The Present Movement: Business as Mission Today

/in , , /by

by Mats Tunehag

Part 2 of a 3 part series on Business as Mission: Roots, Scope & Future. Read Part 1 here.

Why is There a BAM Movement?

Each generation has to review and highlight old-age concepts and truths and see how they apply to today’s context. That includes various arenas and constituencies, like business, church, and academia.

While acknowledging our roots, we also recognize the emergence of a global BAM movement in our generation. Today we can talk about a global BAM movement – we could not do that 25 years ago. Today there are tens of thousands of businesses on all continents on a BAM journey. Today there are churches and denominations embracing Business as Mission. Today most of the oldest and biggest Evangelical mission agencies in the world are pursuing BAM. Today there are many academic institutions teaching BAM and producing Master and Doctoral theses on Business as Mission. This was not the case just a few decades ago.

Thus, we may ask: why is there a global BAM movement? How did that come about? First and foremost, we recognize that God is the ultimate initiator and conductor of the movement. But allow me to also mention three essential building blocks: common language, communication and collaboration.

Without a common language you cannot communicate. If you cannot communicate you cannot collaborate, and it will lead to disconnected initiatives with limited impact.

BAM Global Think Tank

BAM Global has since 2002 focused on creating and sharing intellectual and social capital. What does that mean? An underlying principle is the belief that there is wisdom in the counsel of many. To that end we have been facilitating global listening processes, where voices from both history and today’s world could be heard, discussions were held, and documented.[1] These inclusive and participatory conversations created ownership of the concept, which continues to be discussed and shared in many languages and contexts. We have also brought people together to not only listen, share and learn, but also to connect and act. The BAM Manifesto and the Wealth Creation Manifesto are essential for establishing a common language for communication and collaboration, to create greater impact. See the BAM A – Z booklet which also expresses the common BAM language.[2]

The 2nd BAM Global Think Tank (2011 – 2013) started over 30 national, regional and international working groups, dealing with BAM in a particular country or region, or BAM related to issues like poverty, human trafficking, unreached peoples, metrics, funding and incubation. Many of these groups produced a report, but the ongoing conversations also catalyzed BAM initiatives around the world which further propelled the global movement. Today there is a growing number of BAM Global Ambassadors serving regions and issues.[3]

Read more

Deeply Rooted: Business as Mission Looking Back

/in , , /by

by Mats Tunehag

Part 1 of a 3 part series on Business as Mission: Roots, Scope & Future

She was amazed and perplexed at the same time. She was treated with respect and dignity. She was a woman challenged with disabilities. But her life had changed. With little or no prospect of ever getting a job, she was now working in a manufacturing company. She was creative, she had made friends, and she made money.

Women in this country and religious context were treated as second-class citizens. If they had mental or physical handicaps they were often further down.

But the company she worked for employed and offered jobs with dignity to women with disabilities. It was unheard of, and it made a huge difference not only in her life, but also for the other women who worked there. It even had a transformational impact on families and the community.

This woman asked herself: why is this workplace so different? It changes lives on many levels. She knew that the founder and CEO was a follower of Jesus. So she told herself: If that’s what it means to be a follower of Jesus, I will also follow him. It was a huge and risky step for a handicapped woman in a conservative Muslim environment.

What brought her to Christ? A gospel tract? A Jesus film? A bible study? No, it was human resource management informed by biblical values, underpinned with prayer. Ultimately, it was, of course, God’s doing.

BAM: Concept, Practice, Movement

This true story from the Middle East points towards three aspects of Business as Mission, BAM, which is about serving God and people in and through business, with a Great Commission perspective. BAM is a biblical concept, which is practiced and applied by people around the world with a wide variety of backgrounds, which together form a global movement.

BAM Global has since 2002 engaged around 500 significant leaders in business, church, missions & NGOs and academia, from about 50 countries, in global conversations about the concept and the practice. This has resulted in about 30 peer produced and peer reviewed think tank reports, and two manifestos which summarize our findings [1]. The global and participatory nature of the think tank processes have created an unprecedented spread and ownership of the BAM concept.[2]

Read more

BAM as an Effective Strategy in Urban Asia: Reaching a Tipping Point

/in , /by

by Francis Tsui

>> Read Part 1, How Business has Transformed Nations and Lifted People Out of Poverty in China and East Asia

Continuing from Part 1, this article explores BAM as an effective mission strategy for missional impact in urban Asia, especially as we aim to reach a tipping point for macro impact through BAM companies.

