Back to the Future

The Evolution of Business as Mission:
A Current Overview and Analysis

João Mordomo

24 June 2016

International Business Alliance (IBA)

This paper, commissioned by IBA, explores the evolution of Business as Mission (BAM), especially its origins within the Lausanne Movement and its significant development during and after the 2004 Lausanne Forum in Thailand. Over the last 25 years, BAM has transformed from a nascent idea into a global movement, integrating traditional business practices with Christian mission efforts. This overview and analysis examines BAM as a concept (including its theological and missiological foundations), a practice (i.e. its implementation across various global contexts), and a growing global movement, with special attention given to its ability to bring about a fourfold holistic Gospel transformation, also known as the spiritual, economic, social and environmental bottom lines. By conducting an extensive review of literature and evaluating key trends and cases, this study aims to provide a nuanced understanding of BAM’s influence and potential in shaping contemporary mission practices and thus enabling, in the words of the Lausanne Movement, “the whole church to take the whole Gospel to the whole world”.