Tag Archive for: faith and work

The Business Ocean: A 4×4 Framework for Diagnosing Where Your Business Sails

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by Dr. Eric Z.M. Ma

 

Most Christian entrepreneurs I have spoken with can readily define their business’s purpose, clearly expressing their values, culture, and mission statements. Nonetheless, a greater challenge—and ultimately more valuable—is accurately portraying the current state of the business—not just its vision but also its reality. This encompasses the moral climate shaped by market forces and the core principles that influence decisions, often made unconsciously.

I dedicated two years to researching this question through fieldwork with 33 Christian entrepreneurs across 14 sites in the US rural Midwest. I discovered that the gap between where leaders aspired for their businesses to be and their actual realities couldn’t be bridged by intention alone. Instead, it required an honest, specific, and theologically grounded diagnosis before meaningful formation could begin.

The framework I created to address this is the Business Ocean Matrix, a tool I wish I had been able to share with every entrepreneur I interviewed.

Every business operates in a vast ocean of challenges

The Business Ocean is depicted by a 4×4 matrix defined by two primary dimensions. The first is the philosophical weather—the moral and cultural climate that influences the market in which a business operates. The second is business model geology—the core logic that explains why and how a business creates and distributes value. Whether or not its leaders recognize it, every business exists at the crossroads of one weather and one geology, forming its unique sea.

The four philosophical weathers progress from scarcity to grace

Jungle — environments shaped by fear, competition, and survival instincts. Power asymmetry is normal. Trust is thin. The question is not “how do we flourish?” but “how do we survive?”

Exchange — environments governed by contracts, reciprocity, and efficiency. Fair dealing is expected. Relationships are transactional yet honest. The question is “What is a fair trade?”

Moral Concern — environments shaped by conscience, virtue, and regard for others’ flourishing. People matter beyond their utility. The question is “What is the right thing to do?”

Gratitude — environments animated by grace, generosity, and reconciliation. Gift logic guides decisions. The question is “What can we give?”

The four business model geologies progress from extraction to ministry

Shareholder Wealth Maximization (SWM) — profit for owners is the primary logic. Other goods are secondary.

Stakeholder Theory (ST) — value is created for a broader set of stakeholders, and relationships are managed strategically.

Common Good (CG) — the business exists to serve the flourishing of the community in which it operates.

Business as Ministry (BaM) — the business itself is a ministry, integrating theological vocation with organisational practice.

Sixteen seas, each presenting its own unique challenge

The combination of four weather types and four geological conditions creates sixteen distinct environments, each presenting its own unique pressures, temptations, and opportunities for faithfulness.

Figure 1. The Sixteen Seas

The Red Survival Sea (Jungle × SWM) represents the business environment where many small businesses operate: intense competition, slim profit margins, and survival instincts shaping their decisions. In contrast, the Spring-green Shalom Sea (Gratitude × BaM) serves as the ideal destination the framework envisions—a fully integrated business-as-ministry enterprise that manages all four capitals for the common good.

The journey from Red to Spring-green doesn’t happen in a single leap. Instead, it involves a series of one-step moves—moving from one sea to an adjacent one—guided by an honest assessment of the current business situation and a faithful next step appropriate to that specific context.

The compass functions reliably in all weather conditions. The real question is not whether God can work in the Red Survival Sea—He certainly can and does. Instead, we should consider what faithfulness entails in that context and identify the next faithful step forward.

The CGTA: Measuring the treasure

Understanding the sea a business navigates reveals its environment. The status of the business’s Common Good Treasure (CGT) reflects the vessel itself. The CGT framework identifies four interconnected capitals that every organisation possesses: Spiritual (the Rudder guiding direction), Social (the Adhesive holding the crew together), Intellectual (the Engine transforming knowledge into value), and Financial (the Fuel powering the journey).

Figure 2. The Common Good Treasure (CGT)

The Common Good Treasure Assessment (CGTA) is a 16-item tool—comprising four items for each capital—that evaluates the current health of each capital and creates a radar profile. When combined with the ocean matrix, the CGTA informs a leader not only of their current sea but also about how well-prepared their vessel is for the specific conditions of that sea.

A business with mature spiritual and social capital but emerging financial capital in the Mint Stewardship Sea faces a very different formation challenge than one with exemplary financial capital but developing spiritual capital in the Red Survival Sea. The CGTA highlights these distinctions, making them clear and actionable.

From diagnosis to formation

The Business Ocean Matrix and CGTA are tools, not ultimate aims—like a nautical chart and a compass that guide navigation. The objective is not to achieve a perfect score on the assessment but to move faithfully—step by step toward greater grace, generosity, and the integration of faith and business, aiming for shalom.

In my research, the entrepreneurs who experienced the greatest growth were not necessarily those with the highest initial scores. Rather, they were honest about their current position, willing to acknowledge the gap between their aspirations and reality, and committed to the slow, faithful work of formation.

This is the invitation Business Ocean extends to every Christian entrepreneur: not to pretend you are already in the vibrant Shalom Sea, but to recognise exactly which sea you are in—and take the next faithful step from there.

 

Eric Z.M. Ma, DIS, MBA, is the founder and principal researcher of CGT Research Institute, LLC, and the author of the four-volume Business as Ministry series. His doctoral research (Biola University, 2024) examined Business as Ministry in the US rural Midwest. The BaM Harbor, with five ships carrying the BaM framework, is available at www.cgt-ri.com.

 

 

 

 

Photo by John Bell on Unsplash

 

 

Reflections on Sacrifice, Faithfulness and Transformation

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by Mats Tunehag

 

I was asked recently to reflect on the idea of “transformational sacrifice”. What do sacrifice and transformation mean in a Jewish-Christian tradition; our roots and context? What follows are some reflections on the topic, linked to our roots and tradition, which of course includes Holy Scripture.

Sacrifice is intentional and voluntary, not an unintended or surprising consequence of action taken. That may be a price we pay for a decision made.

The meaning and practice of sacrifice have evolved before, during and after the temple in Jerusalem, and also before and after Christ. But some common denominators are:

Sacrifice is for God and the common good; it has a cost, and it can be transformational.

King David said: “I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing.”

We use this kind of ‘cost language’ in phrases like:

She sacrificed her career for her family.

They sacrificed comfort for justice.

Soldiers sacrificed for their country.

Redemptive Action vs. Empty Ritual

Those examples indicate that some things are worth sacrificing and suffering for, love involves cost, a greater good may require giving up comfort, and costly sacrifice can be redemptive.

Sacrifice can thus mean giving up something valuable, enduring loss or cost, for the sake of someone else, for a higher purpose, based on justice, and mercy, for the common good.

However, sacrifice isn’t inherently good. Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and Micah criticized when sacrifice became an empty ritual, filled with hypocrisy, overlooking injustice and exploitation of the poor.

Instead, sacrifice should be covenantal, relating to God as well as to us, as individuals and communities. It should be connected with the things that God calls us to—that is, justice, mercy, love and service.

Transformational Sacrifice?

In both Jewish and Christian traditions, sacrifice is often understood as transformational, not merely as loss, but as something that can change things. It can be internal (we are transformed) and external (the circumstances are transformed). The transformation may be spiritual, moral, relational, social, political, economical, or cultural.

There are many kinds of sacrificial transformational agents: Parents sacrificing sleep, time, and comfort for children, entrepreneurs sacrificing security to build an impactful company, and missionaries leaving familiarity to make Christ known.

But there are no guarantees that a sacrifice, even with good and right motives, will bring about a good and lasting transformation. Or it may happen, many years or even generations down the road.

An Old Testament example of sacrifice is Abraham going to sacrifice his son Isaac, the embodiment of the fulfillment of the promise God gave to him. It certainly transformed them, especially in relationship to God, and in trusting God. It also had implications for generations to come.

There are also stories of sacrifices with fraudulent and evil intentions that bring about an encounter with God and positive transformations down the road.

The story of Joseph being sold by his brothers is an example of “bad sacrifice” which can transform lives and show how God can redeem the past for future blessings. Joseph’s brothers were willing to sacrifice their father’s favorite son, but God transformed that situation, one that caused Joseph and Jacob to suffer greatly, into a national rescue plan for Egypt, and eventually also a restoration of a dysfunctional family and the birth of the nation of Israel.

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present outcome, that many people would be kept alive [as they are this day].” (Genesis 50:20, AMP)

The Church has many saints who made significant sacrifices, which continues to have a transformational impact down the centuries. Dietrich Bonhoeffer resisted Nazism and was executed. He spoke of a “costly grace.” His sacrifice transformed later Christian thinking about: discipleship, resistance to evil, public faith, and ethics.

In the long struggle to abolish the slave trade, many abolitionists in William Wilberforce’s time sacrificed wealth, and status, drawing deeply from biblical ideas of human dignity and moral responsibility. Their tireless work over decades brought about transformation; the abolition of the slave trade and slavery in the British empire. Their transformational sacrifice reshaped societies and laws even beyond the empire and their generation.

More recently Martin Luther King Jr. framed nonviolent struggle in profoundly biblical terms during the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. He personally paid a heavy price over the years, and ultimately it cost him his life. But the sacrificial endurance became transformative for generations to come. MLK and others in the movement were willing to suffer to expose injustice, and it changed public attitudes and legislation.

Faithfulness as Our Motivator for Sacrifice

I don’t see “sacrifices” in terms of a cost-benefit analysis; it is about following God and being true to your mission and calling.

Yes, I have sacrificed financial stability and security for decades. Regrets? No! But I would never or hardly ever get on a plane again if there wasn’t a sense of calling and mission.

But life has to be lived forward and can only be understood (to some extent) in hindsight.

As the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

We must act now, relying on faith and courage to navigate the future, without complete understanding the potential impact our sacrifices may have.

Consequently, we do not know what the future holds, nor the impact our choices will have. But we trust God (or at least try!) and keep walking forward.

It mustn’t be a “do ut des” approach. It is a Latin phrase meaning “I give so that you might give”. The phrase stems from ancient Roman law and religious practices, such as offering sacrifices for divine favor.

Today we may talk about an arrangement based on reciprocity, such as business deals, negotiations, or relationships, often used synonymously with a “quid pro quo”. Life with God is not transactional, but relational, a covenantal relationship.

Chronos and Kairos

There are two words in Greek for time.

Chronos is quantitative, sequential and of course is the root of the word chronological. We operate in the chronos, we plan and evaluate in the chronological time, also in business.

Kairos is qualitative, the supreme moment, the right time. This is for example used for God’s intervention, in the fullness of time. We cannot control this, but we can set the stage for it to some extent.

For a longer introduction, please read this blog post.

We are to be faithful in the chronos, serve God and the common good with professionalism, excellence and integrity, trusting God for impact, for the kairos moments, which may be very transformative.

Daniel and his three friends, doing “civil service as mission” were faithful in the chronos (Daniel 1-2), and God used them in kairos moments. We don’t see any “do ut des calculations” in their actions and attitudes, but God used their lives—and sacrifices—to transform King Nebuchadnezzar personally, and also make God known among the many peoples and languages within the empire.

We don’t know, nor can we control, the impact our sacrifices may have.

The Why and How of BAM Sacrifice

In business as mission, we talk about creating business solutions to the world’s pressing issues. Indeed, it is one of our BHAGs, or “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” for the BAM movement.

We do business for God’s glory, the gospel and the common good.

Should solving the world’s greatest problems be a motivator for our sacrifice!? Maybe. But if it is, how should we approach it?

I have observed an increased engagement in using business to address global issues like human trafficking, unreached peoples, environmental challenges, rampant youth unemployment, et cetera. This is honorable and often good.

But I also observe, especially from the West, a “Deus ex machina” approach. Deus ex machina, literally “God from the machine” in Latin, refers back to ancient Greek and Roman drama; when the plot thickened, and there was an unresolvable issue, a man-made mess, the gods and demigods appeared from above and fixed it, and disappeared again. It was a plot device, still used in books and movies today, used to resolve seemingly unresolvable issues.

Some of us have money, connections and solutions. These can be good things, but we must be careful. We are often blind to where we are steeped in post-colonial attitudes or a modernity paradigm. It is too easy to use triumphalist language and come with mechanical solutions to other peoples’ problems.

Instead, as we seek “shalom”, a wholeness for all relationships, we must recognize Shalom as Presence, the incarnational model of God.

Jesus came and dwelt among us, and He gives us His Shalom, the Holy Spirit, to live in and among us. As my good friend Michelle shared in her devotional at the BAM Global Leaders Forum in Manila in March 2026: Jesus offered his presence, and He didn’t fix all the problems.

We know as parents, or grandparents, that our kids or grandkids want, above all, our time and our presence. We cannot compensate for our absence with toys or things—they want us, our presence, a relationship. And then time and space to develop that relationship are essential. Such relationships are truly transformational and foundational for healthy human life, and they are in no way about speed or efficiency.