Increasingly Asia has been transformed right before our eyes, and people’s lot has greatly improved over the last century. From a missiological perspective, urban East Asia has transformed into a totally different mission field compared to just decades ago. The fast transforming Asia powering into the twenty-first century certainly needs a new missiology and a new missional paradigm to raise up leaders to keep mission relevant and effective.

It is against this backdrop that the global church – with its mission leaders and workers, including those from Asia – has to contemplate and reassess their understanding, approaches, and strategies for the new Asian harvest fields. The gospel message remains the same, yet the church needs to search the heart of God to ask how the missio Dei is relevant in such a changing time and to a transforming continent.

Affluent and Open

The mission fields in Asia are no longer just remote, isolated, exotic destinations. In the last two centuries, in many Asian countries, the church has survived and the mission work has thrived through poverty and persecution. Yet, many are now asking how the harvest fields in Asia will survive affluence and openness.

Throughout Asia, people are nearer to each other, not only physically but virtually. Whether it is in the urban or the rural areas, technology has brought people closer. It was only in August 1991, almost exactly thirty years ago, when the World Wide Web became publicly available. In just about two decades, the advent and then proliferation of the internet have brought people together in ways no one could have imagined before. One could easily surmise the easy access of online experience in the cities. Yet, even before the introduction of smartphones, when it was still at the 2G technology level, China and India had already started to equip their mobile communication network and empower their rural population to get connected to the internet.

Read more

How Business Transformed Nations and Lifted People Out of Poverty in China & East Asia

/in , /by

by Francis Tsui

 

How have businesses, especially SMEs, transformed nations and lifted people out of poverty in China and East Asia? What were critical and contributing factors?

More than 1.5 billion people, about 38% of the population of Asia or 22% of the world population, live in geographic East Asia. The region is one of the world’s most densely inhabited places, with 133 inhabitants per square kilometer (340 per square miles), being about three times the world average of 45 per square kilometer (120 per square mile).

In recent decades, at least up till the Covid pandemic, East Asian economies are increasingly one of the key global growth engines with a sustained high single to double digit economic growth and development, and are fast emerging as a manufacturing and information technology hub of the world. One of key characteristics of the East Asia region is the presence and contribution of a large small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) sector comprising the majority of enterprises in all the region’s economies, and especially in the region’s urban scenes.

A New Consumer Culture

The rise of the East Asian urbanization phenomenon has one distinct characteristic. While urbanization in North America for the most part goes horizontal as cities sprawl, urbanization in East Asia goes vertical, with buildings scaling tall. It is now very common to see residential apartment buildings in excess of fifty stories tall or higher in places like Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, or even Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh. The result of such a mode of urbanization is that a huge number of people are packed into a rather small catchment area. People’s proximity to each other has become closer. Never before have we seen higher density of people within shouting or maybe even whispering distance with each other, which is very conducive to accelerated entrepreneurial economic activities.

The urbanization and modernization of some of the largest cities in East Asia ushers in new lifestyles. The birth of an urban middle class among the baby boomer and Gen X generations breeds for the first time a leisure class or a leisure lifestyle. Roaming about on the streets or in shopping malls, exercising in gyms, attending concerts or cultural events, or hanging out at coffee shops are activities unheard of possibly just two generations ago for anyone in Asia. Nowadays, these have become common pastimes. A new consumer culture has emerged out of over half a century of a mostly peaceful political environment, without major wars, and significant economic progress for many developing economies. The gradual rise of disposable income level among East Asians means that most people and families have more to spend. Indeed, East Asia is at a historic moment of major wealth creation and generational transfer. All of these exciting developments have created fertile soil and opportunities in multiple dimensions, including the emergence and maturation of SMEs. It has also brought about new possibilities for mission.

A Lift Out of Poverty

The emerging role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is also an indicator of the economic prosperity that helps to lift people out of poverty. And, the SMEs in East Asia and China have indeed scored spectacular success. In the last 30 years, according to the World Bank, East Asia accounts for two-fifths of global growth, and, during the same period, the number of extremely poor people living in East Asia fell by almost a billion. This is also the same period we saw SME businesses grow in leaps and bounds in East Asia and China.

Read more

Let’s Make Business as Mission Both Global and Local

/in , /by
As part of our continuing series on ‘BAM: A Global Glimpse’ we revisit this article by Joseph Vijayam.

In 2013 I was on a business trip in Jakarta. One afternoon my host asked if I would join him for a gathering of believers in his office building. To my surprise, this was not a small gathering of believers; it was a full-fledged worship service with songs, intercession, testimonies, and a short sermon with over 100 people in attendance. During the time of testimonies, people were sharing about their needs, including those at work, home, and in their communities. One of the business owners in the room shared that he sees himself as a pastor to his co-workers. At that moment, I realized that here in one of the megacities of Asia, weekly church service had taken a new form. The venue was a business conference room, the people in attendance came as individuals rather than families, significant time was spent in sharing of testimonies by new believers, and the time of their meeting was on a busy weekday. Every aspect of the event perfectly fit the needs of first-generation believers working in high rise offices in Jakarta. 

