Still Hot? The Hottest Issues in Business as Mission Revisited
Six years ago, as part of the work of the BAM Think Tank and the lead in to the 2013 BAM Global Congress, we surveyed 200 people engaged with business as mission in some way and asked them the question: ‘What is the hottest topic in the BAM movement today?’ Or in other words, what is the one question they would most like to see answered in business as mission?
The wide variety of responses were grouped into major themes to give a broad overview of some of the most important issues in the business as mission movement.
As we announce the dates for the next BAM Global Congress in 2020, we thought it would be worth revisiting this list. We have grown much as a movement since the last BAM Congress 5 1/2 years ago, though undoubtedly there is still work to do in all of these areas.
Here are the Top 10 ‘hottest topics’ from our 2012 Survey, in reverse order:
10. How do we mobilise more business people? How will business people embrace their calling and get involved?
9. How do we practice biblical, ethical business in the face of the face of hostile realities in the world? How do we maintain our values in the face of corruption and greed?
8. How do we measure the impact of business as mission? How do we know what success looks like? How do we measure that and remain accountable to our goals?
7. How can we use business to free people from oppression of all kinds? How can we solve poverty through business as mission and combat societal ills such as human trafficking?
6. Where are we going as a movement? What will the next generation look like? How can we most effectively scale up and multiply?
5. How do we do it? What works, what are some of the best practices in BAM and how can we implement them?
4. How can the body of Christ globally better understand this concept? How can we remove barriers to the Church supporting business people in their call to business in general, and for BAM specifically?
3. How can we practically incubate new business as mission models to see growth in the numbers of new BAM enterprises? How do we fund these businesses?
2. How do we successfully integrate the new mission model of BAM with more traditional mission models and strategies? How do we effectively navigate the transition?
1. How do we nurture a broader understanding of what mission through business means? How can we understand better the multiple bottom lines of business and how it can bring a holistic impact to communities and nations?
What do you think? How far have we come in the last 5-6 years?
BAM Global Congress 2020
We are delighted to announce that the second BAM Global Congress will be held from 29th April to 3rd May 2020 in Thailand.
The first BAM Global Congress in 2013 was a landmark gathering for the BAM movement worldwide. Part of its appeal was a unique opportunity to bring together our BAM community from all regions, and around a broad range of topics and issues. Once again, the Congress in 2020 will provide a connecting point for the global BAM community.
Originally published in December 2014 on The BAM Review, reposted from the BAM Global Think Tank blog, compiled by Jo Plummer.
Jo Plummer is the Co-Chair of BAM Global and co-editor the Lausanne Occasional Paper on Business as Mission. She has been developing resources for BAM since 2001 and currently serves as Editor of the Business as Mission website and The BAM Review Blog.