So, what should we possibly consider giving up—sacrificing—as we do BAM? Speed? Triumphalist language? Trusting our money, connections and solutions? Impersonal Deus ex machina strategies?

How can we, like Jesus, offer presence instead? We may have to sacrifice more time than we imagined. We may have to sacrifice some of our plans and strategies.

 

Mats Tunehag is the Chairman of BAM Global, and he is a global thought leader on Business as Mission, BAM. Since the 1990’s he has created numerous networks of leaders from business, church, missions and academia from all continents. He has served as an advisor to groups involved in business, investment, freedom businesses, research and partnership development. He is the chief architect of the ‘Business as Mission Manifesto’ and the ‘Wealth Creation Manifesto’, which is a conceptual framework for the global BAM movement. See: matstunehag.com/about/ for more about Mats.

 

Download Mats free e-book >> Business for All Seasons

 

 

 

Photo by Guillaume de Germain on Unsplash

 

Business as Mission and Innovation

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by Mats Tunehag

 

We create and innovate based on worldview and values. Worldview is the lens through which we interpret reality, and values guide our thoughts and actions. Thus, innovation from a Christian perspective must be seen through Judeo-Christian lenses, and be guided by values deeply rooted in Holy Scripture and the history of the church. We should innovate in line with our tradition, recognizing that we are to co-create, and innovate, with God and for the common good.

Biblical Foundation for Innovation

Only God creates ex nihilo, out of nothing, but he calls us to be good stewards of all things created. That includes both material and immaterial things, mind and matter.

The book of Genesis presents a created order that is good, but unfinished—inviting human participation, which includes innovation.

Innovation should serve something larger than itself. It mustn’t be innovation for the sake of innovation, nor should it be just about benefits for me, my family, my business, my tribe or my nation. It should be innovation as faithful creativity, serving people and honoring God, not novelty for its own sake. And there are ethical boundaries: Innovation is judged by fruit: does it serve life, justice, dignity, and love of neighbor?

Scripture provides instructive contrasts. Noah’s ark—a massive innovative engineering project—aligned with God’s purposes and brought salvation to humanity. The Tower of Babel, equally impressive in its innovation, was motivated by pride and led to societal breakdown. The difference lies not in technical achievement but in purpose and alignment with God’s will.

We acknowledge that business is God’s gift to transform the world. Business as Mission, BAM, is about harnessing that gift to serve people, align it with God’s purposes, be good stewards of the planet and make a profit—among all nations.

BAM innovation is problem-oriented, geared towards solving unmet needs and problems, like environmental degradation, poverty, human trafficking, unreached peoples, etc. Innovation is beyond efficiency for a firm, profitability and scalability. We see BAM enterprises as a space where God’s reconciling work becomes visible. In this framework, innovation becomes a missional discipline—a way of loving God and neighbor through economic activity.

Besides asking: “What is scalable and profitable?” BAM also asks: “What genuinely serves people and communities?” BAM resists the modern myth that innovation must be disruptive or extractive. BAM related innovations consider environmental, social, and generational impact. We are also mindful of that not all innovation is good business—and not all good business is innovative.

Core Values and Principles

Innovation occurs across all business dimensions—products, services, marketing, sales, management, and human resources. BAM companies innovate in these same areas, but emphasize innovations grounded in biblical values for God-honoring purposes. Key values include:

Stewardship: Innovation is an act of stewardship: developing goods, services, systems, and institutions that enable life to flourish.

Shalom: Innovation oriented toward the common good, shalom rather than shareholder primacy alone.

Avodah: The integration of work, worship, and service, recognizing that our innovations are acts of worship when aligned with God’s purposes.

The Great Commission: Making Christ known as we innovate and conduct business to the ends of the earth.

Human Dignity: Asking whether innovation promotes creativity, dignity, and freedom.

Beauty: The Church teaches that God is truth, goodness, and beauty. Bezalel’s calling and anointing by the Spirit in Exodus 31 demonstrates that beauty and excellence are not luxuries but expressions of God’s Spirit at work.

Tikkun Olam: This Jewish concept means “to repair and heal the world”. BAM innovation observes what is dysfunctional, unjust, oppressive, and polluting in a broken marketplace, then co-creates with God to bridge the gap from what is to what ought to be. The Lord’s Prayer itself is a tikkun olam prayer, bridging heaven and earth by bringing the King and his Kingdom into the marketplace toward holistic human flourishing.

Innovation & Change of Paradigm

Business as Mission is not a technique, but rather a worldview and a lifestyle. To that end BAM Global gives a priority to clarify and impart a Biblical worldview as it relates to business, people, societies and the Great Commission. Although the underpinning BAM concepts are old, there is still a need for a paradigm shift in many circles. In this sense, BAM innovation involves changing not just products or processes, but the framework itself.

Innovations often happen where people, institutions and ideas intersect and interact, and where there is an openness to innovate and explore initiatives that can enhance human flourishing. To that end BAM Global has convened dozens of forums and think tank groups, to reframe and catalyze business solutions to some of the world’s greatest problems. That has resulted in about 40 reports, dozens of BAM networks on all continents, operating in over 20 languages. These innovation forums and hubs have been instrumental to the exponential growth of the global business as mission movement in the last 25 years.

The incarnation shows God entering specific cultural, economic, and historical realities. BAM innovation must be contextual—responding to real local needs rather than importing foreign models, or be a pursuit of one-size fits all. This aligns with historical patterns: durable innovation grows from within cultures, not above them.

Innovation Metrics & Characteristics

We aim at redefining success metrics when needed. BAM innovation should  expands the scorecard and include financial sustainability, social and environmental impact, and spiritual and relational fruit. Innovation is evaluated by shalom, not just ROI, Return of Investment.

So, we pray that BAM innovation will be characterized by:

Rootedness – anchored in Scripture and tradition

Relationality – shaped by proximity to people and place

Redemptive intent – healing and transforming rather than exploiting

Long-term faithfulness – patience over speed

Questions for BAM Innovators

With these principles and values in mind, consider these essential questions:

  • Does this innovation serve needs?
  • Does it pay attention to the underserved peoples of the world?
  • Does it respect limits—ecological, social, moral?
  • Does it strengthen community?
  • Does it allow people to exercise agency and dignity?
  • Does it align with love of neighbor?
  • Does it honor God?


Mats Tunehag is the Chairman of BAM Global, and he is a global thought leader on Business as Mission, BAM. Since the 1990’s he has created numerous networks of leaders from business, church, missions and academia from all continents. He has served as an advisor to groups involved in business, investment, freedom businesses, research and partnership development. He is the chief architect of the ‘Business as Mission Manifesto’ and the ‘Wealth Creation Manifesto’, which is a conceptual framework for the global BAM movement. See: matstunehag.com/about/ for more about Mats.

 

Download Mats free e-book >> Business for All Seasons

 

 

 

 

10 Ways the Bible Shows the Purpose of Business

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by Dave Kahle

 

Most cultures think of business as simply a vehicle to make money. That is the message the world sends out, and most people accept. That view of business, however, ranks high on the list of Satan’s deceits, especially when it is the only perspective our churches have about business.

As businesspeople, we often define our success by the increase in sales and profits. While there is nothing wrong with that, if we focus exclusively on that, we limit the potential of the business. It is like trying to grow an apple tree in a pot inside your home. There is just not enough light and air to produce an abundant harvest of apples.

When we limit our concept of business to just making money—even when we intend to be generous with that money—we severely limit its potential to be a force for good in the world.

The Bible notes at least 10 purposes, or benefits, of business:

1.  A business can be a vehicle for the multiplication of wealth

There is nothing wrong, per se, with multiplying resources or accumulating wealth. Note the parable of the bags of gold, where the worthy servant was rewarded for increasing the master’s wealth. The servant didn’t give it away, nor did he squander it on a richer lifestyle. Instead, he focused on increasing the master’s wealth. The master rewarded him with a larger area of responsibility and a closer relationship with him.

Think of Abraham, who is regarded as the epitome of faith and obedience. His business was large enough that he was able to assemble “318 trained men born in his household.” (Gen 14:14) . His business probably consisted of hundreds, if not thousands, of employees/servants.

It’s our attitude to that wealth that God is concerned with.

2.  A business provides economic security to the employees and stakeholders

While God is the ultimate provider, He does so through natural means. And a business is one of those means. A successful business provides the means of economic sustenance for the employees and stakeholders and thereby is a conduit for God’s providence and blessings.

The business woman in Proverbs 31 is described as a model provider, bring economic security to her family, her household and servants. She is able to help the poor and influence her community through her hard work and business activities.

3. A business shapes the next generation of leaders

Many major characters in the Bible were raised in a business environment, and had their characters shaped by that experience. Think of Isaac and Jacob, who were raised in their fathers’ households. Or Saul, who was on a business project when he was called to be Israel’s first king. Or David, who was employed in his father’s business when he was called. Or, even Jesus, who spent his formative years in his father’s carpentry business.

A business, with its tasks, hierarchy and accountability, provides valuable lessons for the next generation of leaders.

4. A business can develop character among its employees

Not only does a business act as a fertile training ground for future leaders, but everyone can grow sound characters by being guided by the values and goals of a good business and held accountable for adherence to them.

The Bible has much to say about honest business practices and doing work with integrity, a few examples in Proverbs 12:22 and 20:10, 2 Corinthians 8:21, James 5:4.

5.  A business can provide a unifying bond for families

While much is said these days about work-like balance, the scriptures present a different perspective. A business in the Bible wasn’t something separate from the family, it was the families’ occupation. As we have seen already, in children grew up in the family business, added their energy to it, and reaped the benefits of that. While it may be difficult in today’s corporate age to duplicate that level of engagement, the opportunities still exist to integrate family members into the business and so, instead of balancing between work and family, bring the family into the work.

Visualize family meals where the topic of conversation is the business, as opposed to the latest social media trends. Imagine kids who watch the family’s provider at work and learn from him/her.

6.  A business can provide the venue for the application of spiritual gifts

In one of Bible’s first recorded instance of supernatural gifts being used, Joseph used the gift of interpreting dreams to vault to the top of what may have been the largest business enterprise in the world, Pharaoh’s grain distribution business (Genesis 37-41).

The first description in the Bible of someone being filled with the Holy Spirit is a craftsman, Bezalel, in the context of him using his craftsmanship. These are skills—working with gold, silver and bronze—are ones he likely honed in a business setting before being selected by God to make the decorations for the Tabernacle (Exodus 31 and 35).

The constant interaction with customers and vendors as well as the close relationships that typically develop in a business provide a fertile field for spiritual gifts to touch people.

7.  A business can impact the community for good

All the way back to the days of the Egyptian captivity, it was a couple of midwives who impacted the community and were rewarded with growing businesses.

In our age, Christian companies can, and have, made an impact beyond their customer base. Among other things, a business has power to create and manage larger giving and serving projects. As an individual, we can work at a soup kitchen. A business can create and organize the soup kitchen, or community clean up operation, or English language lessons. By virtue of its potential to assemble money and people it can create a more powerful impact than an individual can.

This website is full of stories of companies providing benefits for the community at large, as well as the customers and vendors it serves.

8.  A business is a God-given way to steward the earth’s natural resources

When the Israelites were about to enter the promised land in Deuteronomy 8, God showed them that they would be running agricultural and mining operations: “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land… a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills… Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God.” (Deut. 8: 7-11)

A key principle in being good a steward is not forgetting the Lord, and “walking in obedience to him and revering him” (v6).

9.  A business can provide a community to facilitate the gospel

The New Testament contains several examples of the head of a business committing to follow Christ and the entire household—employees, family, servants and slaves, followed that lead.

Businesses are built on relationships, and relationships are how the gospel of Jesus is shared. We can be witnesses to the Good News in the context of daily work. Businesses can even became one of the contexts for people to start to gather to grow in faith, to birth small group Christian meetings and ongoing discipleship.

10. A business can grow the faith of the owners and key employees

I have often said “If you want to grow closer to God, start a business”  There is something  about the constant press of decisions, the impact of those decisions, and the accountability that attaches to them that leads a business owner, and those employees who are invested in the success of the business, to go to God for guidance  and assistance when things don’t go well.

Indeed, one of the key pillars of a Kingdom-focused business operator is to work at staying close to God and allow Him to be the general manager and chief consultant to the business.

 

Those business owners and key employees who embrace the functions of a business above, beyond just making money, will unleash their companies to fulfil their potential to grow, succeed and make a mark on the world.

 

Written by Dave Kahle, adapted for The BAM Review by Jo Plummer.