Though the purpose and function of the Body of Christ have remained the same, its local form has changed from age to age and from one culture to another. What I experienced in Jakarta was a unique expression of the local church that is ideal to the city of Jakarta for this generation. If the gathering of believers can take different forms, can our approach to bringing people into the Church be just as creative and specific to their situation? Not only do I believe that it can, I think it is essential.  Read more

Resources & Prayer Requests from Our Global Network

/in , /by

One of our goals here at The BAM Review, and in all our work, is ‘to put more global into BAM Global‘. We want to strengthen and invigorate the BAM movement in all parts of the world, creating greater depth and breadth globally.

To continue our ‘BAM: A Global Glimpse‘ series of blogs, we asked nine of our BAM Global Ambassadors to share what resources were available from their network, their plans for the future, and how we can pray for them.

 

What are the plans and activities in your region or issue network for the next 12 months? What resources do you have to share with people? How do people connect with you?

 

ROMANIA

We are planning a BAM event on 16th October, in Bucharest, where the youth from the BAM Incubator program will be able to pitch their business in front of potential angel investors.

I visited and connected with those who are doing Business as Mission in Romania and I wrote down their story on the BAM Romania website. We also want to translate and create some video resources for the BAM Romania website and social media. We are planning to find and visit people who are doing BAM in Romania and write up their story or create a short video with their story.

Connect with us through the BAM Romania website and social media pages:

BAM Romania Website

Facebook

YouTube

Adrian Buhai, BAM Romania

BRAZIL

Our main activity is to organize resources for social media, spread the vision, seek partnerships with other institutions, raise funds, and build a team. I also direct people interested in BAM to find courses, lectures, and partners in the BAM ecosystem operating in Brazil. Plans for the next 12 months include the registration of BAM Brasil as an organisation, developing the website, and the creation of a framework that will allow BAM Brasil to generate resources so that it can grow. We continue to establish as the main BAM network in Brazil, offering events, and training for entrepreneurs, churches, universities and missionary agencies. We’ve been mapping and strengthening the ecosystem for BAM in Brazil and work by partnering with other groups, involving them in our events. Today our partners in the BAM ecosystem include: Mission Agencies, e.g. Crossover, YWAM; Theological seminaries, e.g. FATEV, FABAPAR; International Networks, e.g. Tent Brasil, Open Brasil; Incubators and Investors, e.g. Bluefields, Lightup, Goldstreet Venture Capital; Companies, e.g. Snowman Labs and Asaweb, and many others.

Our main channels are:

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

Telegram

People can connect directly with us via Instagram. Look out for our new website coming soon, along with our new team email address and contact form.

Samara Bramen, BAM Brasil

SOUTH ASIA

For the BAM South Asia region, we are organizing webinars every two months on helpful topics. Our next regional conference will be in February 2022, Lord willing.  All the major marketplace ministries in the region are now a part of the BAM South Asia Network: ICCC, FCCI, CBMC, BLG, BMFI, Partners Worldwide, etc.

Find out more at the BAM South Asia website. The webinars are listed on that site and people can connect with us via:

Facebook

Email

We also have WhatsApp groups and a mailing list, people can join by invitation through the other channels and marketplace networks mentioned above. Read more

BAM Global Ambassadors: Congress Take Aways

/in , /by

As part of our ‘BAM: A Global Glimpse‘ series of blogs, we asked nine BAM Global Ambassadors to share what they took away from the recent BAM Global Congress.

 

What are your take aways from the BAM Global Congress, including the lead-in webinars, the April main event and follow-up webinars? What have you learned? What has encouraged you?

 

For me, getting to know new people who are doing business as mission around the world and learning from them is the most important take away from the BAM Global Congress. I am not so good in attending online meetings, I have a kind of attention disorder when I am in them, but I really enjoyed meeting new people and listening to their stories, like Hakan from Itzinya, Marian from Turbocam and others.
Adrian Buhai, BAM Romania

 

I took away lessons from real BAM business experiences. It also reinforced that business as mission is one of the ways God uses to bring complete economic, social, environmental, and spiritual transformation, bringing dignity and life to people. It motivates me and encourages me to continue to work for this vision!
Samara Bramen, BAM Brasil

 

It was encouraging to see that the concept of business as mission has taken root across many regions of the world. It was also exciting to see a significant number of new entrepreneurs and those who are thinking of starting businesses learning about BAM through the Congress. The program was well designed with something new and valuable for everyone. The session on “Dealing with Corruption” seemed helpful to many from the Global South. I was encouraged to see that there are a growing number of BAMers from non-western countries, which I applaud.
Joseph Vijayam, BAM South Asia

 

The Congress was really a great event! I was excited about how it was organised. I think that the Congress, with the longer time frame of the pre- and post-congress meetings, plus the possibility to connect in groups or one-on-one gave even more opportunities than an in-person three day Congress would have done. For me to see how all these things were organised is the most important part of the Congress. Of course there were a lot of interesting speakers but I can hardly choose amongst them.
Mikhail Dubrovskiy, BAM Russia

 

From the lead-in pre-Congress webinars, I had been aware of BAM Global but this gave me the opportunity to connect and learn more about the global movement. From the main April Congress, it was so inspiring to get a snapshot of the impact of business for the Great Commission. It was also very motivating to see the immense need for BAM to gain a strong traction in Africa and to make connections with a wide variety of people who would benefit the new BAM Southern Africa network through their experience and expertise. From the post-Congress series, it was excellent to be able to follow up with people and good for networking.
Derick Slabbert, BAM Southern Africa

Read more

BAM: A Global Glimpse

/in , /by

One of our goals here at The BAM Review, and in all our work, is ‘to put more global into BAM Global‘. We want to strengthen and invigorate the BAM movement in all parts of the world, creating greater depth and breadth globally.

To that end, BAM Global has started to identify leaders around the world who are working to facilitate the BAM network in their region or around a particular topic. These leaders coordinate, engage others and help raise up future leaders, building capacity in their network and for the movement at large. We call them BAM Global Ambassadors, or “BAMbassadors” for fun!

We would like to introduce nine out of our current 20 BAM Global Ambassadors to you. To begin with, we asked them to share what is happening in their network and also what got them started in BAM.

 

You are the BAM Global Ambassador for… What has been most encouraging or exciting in your region or issue network? What has happened so far in terms of growth, initiatives, or moving the needle?

 

I am the BAM Global Ambassador for Romania. We started a BAM Incubator in Romania and so far we have eight youth that want to start a business as mission enterprise through this program. We organised a BAM Webinar in June and more than 50 people participated in that meeting. We now have a team of three people dedicated to do and promote BAM in Romania including me.
Adrian Buhai

 

As a BAM Global Ambassador in Brazil since 2019, I have seen the BAM network here grow in an amazing way through the initiatives that we’ve had to spread this concept, especially being a constant presence on social media. This has reached and awakened many people beyond what we could have imagined, in a relatively short time. Today, in Brazil our team consists of João Mordomo, myself, and other two people who are operationally helping the team. Many people have come to BAM Brazil to be part of the movement and for training and partner initiatives have gained strength and visibility after BAM Brazil began to spread the vision. I have received a lot of positive feedback from people who have now understood BAM as a calling and the movement has grown and become stronger in the churches. Many institutions such as churches, theological seminaries, and missionary agencies, NGOs, and business groups have sought out BAM Brazil to give lectures, BAM classes, speak at events and provide training.
Samara Bramen

 

I am the BAM Global Ambassador for South Asia.  We had a regional conference in February 2020 and are planning for the next conference for February 2022. There is a core team that meets monthly and we are organizing webinars on helpful topics every two months which are well attended. We have become a network of networks, other marketplace ministries are now a part of BAM South Asia.
Joseph Vijayam

Read more

The Global Impact of the Wealth Creation Manifesto

/in , , /by

It is now three years since the Global Consultation on The Role of Wealth Creation for Holistic Transformation and subsequent publications. During August and September 2020, we’ve published a series of articles on wealth creation, reflecting on the eleven affirmations in the Wealth Creation Manifesto, which now exists in 17 languages.

One shouldn’t underestimate the importance of wealth creation. It is both a command and a gift from God. Moreover, it is a historically proven path to lift people and nations out of poverty. Different kinds of wealth can and should be created in and through business, to contribute to human flourishing.

The global consultation on this issue produced seven papers on various aspects of wealth creation. Our deliberations and these papers were summarized in the Wealth Creation Manifesto. We produced an educational video series with 13 short episodes, following the format and content of the Manifesto.

Today the Manifesto exists in 17 different languages. It shows that there is a need to clarify and convey the role of wealth creation for holistic transformation, of people and societies around the world. Furthermore, the message of the Manifesto resonates with people in many countries and cultures, and it is being read and applied.

So, it is a joy to present these encouraging and helpful endorsements from significant leaders around the world.  Read more