 

Dave KahleDave Kahle has been a Bible teacher, elder, house church leader, short-term missionary and Christian executive roundtable leader. For 30 years, he has been an authority on sales and sales systems, having spoken in 47 states and eleven countries. He has authored 13 books, including The Good Book on Business. Sign up for his weekly messages here. Dave regularly writes at the Biblical Business blog and shares his articles on his YouTube Channel, listen to this post here. More from Dave at: www.davekahle.com and www.thebiblicalbusiness.com.

BAM Global Summit 2026

Thursday 7 May

The BAM Global Summit 2026 theme Flourish reflects that God loves flourishing! 

Flourishing businesses help people, communities and nations to flourish. 

Join us at this annual gathering of the global BAM community and hear more about God’s purposes for business. Come and be equipped to flourish in your own BAM journey—to help you build flourishing companies and communities.

More Summit Information


Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

 

 

 

 

Quadruple Bottom Line Impact: Doing Spiritual, Economic, Social and Environmental Good

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In BAM we often talk about four intentional areas of impact for companies to consider: spiritual, financial, social and environmental, an idea known as the ‘Quadruple Bottom Line’. This excerpt from a longer paper briefly introduces this idea.

Introduction to the ‘Quadruple Bottom Lines’ (QBL) of BAM

Business as mission is intentional about Kingdom of God purpose and impact on people and nations; focused on holistic transformation and the four bottom lines of economic, social, environmental and spiritual outcomes.

The idea of having multiple bottom lines for a business comes from the original ‘financial bottom line’—the number that indicates net profit (or loss) typically found at the bottom of a company’s income statement. A company that is solely focused on making money for its shareholders will only be concerned about this one ‘bottom line’, its financial earnings. The social enterprise movement introduced the idea of ‘triple bottom line’ impact that is also concerned with social and environmental outcomes. Business as mission extends this idea to ‘quadruple bottom line’ (or four bottom line) impact, including spiritual impact as well.

If intentional impact along these multiple bottom lines is a hallmark of BAM, [any entity engaged in BAM] will do well to build a solid understanding of each. While these four areas of impact are integrated together in terms of the business model, strategy and daily operations—all things working together for missional impact—there are times when the focus should be on each one separately. This is especially true when planning for positive outcomes in each. Then careful consideration is needed as to how success is defined in each area and, therefore, how progress is measured so that there can be accountability and ongoing evaluation.

For business as mission, the four bottom lines are:

1. Doing spiritual good

Acting on the belief that faith in Jesus and a reconciled relationship with God addresses sin and brokenness at an individual and societal level that are the root cause of all other social, environmental and economic problems. Lasting change (God’s Kingdom coming on earth) and salvation from death and sin can only occur when our relationship with God, self, each other, and creation are reconciled. It involves sharing the gospel in word and deed, living as a disciple of Christ as a witness to others, and making disciples. Read more

BAM Featured in an International Business Magazine: Mats Tunehag Interview

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An Interview with Mats Tunehag


Business as mission has been recently featured in an international business magazine; in three languages. Mats Tunehag was interviewed for the Destake News Business Magazine, you can read the full original version in English, French or Portuguese here or read an excerpt below.

 

Vision & Purpose

You often say that business can be a response to the world’s greatest challenges. What does Business as Mission, BAM mean in practice?

Business is God’s gift to transform the world, and we need to be good stewards of that gift. It means developing businesses so they honor God, and contribute to the total wellbeing of people and societies.

Drug and human trafficking are also businesses, and if business is primarily about making money why not do these things? Well, they are dehumanizing and against values we hold dear, and do not align with biblical principles.

Businesses run according to biblical values can become an impactful response to challenges such as poverty, unemployment, human trafficking, environmental degradation, and lack of hope.

 

At what point in your life did you realize that business could be an expression of faith and mission?

This realization emerged gradually in the early 1990s, when I was working in the Soviet Union and Central Asia, before and after the collapse of communism.

Societies were facing massive unemployment, social breakdown, and loss of dignity. Without meaningful work and economic opportunity, people and nations can not flourish.

At the same time, businesses were entering these regions rapidly, but often without ethical considerations. That contrast helped me see that business itself should be an expression of faith, by proposing a better way of doing business, grounded in biblical values,  service, and long-term value creation.

 

Where does your passion for connecting business with social and spiritual transformation come from?

It is deeply rooted in my faith and Judeo-Christian values. It comes from a conviction that human beings are holistic. We are economic, social, physical and spiritual beings. When we compartmentalize these dimensions too sharply, we misunderstand both people and markets.

 

Global Journey

Was there a particular encounter or project that changed your perspective on mission through business?

There are many. One example comes from the Middle East, where a manufacturing company intentionally employed women with disabilities—a group often marginalized twice over, both socially and economically.

One woman, who had little prospect of ever finding work, was treated with dignity, offered meaningful employment, and became part of a healthy workplace community. Her life changed—economically, socially, and personally. Families and the wider community were impacted as well.

She later asked herself why this workplace was so different. Knowing that the founder was a follower of Jesus, she concluded: If this is what following Jesus looks like, I want to follow him too. It was a costly and risky decision in her context.

What drew her was not a religious program, but a job with dignity, professional excellence, ethical leadership, and human resource management shaped by biblical values — underpinned by prayer. Ultimately, it was God’s work, not a mere business strategy. Lives were changed—holistically—through a God-inspired business.

 

What cultural differences most influence how purpose-driven business is practiced in different regions?

Cultural context matters greatly. In some regions, business is viewed with suspicion because of historical or contemporary exploitation. In others, entrepreneurship may be admired, but is disconnected from social responsibility and long term thinking.

Purpose-driven business must always listen carefully to local realities. While expressions differ across nations, cultures and industries, the core principles remain the same. Effective Business as Mission adapts without compromising biblical values. It is about serving people, aligning with God’s purposes, being good stewards of the planet, and making a profit. With a special focus of countries and regions with dire needs.

 

Challenges and Realities of BAM

What is the biggest misconception people have about Business as Mission?

One misconception is that it is about using business to merely push religious beliefs. It is not. Business as Mission is about offering a coherent value proposition that integrates economic excellence with ethical, social, environmental, and spiritual responsibility. It is about seeking the welfare – the shalom, the total wellbeing of people and societies as we do business.

A global study by McKinsey showed clearly that the vast majority of people around the world consider spiritual health as very important. That was regardless of age, gender, socio-economic status, culture and faith. So, we make God a part of our value proposition, not an imposition.

 

What challenges do Christian entrepreneurs face today in maintaining ethics and sustainability in business?

There are both external and internal issues. External, things we face running a business. Short-term pressure related to sales and cash flow can be a great challenge, and a temptation to compromise with values. Entrepreneurs also face complex environments when corruption is normalized.

But there are also internal issues, like support systems to help us manage business decisions, and maneuver in a tough marketplace. It can be a lack of understanding that business is a godly calling, and a God given gift to transform the world. Thus, we need to affirm Christian entrepreneurs in their calling, equip and deploy them to serve God and people in the marketplace.

 

The Future of the BAM Movement

What has the experience of the pandemic and recent global crises taught the BAM ecosystem?

The importance of staying mission true, and plan flexible. We all learned that during the Covid pandemic. So, we need to be clear about the purpose of our business. What is our mission and our timeless core values?

This needs to be translated into continuity planning, which is more than succession planning. Our mission and values need to continuously be imparted into the organization. Staff come and go, management may change, and we may move from a founder CEO to a second-generation company. But will the mission continue, and will the values survive changes?

 

What advice would you give to young professionals who want to integrate purpose and work?

Be intentional. Learn. Ask questions. Read. Watch videos. Find a mentor. Keep learning, and applying. BAM Global has developed pathways for those who want to integrate purpose, work and business.

Connect with others. Don’t journey alone. BAM Global is providing an interactive global ecosystem map where people can connect with others around the globe and in different spheres of the BAM ecosystem.

You can find the BAM Pathways and the BAM Ecosystem Map at businessasmission.com.

 

>> Read full interview here

English, French and Portuguese versions available.


Mats Tunehag is the Chairman of BAM Global, and he is a global thought leader on Business as Mission, BAM. Since the 1990’s he has created numerous networks of leaders from business, church, missions and academia from all continents. He has served as an advisor to groups involved in business, investment, freedom businesses, research and partnership development. He is the chief architect of the ‘Business as Mission Manifesto’ and the ‘Wealth Creation Manifesto’, which is a conceptual framework for the global BAM movement. See: matstunehag.com/about/ for more about Mats.

 

 

 

Photo by BETZY AROSEMENA on Unsplash

 

 

Business for All Seasons: On a Tikkun Olam Mission

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by Mats Tunehag


Mats Tunehag has just published a new free ebook “Business for All Seasons“, this is an excerpt.

 

What does it mean to be a Christian in the marketplace? There is a spectrum from just being a Christian in business and investing, to having a Christian impact through business and investments. The spectrum does not imply a judgmental attitude, but rather provokes a question on how we can learn and grow, and become more God-driven in the marketplace. It is a journey. I can be a Christian in business, just trying to survive and make money. My Christian faith has little to no influence on how I do business or make decisions about investments. Others may try to apply some Biblical values in business practices and avoid investing in unethical companies. Further down the spectrum one may explore how business and investments can have a Christian impact on multiple bottom-lines for multiple stakeholders. And how do we reflect God’s global thrust, to be a blessing and a witness to all peoples and nations, including through our work in business?

At this end of the spectrum, we are doing business and investing with a tikkun olam mission. What is that? Tikkun olam is a Jewish concept of repairing the world, bringing healing to the world, by co-creating with God, also through business and investing.

Tikkun Olam is observing how things are, realizing it is not as it should be. Things are broken, and need repair, people are hurting and need healing. A transformation is desired. Tikkun olam means co-creating with God, and bridging the gap between the world which is, and to a world as it ought to be. A few mundane examples: the kid’s room is messy, and it should be tidied up. A road is full of potholes and needs to be fixed. A smart phone has only 1% battery left, and needs to be recharged. What is versus what it ought to be, and action should be taken by someone.We know from history that businesses can be strong agents of change and transformation. And financial capital is an essential part of that. Peter Drucker says: “Every single social and global issue of our day is a business opportunity in disguise.” But tikkun olam is beyond being a secular or individualistic ‘do-gooder’. It is about co-creating with God, which implies submitting to his will. The Lord’s prayer is a tikkun olam prayer: May your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. On earth—as it is. God’s kingdom—as it ought to be.

Tikkun olam is a Jewish concept of repairing the world, bringing healing to the world, by co-creating with God, also through business and investing.

The American Jesuit theologian Roger Haight writes in ‘Spirituality Seeking Theology’ (2014): “God has entrusted creation to human beings not merely as caretakers of a past condition but as co-creators with God of the future.” Thus, we are not just Christian business people or investors in the marketplace. No, we are on a tikkun olam mission, with our time, talents and treasures, that His Kingdom may be preached, demonstrated and extended as we do business and investing. As God calls and equips us to do business and to invest, we should ask tikkun olam questions. What are some needs and challenges that can be addressed through my business? How can my investments make a difference to social and global issues?

The list can obviously be made long and diverse, and no-one can address all challenges we face locally or globally. But together we can invest and build businesses and eco-systems which can tackle many needs.

God wants people and nations to flourish socially, economically, culturally, spiritually, environmentally, intellectually, et cetera. It is about restoring human dignity, also through business. The antitheses to human dignity and flourishing is poverty, unemployment, wars, lack of clean water, human trafficking, labor exploitation, food insecurity, and no gospel access. That is what often is, but it is not how it ought to be. That is why we do business and investing with a tikkun olam mission. To repair the world, with God and for the common good—for God’s glory.

More about Business for All Seasons

Business for All Seasons is a small book with a large ambition: to help Christians think more clearly and act more courageously in the marketplace. It gathers twenty short chapters* all circling the same conviction: business and investing are not side activities to “real” ministry, but central avenues through which God restores people, and transform communities and nations.

The title nods to A Man for All Seasons, the story of Sir Thomas More, who chose faithfulness to conscience over comfort, reputation, and even his life. In a different arena, men and women in business face their own pressures: to separate faith from work, to chase profit without purpose, or to accept broken systems as inevitable. This book is written for those who want to follow God in boardrooms, shop floors, farms, and investment committees, even when that is costly.

It also echoes Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and the hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Business, like nature, moves through springtimes of vision and start-up energy, summers of growth, autumns of transition and harvest, and winters of pruning, disappointment, or waiting. Yet the seasons are not neatly separated; they overlap and interact. Through them all, God’s faithfulness does not change. “Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest… join with all nature in manifold witness to Thy great faithfulness.” These pages invite you to see your work and investments in that larger, steady light.

You will not find a technical manual on portfolio construction or a step-by-step guide to starting a company. Instead, each chapter offers a theological lens, a story, or a set of questions that can reshape how you view capital, risk, success, and calling. We will look at themes like tikkun olam—repairing a broken world with God; wealth creation as a holy calling; investing for generations rather than quarters; how business can confront human trafficking instead of profiting from exploitation; and why there is no biblical “pyramid” that makes pastors more spiritual than entrepreneurs or investors.

Throughout the book runs the language of four bottom lines. Business as Mission seeks holistic impact—financial, social, environmental, and spiritual—because the Kingdom of God touches every dimension of life. Like the four seasons, these bottom lines are distinct yet inseparable. Sound investments can create dignifying jobs, protect creation, strengthen families, and open space for the good news of Jesus to be both seen and heard.

Whether you are an investor, entrepreneur, pastor, student, or simply someone wondering how your work fits into God’s purposes, my hope is that this book will do three things: affirm that your place in the marketplace truly matters to God; stretch your imagination for what faithful business can do in the world; and encourage you to keep going—through all the seasons—with integrity, courage, and joy.

These are not final answers but invitations into ongoing conversations and practice. My prayer is that as you read and reflect, you will hear God’s call afresh to steward your time, talents, and treasures for the good of people and the glory of God—becoming, in your own sphere, a “business person for all seasons.”

Download pdf here >> Free e-book: Business for All Seasons


Mats Tunehag is the Chairman of BAM Global, and he is a global thought leader on Business as Mission, BAM. Since the 1990’s he has created numerous networks of leaders from business, church, missions and academia from all continents. He has served as an advisor to groups involved in business, investment, freedom businesses, research and partnership development. He is the chief architect of the ‘Business as Mission Manifesto’ and the ‘Wealth Creation Manifesto’, which is a conceptual framework for the global BAM movement. See: matstunehag.com/about/ for more about Mats.

 

 

 

 

 

6 Ways to Build Trust for Greater BAM Impact

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by Larry Sharp

 

From the Archive, March 2018.


In early 2016 I picked up a copy of the The Economist, entitled “The World in 2016”. An article entitled, “A Crisis of Trust” by Richard Eldelman intrigued me.[1] Mr. Edelman maintains that “trust—or, often, the lack of it—is one of the central issues of our time”. He may be right.

The Edelman Trust Barometer has been tracking trust issues for fifteen years, particularly between countries in the categories of government, business, technology, media, and NGOs. Technology is the most trusted sector and government is the least trusted institution worldwide. While trust in business is recovering, trust in CEOs has declined by ten points since 2011.

A recent Maritz poll indicates that only seven percent of workers strongly agree that they trust their senior leaders to look out for their best interest.[2] John Blanchard’s research demonstrates that 59% of respondents indicated they had left an organization due to trust issues, citing lack of communication and dishonesty as key contributing factors.[3]  Clearly everywhere and in every sector, trust is at a tipping point.

All of this got me thinking about missional business startups. Certainly trust is fragile—in all aspects of life, and also in business. It is imperative for clients, customers, employees and team members to trust the owner because it is often easier to mistrust than to trust. What can a business owner do to develop high levels of trust?

The simplest understanding of trust is that it centers in competence and character. If owners and managers are competent in their knowledge, practice, and in getting things done; and they are persons of integrity, reliability and promise, they are probably a person of trust.

Perhaps the following concrete actions will go a long way to building trust in the business environment:

 

1. Tell the truth and live with integrity

Study after study has indicated that the number one quality that people want in a leader is integrity. Business leaders need to tell it straight, be open and honest inside and outside the company. The Biblical Decalogue (The Ten Commandments) makes it clear that we are not be bear false witness. Zechariah states in 8:16, “These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace.”

People need to be treated appropriately and justly and management’s actions must be consistent with the values of the company so that employees and all others can see that they can rely on the leader.

We live in a time where moral standards are being eroded, even among good Christian people. It is mandatory that our character is built upon a foundation of integrity and a commitment to spiritual development.

Sometimes this is difficult to do in a corrupt society where all around we see dishonesty, deceit and corruption. We helped Jim buy a small factory in Indonesia. One of the consultants went with him to the tax office where they revealed that they wanted to discuss ahead of time what taxes might look like for certain levels of revenue. The tax authority had never heard of such a question and developed a respect for Jim from that day forward.

2. Demonstrate competence

Competence goes a long way toward producing credibility which is foundational to trust. Can you produce results? Can you get the job done because you have the skills to make things happen? Does your product go out the door with excellence? Competence involves the technical knowledge of what the product or service entails, the operational capacity to practically get it done, and the political understanding to accomplish things in the context of the culture, organizational politics and local political milieu.

Sometimes competence is simply a formidable expertise, but sometimes it may require you to say, “I don’t know”. That demonstrates knowledge of what you do not know and allows trust to develop as you recommend another source for the client.

Dale has developed a credible coffee outlet in Nepal because his credibility is well developed and proven. He has studied business (MBA), has become accomplished in understanding and valuing the culture and is an expert in coffee roasting and retail. In areas where he was weaker, he hired people to help him. Dale has developed competence which is widely recognized.

3. Value people by showing that you care about them

People will trust you if you value them, get to know them by identifying their needs and seek to empower them in the workplace. This includes having good communication skills and showing that you are human by being open with your life. The leader then is seen as a “real” person.

One of the best ways to build trust is by sharing information so as to allow them into the inner workings of the business as much as possible. Discussion of important marketing topics, future business plans and strategies, financial data, performance feedback, current problems – all communicates trust and a sense that “we are in this together”. By giving a sense of identity to everyone, trust develops, productivity increases, morale develops, and teamwork solidifies.

The Second Commandment of Jesus mandates love as important in relationships with others. In fact Jesus said that love for God and our neighbor are the two most important things (Mark 12:31). That includes learning to listen more effectively, using names in conversation and telling people what you appreciate about them. One of the ways I found to demonstrate this was to be accessible, allowing people to come to my office just about any time. People are valued when you respect their time. Start meetings on time, promptly return phone calls and reply to emails. Thoroughly address all points raise in communiques. Provide feedback regularly.

What does this look like in a cross-cultural startup? For Bill it simply meant that he learned to ask about the families of the employees. That simple act of love and care caused him to be called the “best boss in all of China” by one of his foremen.

4. Demonstrate dependability and reliability

One develops trust by being consistent, predictable, and keeping your word. Don’t be afraid to state expectations up front such as establishing policies and procedures and then following through on enforcement. If people see that they can count on you to be dependable in small things, they will trust you for the big things. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” Luke 16:10.

One way to be consistent is to daily ask oneself if I “walk the talk” and ask others if they see you as one who “walks the talk”. Am I an example of the vision and values of the organization? It is a trust buster to say one thing and do another. This also means being accountable for actions and being responsive to the needs of others.

Joe and Kay made it a priority to live out the values of their company. They demonstrated in a reliable, consistent manner what it meant to follow Jesus’ principles and the employees saw that they “walked the talk”. When we interviewed several employees (there are 65 in total) they all stated that they loved working at the for-profit ABC English School in Asia and most had come to be disciples of Jesus.

5. Address issues directly

There is no substitute for resolving issues head on by listening to all members in the controversy and expanding people’s involvement in the resolution process. Trust and loyalty is built when the boss addresses complaints fast, listens to everyone, and asks for their input. The same principle holds true for customers who will learn to trust the company if complaints are addressed, information is shared and they feel they are well cared for. If a mistake has been made, admit it and provide an apology and thus restore the trust needed for a good relationship. Leaders who admit mistakes when they are wrong are not seen as weak – they are seen as being trustworthy.

We were visiting a factory in China when Dave told us that “every day on the factory floor is an opportunity for discipleship”. When we asked how so, he told us of two line foremen who were having a shouting match. One was being blamed for holding the other up with product. When Dave was informed, he addressed the issue directly by diverting attention from the confrontation and toward the real issues which had to do with non-personal issues which were remediable. 

6. Deliver the unexpected

One of the best ways to deliver trust is to surprise and delight customers, clients and employees. Deliver more that was promised – more service, more time, more convenience. This adds value and trust; it creates a feeling of goodwill and attracts people to the business and a sense of solidarity in the employees.

When I asked the employees of boat-builder Rob in Indonesia what they liked about working for Rob, they talked about the camping trips they did on nearby islands and how much they were appreciated. This unexpected employee “perk” created such good will that both retention and productivity increased but perhaps more importantly, it created opportunity for significant conversations about life issues.

Character displayed outwardly is needed for others to trust. Trust takes time to build but it’s worth it for the organization to flourish.

 

First published on The BAM Review in March 2018, from the IBEC Ventures blog here and here, reposted with kind permission.

 

Larry Sharp is the Founder and current BAM Support Specialist of a Business for Transformation (BAM, B4t) consulting firm, International Business and Education Consultants (www.ibecventures.com). Larry served 21 years in Brazil and then 20 years as Crossworld VP of Operations and as Vice President of Business Partnerships. He is currently a VP Emeritus and consultant with Crossworld. Since 2007 he has devoted energies toward Business as Mission (BAM) and currently is a consultant on BAM and education themes. Larry travels within North America speaking and teaching in conferences, colleges and churches on themes related to Business As Mission (BAM, B4t) and missions.  His travels abroad relate to BAM, crisis preparation and management, and team building. 

 

 

Footnotes
  1. Edelman, Richard. “A Crisis of Trust.”The Economist. March 13, 2016. Page 90.
  2. Managing in an Era of Mistrust: Maritz Poll Reveals Employees Lack Trust in their Workplace. Available online at:www.maritz.com/Press-Releases/2010Maritz-Poll
  3. Building Trust:The Critical Link to a High-Involvement, High-Energy Workplace Begins with a Common Language.The Ken Blanchard Companies. 2010.

 

Get Larry’s Book: Missions Disrupted

Available at all good book stores online!

 

 


Photo by Vardan Papikyan on Unsplash

 

Business as Mission: Reflecting the Heart of God

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by Grace Kim

 

In a world marked by brokenness, injustice, and spiritual emptiness, the heart of God longs to restore what sin has fractured. He is not distant from the struggles of daily life—economic hardship, oppression, exploitation, and hopelessness. Instead, He enters into the mess with a vision of wholeness, and one of the surprising ways He brings that about is through business.

Business: God’s Original Design

From the beginning, work and creativity were part of God’s good design. In Genesis, God created and called it “very good.” He gave humanity a mandate: to steward the earth, cultivate it, and bring fruitfulness from it. Business is one expression of that mandate. When we create value, serve others, and meet real needs through business, we are participating in God’s character — a Provider, a Creator, a Sustainer.

Work was never meant to be a curse; it was meant to be worship. Business, when surrendered to God, becomes holy.

BAM: More Than Economics

Business as Mission (BAM) reflects the heart of God because it brings together the spiritual and the practical. In many parts of the world, traditional missionary models are no longer welcome. But business is. Through real, sustainable, and ethically run businesses, Christians are building relationships, meeting needs, and sharing Christ in places that might never hear the gospel otherwise.

But BAM is not just about access—it’s about impact. God cares not only about souls but about systems: systems of injustice, poverty, and exploitation. Through BAM, believers are creating jobs that restore dignity, paying fair wages, discipling employees, and standing against corruption. They are being salt and light in boardrooms, marketplaces, and factory floors.

The Heart of God on Display

At its deepest level, BAM reflects the compassion, justice, and redemptive love of God:

  • God is a Provider – BAM meets real needs.
  • God is a Redeemer – BAM restores broken systems and broken people.
  • God is on mission – and business becomes a vehicle for that mission.

This isn’t about using business as a cover for ministry. It’s about doing business as ministry — with integrity, love, and purpose, because Jesus is Lord over every square inch of life, including the economy.

A Call to Join Him

God is raising up entrepreneurs, investors, and workers who don’t separate their faith from their work, but see business as an act of worship and mission. Whether you’re running a coffee shop, designing software, or managing a farm, your work can reflect the heart of God when Christ is at the center.

In a world desperate for hope, truth, and restoration, BAM is a powerful reminder that God uses everyday work to bring eternal change. Business is not just a tool for income—it’s a tool for the Kingdom.

Business is not separate from God’s heart. It is deeply aligned with it when it reflects His love, justice, and purpose in the world.

 

This article was first published in the SfK Newsletter and is reposted here with kind permission.

 

Grace Kim is the Editor of the SfK Newsletter. Synergy for the Kingdom is a global network of for-profit or non-profit enterprises and people, aiming to produce holistic transformation in the lives of people in Asia and Africa by seeking Synergy for the Kingdom of God.

 

 

Photo by Fadi Xd on Unsplash

 

 

 

 

A BAM Story: Witness, Generosity and Transformation in Puerto Rico [Video]

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by Merari Peña


Merari Peña shared some of her story at the Fourth Lausanne Congress Workplace Track in September 2024.

 

 

Transcript:

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Merari Pena, and I am the founder of Forever Crystals, a business that started on the small island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. It’s such an honor to stand before you today and share a bit about my journey.

When I was 23, I had a life-changing encounter with Jesus. This profound experience allowed me to forgive my father, who had left our family when I was just 3 years old. That forgiveness filled me with a new love for my father and a desire to serve him. At that time, what he needed most was financial support to pursue his missionary work in Cuba.

That same year, in 2007, I started a business in my garage with a simple desire—to support my father’s missionary work. Little did I know how much it would grow and how God would use it to touch so many lives and build His Kingdom.

From the beginning, our main goal was to fund missions. But everything changed in 2010 when I had the incredible opportunity to attend the Lausanne Congress in South Africa. There, I learned about the concept of business as mission, and it completely transformed the way I saw our work. This new understanding of the theology of work reshaped everything we did.

One of the biggest changes in our business was understanding our divine design and realizing that we are missionaries in the marketplace. We already had influence, a voice, and the attention of everyday people. The question then became: how are we going to use it? Our business is a fashion jewelry retail store, and we have focused on designs that inspire others and reflect stories and principles of the Bible. Our most popular pieces are a birthstone collection that celebrates the life of each woman and reflects a fruit of the Spirit. The pieces we create tell a story of biblical virtues and the strength of people in the Bible who overcame difficult times. This approach not only beautifies our customers but also spreads the message of hope and faith through creative designs that add sparkle to their everyday lives.

God’s Faithfulness in our Business Journey

God has been our guide and strength through every challenge we’ve faced. During Hurricane Maria, where our island was without electricity and water for months, our first focus was to be the hands of God, providing for our employees by distributing water and first aid kits to those in need. Our business philosophy is grounded in serving others, reflecting Jesus’ love in practical ways. When the pandemic hit, our priority remained the same—to maintain their jobs. We pivoted our business knowledge to create new ventures, ensuring our team had food on the table.

Through it all, we’ve poured into the lives of our employees, making them our first line of ministry. Our business isn’t just about products or profits; it’s about people and purpose. For 17 years, we’ve walked alongside our employees in their personal journeys, providing not just jobs, but a supportive family. We employ over 50 dedicated young women who share our vision and values, and some of them have been with us the entire 17 years we have been in business. We’ve shared life’s highs and lows together—welcoming new babies, facing cancer diagnoses, supporting through life’s losses, and celebrating marriages. We’re a community grounded in Bible principles, always there for one another.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. – Colossians 3:23-24

What we have gained we have surrendered it to God. We’ve used the influence gained through our business to start a non-profit movement called Oasis Empresarial, uniting local businesswomen to learn biblical principles for healthy, purpose-driven entrepreneurship. Through Oasis, we preach Christ to non-believers, support missionary marketplace endeavors, and minister to entrepreneurial women about Christian values, fostering spiritually and emotionally healthy entrepreneurs.

In closing, I want to leave you with this thought: In business, as in life, our “why” is the most powerful driving force. For us, our “why” has always been to serve God and others, to create a business that is a beacon of hope and love. As it says in Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

As workplace Christians, we are God’s provision to the church for Kingdom building. The resources we generate through our daily work have enabled us to go out into the world or send others to do God’s work. We’ve seen firsthand how planting, supporting, and maintaining local churches in Cuba has furthered our resilience in business and the Kingdom of God, and it’s been an incredible blessing to be a part of that journey.

Thank you for allowing me to share our story. May God bless you all in your endeavors and may you find joy and purpose in serving others through what God has placed in your hands.

Thank you.

 

Read a longer story about Forever Crystals published 10 years ago on The BAM Review.

Access more videos, transcripts and study materials from the Lausanne Congress Workplace Track here.



Merari Pena, founder of Forever Crystals, holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and studied jewelry design at Alchimia in Florence. With over 25 years of retail experience, she launched her fashion jewelry business in her garage at 23. Forever Crystals has grown into a thriving enterprise with an online shop and stores in the Caribbean. Merari also leads Oasis Empresarial, a non-profit empowering businesswoman with biblical principles. Committed to Servant Leadership, she integrates faith and business to support communities and missionaries, spreading hope and purpose.

 

 

Photo by Forever Crystals

 

 

 

 

Business as Mission: Shining God’s Light in a World of Shadows

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by Grace Kim

 

In our rapidly changing world, businesses play an influential role in shaping societies. With economic instability, social injustice, and environmental crises intensifying, we need leaders who will build companies that reflect God’s goodness rather than chase shifting cultural trends.

The words of James 1:17 speak clearly into this moment:

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (NIV)

This verse reminds us that God is the source of every true and lasting good. While the marketplace is often driven by fluctuating values—where ethics are sacrificed for profit and people are treated as means to an end—God calls business leaders to reflect His consistent character: goodness, generosity, and integrity.

The Reality of the World Today

If we look around honestly, it’s clear the business world is struggling with some deep issues:

  • Economic Instability: Huge portions of the world’s population still face poverty, unemployment, and financial injustice, while wealth often remains concentrated in the hands of a few.
  • Social Injustice: Workplaces sometimes mirror the divisions we see in society—whether through discrimination, lack of opportunity, or unfair treatment of marginalized communities.
  • Environmental Crisis: Many businesses ignore the long-term health of our planet in pursuit of short-term gains, harming creation and leaving others to deal with the fallout.
  • Moral Compromise: Too often, we see businesses prioritizing profit over people, cutting ethical corners, and losing sight of their higher purpose.

What Does It Look Like to Reflect God’s Goodness in Business?

It doesn’t mean running a religious company. It means running a good company—one that values people, creates meaningful work, and operates with integrity.

Imagine businesses where leaders genuinely care for their employees’ well-being, where decisions are made not just for shareholder gain but for community flourishing, and where environmental impact is thoughtfully considered because we are stewards of God’s creation.

It’s about bringing generosity into the workplace culture, making room for compassion in leadership, and recognizing that our ability to create and lead businesses is a gift meant to bless others.

The Steadiness of God in a Shifting Marketplace

Markets shift. Economies fluctuate. What was a winning business model yesterday might be obsolete tomorrow. But God’s goodness doesn’t change. He is still the “Father of the heavenly lights”—steadfast, faithful, and true.

As business leaders, professionals, and entrepreneurs, we are called to reflect that same steadiness in how we work and lead.

  • Be generous when the world says to hoard.
  • Be honest when the world says to cut corners.
  • Care for people when the world says they’re just resources.
  • Build for the long-term when the world chases short-term gains.

A Light in the Shadows

The business world is full of shifting shadows—trends that fade, crises that shake confidence, and values that change with the headlines. But through it all, we have an opportunity to point to something better.

When our work reflects the goodness of God, business becomes more than profit. It becomes purpose.

And in a world desperate for hope and integrity, that is a gift worth offering.

 

This article was first published in the SfK Newsletter and is reposted here with kind permission.

 

Grace Kim is the Editor of the SfK Newsletter. Synergy for the Kingdom is a global network of for-profit or non-profit enterprises and people, aiming to produce holistic transformation in the lives of people in Asia and Africa by seeking Synergy for the Kingdom of God.

 

 

Photo by Evgeni Tcherkasski on Unsplash

 

 

 

AI Answers: What is Business as Mission?

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The BAM Global team is taking a break during early August, so we had AI do some work for us to produce this lighter summer post (or winter post, if you are in the Southern hemisphere!)

Here’s how AI summarized “What is Business as Mission?”:

Business as Mission (BAM) is the integration of business and Christian mission, where businesses are intentionally used to address spiritual, social, environmental, and economic needs, while also pursuing financial sustainability.

It’s a movement where entrepreneurs and business professionals use their skills and resources to create profitable and sustainable businesses that contribute to the holistic transformation of individuals and communities, with a focus on the poor and unreached.

Key aspects of Business as Mission:

Integration of Business and Mission:
BAM businesses are not simply businesses with a “religious” component; rather, the business itself is the mission, intentionally designed to achieve both business and spiritual objectives.

Holistic Transformation:
BAM seeks to address the multifaceted needs of individuals and communities, encompassing spiritual, economic, social, and environmental aspects.

Focus on the Marginalized:
BAM often targets vulnerable populations and those who have not yet heard the Gospel, aiming to bring positive change to their lives.

Sustainability and Profitability:
BAM businesses are designed to be financially viable and sustainable, ensuring long-term impact and reducing dependence on external funding.

Kingdom of God Values:
BAM businesses are guided by Kingdom values, seeking to reflect God’s purposes in their operations and interactions.

Multiple Bottom Lines:
BAM businesses consider not just financial profit, but also social, environmental, and spiritual outcomes as measures of success.

Why is Business as Mission important?

Addressing Global Needs:
BAM offers a unique approach to tackling critical global issues like poverty, human trafficking, and lack of access to the Gospel through business solutions.

Reaching Unreached People:
BAM provides a way to engage with people and communities where traditional missionary work may be restricted or challenging.

Empowering Business Professionals:
BAM recognizes and affirms the potential of business leaders and professionals to be agents of transformation in the world.

Fulfilling the Great Commission:
BAM aligns with the Great Commission of making disciples by integrating evangelism and discipleship into the context of business.

Since AI pulls from existing internet content, we’re encouraged by the accuracy of what it’s finding and regurgitating back at us. It spurs us on to keep producing useful and inspiring original content for AI platforms to draw from.

 

What about you? What would you add to this? Do you think this AI summary could be improved? Email us at info@bamglobal.org with your ideas!

The BAM Global Team

 

 

Photo by Hitesh Choudhary on Unsplash

Leveraging the God-given Power of Business [Video]

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by João Mordomo


João Mordomo introduces the concept of business as mission at the Fourth Lausanne Congress Workplace Track in September 2024.

 

 

Transcript:

Good afternoon to everybody or good morning or good evening depending on what your body clock is telling you. I’m glad to be here with you this afternoon. That’s what my body clock is almost telling me now.

I’m João Mordomo and I’m the [Lausanne] Catalyst for Business as Mission together with my colleague Jo Plummer who’s around here somewhere. And I’ve been asked to talk to you about business as mission.

Dallas Willard once said that, “Business is a primary moving force for the love of God in human history.” Business when it’s done well is glorifying to God and has enormous potential to do good in society.

Business has an innate God-given power to create dignified jobs, to multiply resources, to provide for families and communities, to spur innovation and development, and to solve pressing human problems. In the global marketplace today, we have a huge opportunity to leverage this God-given power of business to address some of the world’s most pressing spiritual and social and economic and environmental issues.

We call this BAM. It’s business as mission.

It’s a movement of business professionals called to use their gifts, their expertise in entrepreneurship and good management to bring creative long-term sustainable solutions to challenges such as the evils of human trafficking or the task of reaching the world’s remaining unreached people groups with the gospel or the problems of societal injustice, environmental degradation, dire poverty, just to name a few.

When we’re thinking about the mission of the church, we need to remember what Michael Oh said on the opening night [of this Congress] that even if we equip every believer in the workplace to be an effective witness for Christ, we still won’t reach the world with the holistic gospel. Because 86% of the world’s Muslims and Buddhists and Hindus, not to mention atheists, do not have access to the gospel—they don’t know a Christian.

And, we still won’t have the solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. Business provides these solutions.

Business as mission is a distinct category different from tent making, different from workplace ministry. Business as mission is the strategic use of authentic business activities that create authentic ministry opportunities that bring spiritual and social and economic and environmental transformation to marginalized people and unreached peoples.

In other words, BAM simultaneously fulfills the great mandate to steward creation well, the great commandment to love God and love our neighbors, and the great commission to make disciples of all nations.

Enter the Lausanne Business as Mission Issue Network. Together with an organization called BAM Global, we exist to invigorate the global BAM movement by building intellectual and social capital for the global BAM ecosystem. We produce global BAM reports. We facilitate global BAM consultations and events. And we nurture regional, activity-based, and industry-based partner networks. There are over 45 networks all around the world and growing.

Business as mission is the strategic use of authentic business activities that create authentic ministry opportunities that bring spiritual and social and economic and environmental transformation to marginalized people and unreached peoples.

We got our start—Joseph mentioned this earlier and I will say something about it—we got our start in the lead up to the 2004 Lausanne Forum that took place in Thailand exactly 20 years ago to this week. Over 70 of us from all around the world worked together for over a year addressing issues related to God’s purposes for work and business and the role of business people in church and missions and the needs of the world and the potential response from business. Most of us came from business backgrounds but there were also people from church and mission. There were educators, theologians, economists, lawyers, researchers. The collaboration process included 60 papers, 25 case studies, several national and regional BAM consultations and email-based discussions culminating in a week of face-to-face dialogue and a whole lot of work. Somebody asked me when I got back, “What was Thailand like?” I said, “I have no idea. I never left the hotel. We worked non-stop for a week.” The result was the groundbreaking 85 page Lausanne Occasional paper on Business as Mission and the accompanying one-page BAM Manifesto.

That Manifesto includes affirmations and recommendations and here are several of them:

  • We believe that God has created all men and women in his image with the ability to create good things for themselves and others and that includes business.
  • We believe in emulating Jesus who constantly met the needs of people he encountered daily, including in their workplaces.
  • We believe that the Holy Spirit empowers all members of the body of Christ to meet the spiritual and physical needs of others, including through business.
  • We believe that God has called and equipped business people and entrepreneurs to cause holistic gospel transformation of individuals and communities and societies and nations and peoples in and through their businesses.
  • We recognize the fact that poverty and unemployment are often rampant in areas where the name of Jesus is rarely or never heard or understood.
  • We recognize that there is a need for job creation and for multiplication of businesses all over the world focused on the four-fold bottom line of spiritual, economic, social, and environmental transformation.
  • We recognize the fact that the church has a huge and largely untapped resource in the Christian business community to bring global glory to God by way of business.

Therefore, number one:

We call upon the church worldwide to identify, affirm, pray for, commission, and release business people and entrepreneurs to exercise their gifts and callings as business people in the world among our peoples to the ends of the earth.

And number two:

We call upon business people globally to receive this affirmation and to prayerfully consider how their gifts and expertise and experience might be used to help create solutions for the world’s most pressing spiritual and physical needs through business as mission.

Is God calling you to join us? Is God calling you to join in this movement of business people and entrepreneurs who are serving God in and through the workplace and intentionally shaping their business for God’s glory, the work of the gospel, and the global common good?

I hope so. And if so, check out lausanne.org, bamglobal.org, and businessmission.com to start the journey with us.

Thank you.

 

Access more videos, transcripts and study materials from the Lausanne Congress Workplace Track here.

 

Dr. João Mordomo loves to help start and lead anything — mission agencies, churches, businesses, networks — that helps fulfill the Great Commission. He is a founding board member and Executive Director of BAM Global, and Catalyst for Business as Mission at the Lausanne Movement. João serves variously as owner, managing director and board member of several BAM companies, and designs and teaches BAM and other courses at several universities.

 

 

Photo by Josh Olalde on Unsplash

 

 

 

 

7 Points of Controversy and Clarity for Business as Mission

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by Larry Sharp

 

According to Mats Tunehag, perhaps the premier worldwide BAM spokesperson, “By God’s grace we have seen an exponential growth of the global business as mission movement in the last 25 years” (The BAM Review, April 2025). It has been my privilege to have been a part of the movement for almost twenty years and it is abundantly clear—God is definitely at work accomplishing His mission in the world through marketplace servants.

However, I continue to be perplexed with one question, “Why is there still so much controversy and lack of understanding in North America (where I am from) surrounding the theology, missiology, and praxis of “business as mission”?

The Meaning of Terms

The phrase combines two familiar yet distinct words: “business” and “mission.”

Business drives the economy, encompassing activities that meet needs or solve problems through value exchange. Christian author Albert Erisman asserts that business is the only institution that creates economic growth and funds all others. Tunehag adds that business should serve people, align with God’s purposes, steward creation well, and make a profit. He emphasizes that business can be a platform for expressing Christ’s love.

“Missions,” as defined in Wikipedia, is “an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith,” often involving missionaries seeking conversions. However, contemporary theology emphasizes missio Dei—God’s mission in the world as an extension of His nature and love. This broader view sees God acting to glorify Himself through redeeming people across all nations (I Kings 8:60, I Tim. 1:17). According to the Westminster Catechism, our purpose is to glorify God, and John Piper reminds us, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is.” (Let the Nations Be Glad).

Missiology has evolved, now framing mission not merely as an activity of the church but something initiated by God. The Trinity sends the church to embody God’s saving love through both word and deed—more than just conversions or church planting, it includes bringing God’s peace (shalom) into every area of life. Jesus modeled this by connecting evangelism with social needs.

Business as mission (BAM) gained traction in the late 1990s alongside the “Faith and Work” movement. Yet, its roots trace back to the early church. BAM involves believers in the marketplace living with kingdom purpose and impact—transforming individuals and societies spiritually, economically, and socially for God’s glory (Tunehag, 2008).

Controversy and Misunderstanding

Among North American clergy, BAM is often dismissed as a trend or distraction from priorities like church planting. Many pastors and mission leaders show limited interest in understanding how BAM aligns with God’s mission and the church.

Although change theorists advocate a “trickle-down” model—where seminaries adopt new strategies first—experience suggests that BAM is not a curricular priority in most Christian colleges.

Mission agencies have also shown reluctance, with some resisting BAM-related theology. Though a few initiatives do exist, most are micro-enterprise in nature and most leadership prefers traditional approaches.

Meanwhile, Christian professionals often experience a divide between faith and work. Few pastors preach messages that help believers live out their faith in the marketplace.

Despite progress over the past 25 years, misunderstandings persist. For those who dismiss BAM, several key points deserve consideration.

Controversy #1: The Theology of Work

What is the controversy? Until recently, most seminaries and theologians gave little attention to a Theology of Work. The prevailing belief held that spiritually significant work was confined to roles like pastors, missionaries, and Bible teachers. In contrast, the BAM movement challenges this notion, affirming the sacredness of all vocations.

In the past two decades, scholars such as Os Guinness, David Miller, Tom Nelson, Mark Russell, Jeff Van Duzer, and Tim Keller have critiqued historical misconceptions about work. These include the ideas that work is a necessary evil, a path to wealth and power, or a vehicle for self-actualization. Such assumptions limit believers’ ability to view their work as ministry or mission.

The heart of the controversy is summarized in Martin Luther’s reminder that all Christians are primarily called to holiness through Christ. He rejected the idea of a “higher” religious vocation, asserting, “There is no special religious vocation since the call of God comes to each at the common tasks.” This foundational idea supports BAM’s emphasis on the dignity and spiritual value of everyday work.

Gene Veith argues that the priesthood of all believers turns all work—not just church work—into a sacred calling. Similarly, R. Paul Stevens notes that the Hebrew words abad (work) and shamar (care) in Genesis also mean worship and obedience. He emphasizes “vocational holiness,” where the profession itself matters less than faithfulness within it.

Work in the Biblical Narrative

Genesis 1–2 presents God as a worker and humans as His image-bearers, entrusted with the Creation Mandate. Work was declared good (Gen. 1:31) and dignifying. Keller asserts that through work, humans reflect God’s creative nature. Van Duzer states, “When humans engage in creative, meaningful work that grows out of relationships and gives back to the community, they become more deeply human.” (Van Duzer, 2010)

Deuteronomy 8:18 affirms that God gives the ability to produce wealth. This idea is championed by missional entrepreneurs like Bill Job and business leaders such as Bonnie Wurzbacher, former VP at Coca-Cola. Wurzbacher noted that “as the sole source of wealth creation in the world, business enables every other social, civic and even spiritual situation to exist.” For BAM practitioners, business is a tool for glorifying God, cultivating relationships, and contributing to human flourishing.

Work as Worship

Wong and Rae assert that when Christians go to work, they offer themselves to God in service. This “work as worship” theology has emerged strongly in recent years. Work is not a result of the fall; Adam and Eve were given purposeful tasks before sin entered the world (Gen. 1:27–28; 2:15). Scripture affirms work’s divine design over 850 times. A frequently cited verse is Colossians 3:23: “Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord…”

Mats Tunehag puts it boldly: “If God has called you to be a businessperson, do not stoop to be a preacher.” Likewise, businessman Michael Cardone remarked, “God did not call me to be a minister or a missionary; He called me to be a businessman—and I see no difference.” Michael Greene affirms, “Work is significant to God; our work is just as valuable as that of a pastor or missionary.” Though widely doubted, this conviction is both biblical and foundational to the BAM movement.

Controversy #2: The Role of Money

What is the misunderstanding? Although Scripture makes clear that money itself is not evil (1 Tim. 6:10), many evangelicals view businesspeople with suspicion—assuming they are greedy or useful only for their financial contributions to the church.

Yet Jesus spoke more about money than about heaven or hell. As Wayne Grudem notes, “Money is fundamentally good and provides opportunities for glorifying God, but also many temptations to sin.” Jesus affirmed the importance of money, while warning against trusting it, loving it, or misusing it (Luke 16).

The real issue arises when Christians fail to distinguish between the abuse of money and its rightful, God-honoring use. Jesus’ command to “engage in business until I come” (Luke 19:13) implies responsibility, not exploitation. Faithful Christian businesspeople pursue ethical wealth creation while avoiding greed, poor stewardship, and unrestrained capitalism.

Controversy comes when believers forget that wealth, when rightly stewarded, is a gift from God as Deuteronomy 8:18 affirms.

Controversy #3: The Disruptive Nature of Missio Dei

What is the controversy? “Missions” is often seen as a narrow church activity, budget item, or sermon theme. In contrast, “mission” begins with God—missio Dei—His purpose to glorify Himself by redeeming the world. This broader understanding opens the door for all believers, in any profession, to participate in God’s kingdom work.

When I started using “mission” instead of “missions,” some saw it as semantics. But the terms “mission,” “missions,” and “missionary” are extrabiblical and shaped by personal or cultural biases—mine included. Stetzer describes missio Dei as God-focused: a movement from God to the world, with the church as His instrument. This view invites all believers to join in gospel proclamation and demonstration, while “missions” tends to mean a specific calling to cross-cultural evangelism.

Looking ahead, if missio Dei is our theological foundation, then the future belongs to God’s ongoing work in the world. As some theologians put it, the church does not initiate mission; rather, the mission of God gives birth to the church. Christopher Wright echoes this, calling the people of God the “primary agent of the mission of God.”

God is a sending God. He sent Adam and Eve to fill the earth, Israel to bless the nations, Jesus as Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit to continue the work. Mission flows from the Triune nature of God. The church today exists because of this divine mission and is a continuation of it.

This reframes our thinking. Mission is not what we do for God, but what we do with God, because of who He is. “Missions” implies fragmented church programs; “mission” reflects a unified purpose. As Stephen Neill wrote, “The age of missions ended. The age of mission began.”

So what difference does it make?

In Genesis 1–2, missio Dei begins with imago Dei—we are made in God’s image. Recent theology has emphasized the connection between these concepts. There’s unity between sacred and secular, faith and work.

Every believer bears God’s image and shares in His mission. Not all are “missionaries,” but all are called to live missionally through their work. As J.D. Greear says, “Whatever you are good at: a) do it well for the glory of God; b) do it somewhere strategic for the mission of God.”

Controversy #4: The Sacred–Secular Divide

What is the misunderstanding? Michael Greene defines the sacred–secular divide as the belief that some activities matter deeply to God while others don’t. Business as mission rejects this, affirming that all of life matters to God.

This divide is often more a misunderstanding than a theological debate. Many believers, like a former graduate student of mine, Michelle—a successful business owner—feel sidelined from “real” ministry. She once said, “It never occurred to me that my business was my ministry,” despite her evangelical upbringing. This mindset persists because missions is often seen as the exclusive domain of professionals.

In contrast, BAM practitioners in restricted nations often respond to questions about ministry time by saying, “My work is my ministry.” They understand that the early church spread the gospel through everyday life, without a divide between sacred and secular.

The historical roots of this dualism trace back to Greek philosophy, reinforced by Augustine and others who prioritized “higher” sacred work over “lower” secular work. This separation still influences modern Christians and undermines a holistic life of integrity. It also divorces the Great Commission from the Great Commandment—discipleship from love of neighbor.

It wasn’t until the Reformation that Luther, Calvin and others challenged this divide, promoting the priesthood of all believers. This provided the basis for the biblical unity of mission, vocation, and daily life.

Eldred notes that this dualism marginalizes most Christians from missio Dei, robbing them of joy and purpose in their daily work. A.W. Tozer echoes this: “It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred, it is why he does it.” Dallas Willard similarly writes, “There truly is no division between sacred and secular except what we have created.”

Church roles like apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers are vital for equipping the saints (Eph. 4:12). But perhaps, like in Acts 8, the model for the 21st century church is ordinary believers living out their trades while preaching Jesus. As Paul reminds us: “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).

Controversy #5 – The Kingdom of God

What is the controversy? The Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven) is central to Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels. While interpretations have varied, many evangelical scholars now affirm the Kingdom is both “already here” and “not yet.”

In the 20th century, much of the church emphasized the “not yet” aspect, focusing on salvation from hell and avoiding social issues, which were seen as liberal. When I studied theology in the 1960s, the Kingdom of God was taught strictly as eternal. But by century’s end, voices like John Stott, R. Paul Stevens, Os Guinness, Dale Losch, and Tim Keller re-emphasized its relevance to daily life—highlighting the Kingdom as present and active today.

Acknowledging the present dimension of the Kingdom prompts the question: what does it look like now? Luke 17:21 says the Kingdom is within Jesus’ disciples, and Matthew 10:7 says it is “at hand.” Heidebrecht argues this view integrates social action into the gospel, alongside proclamation—reflecting Jesus’ concern for holistic human welfare. Thus, the gospel addresses both present needs and eternal hope.

Paul Hiebert similarly taught that mission includes preaching, teaching (Matthew 28:19), and addressing injustice, poverty, and suffering. Raynor, in The Sacredness of Secular Work (2024), and Nancy Pearcey stress that salvation is not only from sin but for purpose—partnering with God to reflect heaven on earth. Raynor writes, “the good news… is not just that I get to go to heaven… but that I get to partner with God in revealing heaven on earth until I die.” This reflects God’s reign of goodness and shalom in the world.

Controversy #6: The Whole Gospel

What is the controversy? The Lausanne Congress of 1974, heavily influenced by John Stott, affirmed a holistic gospel that addressed not only spiritual needs but also the social and physical conditions of people. This challenged the dominant 20th-century missions model, which often focused narrowly on spiritual salvation. Business as mission embraces this “whole man” perspective by addressing both joblessness and spiritual poverty.

Chris Wright summarizes the holistic gospel as requiring “the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world.” The redemptive work of Christ completes—not negates—God’s commitment to human wholeness and creation care. The gospel addresses the spiritually lost and the socially and economically marginalized, recognizing that people are whole beings.

BAM integrates the theology of work (Creation Mandate), the Great Commandment, and the Great Commission. Jesus taught that we are to love God fully and our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 10:27; Matt. 22:37–39). Kingdom businesspeople understand this means using their God-given capacity to create wealth, employment (jobs), dignity, relationships, and beauty. They are moved by the global realities of poverty and unemployment and inspired by Martin Luther’s conviction that the gospel must engage the issues of the day.

BAM workers see themselves as stewards of both natural and human resources—“vice-regents” over God’s creation (Stevens, 2012). Their work serves others and reflects God’s care.

John Stott put it simply: “We love. We go. We serve.” Loving our neighbor means caring for the whole person—soul, body, and community. Social responsibility flows from love, not as a strategy for gospel credibility but as an expression of compassion.

The Great Commission emphasizes making disciples and teaching all that Jesus commanded (Matt. 28:18–20; Acts 1:8). For Stott, this includes both evangelistic and social responsibility, since Jesus taught and served. His ministry was holistic—feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and comforting the grieving.

Discipleship, as Losch points out, often begins before conversion (John 6:66). Pre-faith followers may be drawn to Christ through acts of love and service. The marketplace, where life and work intersect, is a powerful setting for this kind of pre-cross discipleship and holistic mission.

While we are not divine like Jesus, our mission reflects His—to bring good news and serve. A biblical understanding of mission integrates creation care, love of neighbor, and disciple-making. Business, done faithfully, can demonstrate the gospel in action.

Controversy #7: How Christianity Spread

What is the misunderstanding? Many Christians in the 20th century were taught that the Apostle Paul was the primary model of mission. While Paul and the apostles played a vital role, historical and biblical evidence suggests the gospel mainly spread through everyday believers in the marketplace.

Tim Keller notes that evangelism in the early church often happened in the oikos—households—through friendships. Michael Green supports this in Evangelism in the Early Church, describing early Christian growth as driven by informal missionaries—ordinary believers sharing Christ in daily life settings like shops and homes.

Acts 8 confirms this: after Stephen’s death, “all except the apostles were scattered” (v.1), and they “preached the word wherever they went.” Despite lacking formal training, support, or Scripture, lay believers advanced the gospel significantly. The apostles stayed central, underscoring the continued need for pastors and theologians—but the frontlines were in homes and workplaces.

Acts 11 shows that these scattered believers reached Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, where “a great number… turned to the Lord” (v.21). Billy Graham once said, “One of the next great moves of God is going to be through believers in the workplace.” Perhaps the 21st century will resemble the 1st more than the 20th.

Conclusion

Ecclesiastes reminds us, “There is nothing better… than to enjoy [our] work” (3:22), and to “do it with all [our] might” (9:10). A faithful Jesus follower today should see people as whole beings—spiritual, social, and physical—and follow Christ’s example of holistic ministry. Jesus healed, fed, taught, and loved not just for a future kingdom, but for transformation now.

Business as mission (BAM) reflects this, emphasizing creation care, meeting human needs, job creation, and disciple-making. BAM invites everyday believers into missio Dei, affirming that our work itself is a sacred expression of worship and calling.

We aren’t called to be professional missionaries with programs and systems. We’re called to be witnesses. As Roberts says, “Start with Christology… if you focus on mission, churches will follow. But if you focus on churches, mission often gets lost.”

We don’t go to proselytize or plant “Christianity”; we go to live and love like Jesus in our work and relationships. If we bless others in His name, the gospel is planted and the Church will follow. Each believer should do what they’re good at, with excellence, in strategic places for God’s mission—planting the whole gospel wherever they go.

 

This article was first published on Missio Nexus and is reposted here by kind permission of the author and original editor.

Larry Sharp is the Founder and current BAM Support Specialist of a Business for Transformation (BAM, B4t) consulting firm, International Business and Education Consultants (www.ibecventures.com). Larry served 21 years in Brazil and then 20 years as Crossworld VP of Operations and as Vice President of Business Partnerships. He is currently a VP Emeritus and consultant with Crossworld. Since 2007 he has devoted energies toward Business as Mission (BAM) and currently is a consultant on BAM and education themes. Larry travels within North America speaking and teaching in conferences, colleges and churches on themes related to Business As Mission (BAM, B4t) and missions.  His travels abroad relate to BAM, crisis preparation and management, and team building. 

 

 

Get Larry’s Book: Missions Disrupted

Available at all good book stores online!

 

 


Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

 

Business is a Gift from God to Transform the World [Video]

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by Mats Tunehag


Mats Tunehag teaches on what the Bible says about Wealth Creation and Business at the Fourth Lausanne Congress Workplace Track in September 2024.

 

 

Transcript:

I grew up in Sweden, the land of the Vikings. We used to do tough business and we drank out of the skulls of our enemies. Now we sell furniture in flat boxes, through IKEA, and you’re welcome! But that is a proof that people, businesses, and nations can be transformed. And that’s what we’re going to talk about now.

Business—that is a gift from God to transform the world. So I have a question for you. In our lifetime, in our generation, has global poverty increased, stayed the same, or decreased? What do you think?

It has decreased dramatically, from three out of 10 to one out of 10 in the world in a few decades. The biggest lift in the history of mankind out of poverty has happened in our generation, not through aid but through trade. Today this is good news, most people on the planet are better off in terms of longevity health, housing, and food than a generation ago and the essential contributing factor to this transformation is business.

Businesses have an enormous capacity to create different kinds of wealth. The Lausanne and BAM Global Wealth Creation Manifesto says, “Wealth creation through business has proven power to lift people and nations out of poverty.”

But what is wealth what do we mean by wealth?

There are different kinds of wealth. You can be financially rich and wealthy, but socially poor, you have no friends. You can be financially poor but spiritually rich because you know Jesus.

The Bible talks about wealth in three ways, one bad two good. The bad one is hoarding—more for me, myself, and more. The second one, which is good, is the sharing of wealth. To be generous, to give, that is commended in the Bible. But, there is never, ever any wealth of any kind to be shared unless it has been created. Wealth creation (the third one) is both a godly gift and a godly command.

When the people of Israel were about to enter into the promised land, God gave them instructions and it told them get engaged in business (see Deut 8). Two industries are mentioned, agricultural and mining, and [the scripture] says when you get involved in those kinds of businesses, different kinds of wealth will be created—but do not become proud or selfish because, He said, “I am the God who gives you the ability to create wealth.” (Deut 8:18)

And God is the ultimate owner of everything and we are to create and share different kinds of wealth through business to bless all peoples and nations. This is not a “health and wealth gospel”, this is not prosperity teaching, this is about stewardship of talents and resources. And, as the Bible says, to seek the welfare—the shalom, the wholeness, the flourishing—of the city (Jer 29:7). This is about provision and witness.

And this is not a capitalist idea, this is not a Lausanne thing, this has deep Judeo-Christian roots and is part of an ongoing tradition.

Worship is not sanctified entertainment. Work is worship! Avoda—the Hebrew word and the Jewish concept means “work is worship” as we serve God and people; life is an integrated whole to work, worship, and serve. Avoda!

In Judaism, our roots, the highest form of charity is not handouts but creating jobs. There’s another Jewish concept called tikkun olam, which means to co-create with God, to bridge the gap from what is to what it should be—from unemployment to employment, from misery to flourishing.

Tikkun olam means to repair a broken world, bring healing, and the Lord’s prayer is a tikkun olam prayer. May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven—it is a God invasion of the marketplace towards human flourishing. Tikkun olam!

This is theology, anthropology, and vocation. It is about who God is, the Creator, it is about who we are, created in his image to be creative, create good products and services. And our calling to preach, demonstrate, and extend the kingdom of God as we do business and we influence all spheres of society, among all peoples.

The Wealth Creation Manifesto again, quote, “We are created in God’s image to co-create with him and for him to create products and services for the common good. Wealth creation is a holy calling and a God-given gift which is commanded in the Bible.”

Our views on wealth, wealth creation, and wealth creators are important and they make a difference. This is not a theoretical discussion, this is not just a theological exercise, it has real life implications and consequences.

Compare the health and the wealth of nations like South and North Korea, same culture same language same geography; or West Germany and East Germany. We have witnessed how Zimbabwe went from being the “bread basket of southern Africa to become a basket case” [see here, for example]. Or the oil-rich Venezuela is another tragic example of how disregard for basic wealth creation principles has destroyed a country.

Wealth creation is about flipping the script. We are not asking how can we fight poverty, no! We are rather asking how can we create different kinds of wealth—financial, social, cultural, intellectual, and spiritual—as we do business. Because business is the way that wealth is being created and that’s by God’s design.

So why should we do wealth creation? Why?

God wants it. The world needs it. And we are called to it!

And we are not the first ones to pick up this calling. God called and equipped John Cadbury to just that thing 200 years ago when he started the chocolate factory in Birmingham, England which had a holistic impact on many stakeholders for several generations. Chocolate for Jesus!

Also 200 years ago God called and equipped Hans Nielsen Hauge in Norway. He was instrumental in creating both a church revival movement and an entrepreneurship movement and that transformed the nation of Norway and his legacy is still alive to this day.

So through business, God calls us and equips us to find business solutions to human trafficking, business solutions to growing youth unemployment, business solutions to environmental challenges, business solutions to be able to serve unreached peoples. But, we are never to impose Jesus but rather propose him. Faith is not an imposition, it is a proposition and so is wealth creation through business.

Jesus should be an integral part of our value proposition, alongside our products and services—and the market actually is asking for spiritual health. A global survey done by McKinsey shows clearly that the vast majority of all people around the globe—regardless of faith, culture, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status—they consider spiritual health as important as physical mental and social health, the market wants it. That’s why we are, and we should be, engaged in wealth creation.

We believe that businesses can and should address a variety of human needs, with a special concern for the least the lost, and the lowliest.

And this is not about techniques, at the end of the day it is about love. Creating wealth, doing business as mission, honoring God, and seeking the common good is about love. Business as mission (BAM) is about being a channel, a conduit, of God’s love to the world.

As St Augustine says, “What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.”

So remember Christianity is not a self-help program, Christ is for the world! So growing businesses that’s not for our glory, it’s for the glory of God and that can change the world.

St Irenaeus, the great second century theologian, expressed the essence of Christianity as, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.”

Human flourishing requires wealth creation of all types and wealth creation requires business.

May God bless you!

 

Access more videos, transcripts and study materials from the Lausanne Congress Workplace Track here.



Mats Tunehag is the Chairman of BAM Global, and he is a global thought leader on Business as Mission, BAM. Since the 1990’s he has created numerous networks of leaders from business, church, missions and academia from all continents. He has served as an advisor to groups involved in business, investment, freedom businesses, research and partnership development. He is the chief architect of the ‘Business as Mission Manifesto’ and the ‘Wealth Creation Manifesto’, which is a conceptual framework for the global BAM movement. See: matstunehag.com/about/ for more about Mats.

 

 

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

 

 

 

Get Involved in Doing Business as Mission: BAM Pathways

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by Jo Plummer

 

There are many different ways to get involved in business as mission and the BAM movement needs many types of people, skills, experiences and passions. If you are interested in engaging with BAM, there is a path and role for you!

This article is based on an earlier post on the idea of different routes into business as mission and has been updated to coincide with the launch of the new ‘BAM Pathways‘ initiative. Read about it here.

Some of you reading this are still in early stages of BAM exploration, or maybe you are intrigued by the idea of business as mission and simply want to learn more. Or perhaps you are someone in a related area of work and just want to stay in touch and see how what is happening in the BAM community connects with you. If that is you, we’d love to stay in touch! Please see ways to keep connected with us in the footer below.

 

Actively Engaging in BAM?

Others of you will be look for more active engagement! Perhaps you are looking for tangible ways to get involved in BAM? Or perhaps you are already engaged and are looking for more resources pertinent to you? If so, this post is for you.

Two broad pathways for engagement in BAM are:
1) Doing – getting involved by doing business as mission yourself, in a BAM company context, or
2) Helping – enabling, resourcing or connecting others to do BAM — through activities such as mentoring, investing, praying, building networks, incubating, training, mobilising, and so on!

If option 2 is you, look out for the new ‘Helpers‘ segment of the BAM Pathways initiative coming next month, and meanwhile read this mini blog series on the topic.

Get Involved Doing BAM

If you are interested in option 1, getting involved in doing business as mission yourself, chances are you are thinking about one of the following options:

A: Starting up a BAM company
B: Joining a BAM company that someone else has started
C: Repurposing an existing company to integrate BAM principles into it

 

There is no right or wrong way to get involved in BAM, but here are some helpful ideas and a roundup of resources for whichever option you are exploring…

 


A: Starting Up a BAM Company

Business Planning Blogs

If you are in the business planning and start-up stage, then we have loads of free resources on The BAM Review Blog for you, whether you already have an idea and are testing it, or are trying to identify a product-market fit. Start with Business Planning for BAM Part 1: Overview & Getting Started, then read through blogs on Business Planning for BAM Part 2: Product and Market and Business Planning for BAM Part 3: Financial Planning. You might find blogs on Launching and Landing and Integration are also good for foundation building. More Blog Topics here.

 

Praxis Course

Praxis offer a free course that will help you develop your mindset as a BAM starter. As they describe it, ‘Through a free six-session video and discussion series, the Praxis Course aims to help innovative leaders and builders to develop an imagination for what we call “Redemptive Entrepreneurship,” which means to leverage personal and organizational power for the sake of others, and to create products, services, and organizations that join God in the renewal of all things.’ Watch the Redemptive Frame intro video and find out more here.

 

Lean Canvas Frameworks

Lean Startup concepts have taken the business world by storm over the past decade and more. Kingdom-minded business incubators and BAM trainers have taken these concepts and adapted ‘Lean Canvas’ frameworks  specifically for missional business models. You can find resources at BAM Connect Business as Mission Model Canvas, ThirdPath Lean Canvas Course, and CO.STARTERS. For more in-depth training see the School of Business and Entrepreneurship and other training resources here.

 

Triventure Process

If you are looking for a bit more support to launch your BAM company, then Triventure has the resources for you. Triventure describes itself as ‘the Business as Mission Launchpad’ and offers a comprehensive package of Courses (by ThirdPath Initiative), Coaching, and Capital to help you get your BAM company off the ground. Discover more here.

 

B: Joining a BAM Company

Launching into BAM Blogs

If you are going to help build a BAM company that someone else has started, then we have tons of blog content for you too. Get a strong BAM foundations with some of the resources above, plus BAM 101 blogs and articles on the Integration of Business and Mission. Our Launching and Landing series covers topics on successfully deploying into business as mission. More Blog Topics here.

 

Explore BAM Stories

We recommend reading a variety of BAM stories to get an idea of what kind of BAM company you’d like to join. You’ll find recommended Blogs and Books containing stories on our Stories page. The BAM Stories Podcast is another great source, and do come along to a BAM Global Event where BAM case studies are shared every year and connections to BAM companies will be made!

 

Sending Organisations with a Business Focus

If you are looking to be equipped and sent out to join a BAM company, then training and deployment with a mission sending agency or ‘tentmaking’ training entity might be for you. Check out Antioch Partners, Interserve, World Venture, Navigators, Tent International, FaithTech and many more—see the ‘Recruiting & Mobilising’ section of the BAM Ecosystem Map. Most mission agencies have a BAM strategy integrated in some way, so find an organisation that resonates with you or works in the region you want to go to and enquire about their business initiatives.

 

Discover Internships & Jobs

If you are starting out in your career then we really recommend getting an internship or two under your belt. Any kind of experience is good, but learning about general business disciplines in a small to medium sized company context can be particularly useful. Ready to search for a BAM job or internship? Check out the Jobs boards at: Transformational SME and the BGlobal Community, the Apprenticeship program at OPEN Network, and the ‘Head Hunting & Jobs Board’ section of the BAM Ecosystem Map

 

C: Integrating BAM Principles into an Existing Company

 

Integrating Faith & Business Foundations

If you’re looking to integrate business as mission into your company, but don’t know where to get started, we highly recommend reading Business for the Glory of God, a short book that sets out a biblical way of thinking about business. Other great resources to help you integrate faith and business and find your tribe, include: Faith Driven Entrepreneur, Theology of Work Project, Faith & Co., Institute for Faith, Work & Economics, LICC, and the Biblical Business Resource Center.

 

Integration Blogs

And yes, we have a whole series of Blogs for that too! Read foundational topics like BAM 101 and Biblical Foundations for BAM. Explore ideas and practical tips for integrating BAM into business with articles on Integrating Business and Mission. More Blog Topics here.

 

Wealth Creation Manifesto & Global Classroom

BAM Global and Lausanne partnered to produce a series of video resources and papers on the critical need for wealth creators, i.e. business people, to partner with God in mission. Watch the Video series here, read the Wealth Creation Manifesto here, and download the Report series here.

 

Rēp – Repurposing Business Training

Rēp specialises in training and resources to equip business leaders for marketplace impact. Rēp’s goal is introduced as follows, ‘God has long used work and business as vehicles for his plans on earth. In centuries past a fictitious divide between work & worship, business & ministry crept into our thinking. Our goal is not to get God into business, but to get businesses into God’s business.’ Check out their training courses here, including a free foundation course for ‘repurposing your business’.

Foundation Resources for Everyone

Whatever your approach or path, here are a few resources that will help everyone get a good foundation in BAM:

 

BAM Manifesto

The BAM Manifesto is our foundational document to frame business as mission; it shares in one page what BAM is all about. Read it here.

 

Start Here Page

Our Start page on this very website is designed to give you a brief introduction to business as mission and is ground zero for the BAM Pathways. Go there now.

 

BAM A-Z Booklet

If you would like to learn your BAM ABCs, look no further than the BAM A-Z booklet that communicates the concepts of BAM with graphics, single words and short texts. Using the 26 letters of the English alphabet, Mats Tunehag has identified 26 key words and concepts related to BAM. They are accompanied by a brief explanation and a graphic. Download your copy here. Watch the BAM Global leadership team share about each letter in 1-2 minute videos here.

 

BAM Global Movement Book

Get an introduction to BAM with one book purchase, this introductory book on business as mission by Gea Gort & Mats Tunehag is for you. It interweaves foundation-laying chapters on the concept of BAM with case study chapters, sharing the stories of real companies. Find out more.

 

Introduction to BAM Courses

Looking for a bit more BAM to study? Two of our partners offer great introduction to BAM courses:

ThirdPath Initiative offer a free 7 part course that will start you on your BAM path – check it out here!

YWAM Colorado Springs offer a more intensive 10 part Introduction to BAM Seminar that can be taken online or in-person in a cohort – discover more here.

 

There are many more ideas on the BAM Ecosystem Map and you can discover more great BAM resources right here at the Business as Mission Resource Centre, in the Business as Mission Resource Library and The BAM Review Blog.

God has equipped each of us with various skill sets and backgrounds, leading each of us on unique paths. No matter how you’ve been equipped, what role you have in business as mission, or where you are on your journey, we hope you will find the resources on this website useful and encouraging.

Check out the new resources for ‘Do-ers’ on the BAM Pathways here.

 Jo Plummer is the Creative Director & Co-Founder of BAM Global and the co-editor of the Lausanne Occasional Paper on Business as Mission. She directs BAM Global initiatives such as BAM Global Events, BAM Global Think Tank consultations, and the BGlobal Community. Jo has been developing resources for BAM since 2001 and serves as Editor of the Business as Mission website and The BAM Review Blog. 

 

 

Photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash

 

 

3 Ways Businesses Integrate Faith

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by Min-Dong Paul Lee, Hannah J. Stolze and Denise Daniels

 

Can a for-profit business demonstrate faith? For years, the answer seemed obvious: companies exist to make money, not to practice religion. However, with the rise of business as mission as well as the faith and work movement, more and more Christian entrepreneurs today believe they can integrate faith with their business and work. Then, how does faith manifest in businesses?

At Wheaton College’s Center for Faith and Innovation, we engaged in a multi-year research project to explore this question. With remarkable openness, five Christian entrepreneurs invited us to scrutinize their companies, asking for thorough, unbiased feedback. Our research, encompassing interviews, focus groups, surveys, and site visits, focused on identifying the presence and impact of faith within their organizations. Workplace leaders and employees were asked to describe the ways that they observed or experienced faith expressions in the workplace.

We were initially surprised that workers saw expressions of faith in many different forms. We identified three ways faith comes to life in these workplaces through a systematic qualitative and quantitative analysis. The three dimensions of faith expressions are distinct in terms of how readily observable they are as well as how explicitly they are connected with faith.

 

 

1. Embodied Faith

The first dimension required little to no thought for most respondents to identify—this category included such things as the presence of a cross or the practice of corporate prayers. These symbols and practices are easily observable, and their meaning is explicit in that most people would interpret them as faith-based. We call this kind of expression “embodied faith” because it gives tangible and visible form to faith.

For example, one firm displayed a mission statement that included “glorify God” on the wall. Another had a prayer chapel and crosses at headquarters. Embodied faith is also expressed through practice. Prayers, especially, stood out. A sales team member shared, “Whenever we have meetings, sales team or any of the meetings, we start with a prayer.” At another company, spontaneous prayers were routine: “We stop every now and then, get on the floor, and pray with each other. We know each of us has problems at home… We talk about it and pray with one another.”

These symbols and rituals aren’t subtle. They’re what anthropologist Clifford Geertz called concrete embodiments of belief—easily spotted and clearly tied to faith. But employees warned that crosses and prayers alone don’t cut it. As one put it, faith “can’t be hypocritical!” Embodied faith is just the surface; it needs deeper roots.

Read more

Easter: The Anchor for BAM’s Vision

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by Grace Kim

 

As Easter draws near, we find ourselves invited once again into the mystery and beauty of the resurrection story. For many, this season brings familiar traditions—quiet reflection, the retelling of the cross and the empty tomb, songs of hope and victory. We gather in churches and homes to remember that, against all odds, life has overcome death, light broke through the darkness, and love has had the final word.

But in the midst of this sacred story, there’s also a question that lingers: What does resurrection really look like in the world we live in today? A world that’s still full of broken systems, unjust economies, displacement, and despair. A world where businesses can often be sources of exploitation rather than restoration.

This is where the vision of business as mission (BAM) becomes deeply relevant—not as a niche idea, but as a prophetic and practical way to live out the resurrection story in real time.

At the heart of business as mission lies a theological foundation rooted in the message of Easter—a story not just of death and resurrection, but of restoration, transformation, and a renewed purpose for all of creation. Easter is more than a religious holiday; it’s the cornerstone of Christian hope, the decisive turning point in history, and a lens through which BAM practitioners interpret their calling in the marketplace.

Business as mission is not a niche idea, but a prophetic and practical way to live out the resurrection story in real time.

Redemption is Holistic

Easter is God’s declaration that nothing is beyond His power to redeem—not hearts, not relationships, not communities, and certainly not systems like business and economics. The resurrection doesn’t just promise life after death; it offers a pattern of renewal for everything that is broken. In the context of BAM, this holistic view of redemption means: Read more

God is at Work: How the BAM Movement Has Grown Over 25 Years

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by Mats Tunehag


By God’s grace we have seen an exponential growth of the global business as mission movement in the last 25 years. A movement, per definition, consists of many organizations and initiatives, which are independent but choose to be interdependent. They share mission and values, and they communicate and collaborate.

The nature of a movement means that no-one but God has the exact figures of the growth, but BAM Global has been tracking the direction of growth over the years. The trends are clear, and even the approximate numbers are astonishing.

Please allow us to paint a picture of this encouraging growth—looking at ten variables—and how they have changed in the last 25 years:

1. 25 years ago, we talked about BAM businesses in the dozens, often micro to small size businesses. Today there are thousands, mainly in the SME sector, but also large companies.

2. 25 years ago, churches and denominations had not embraced BAM. Today there are all kinds of churches and whole denominations like in Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Brazil, USA, Russia, and many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which are engaged in BAM.

3. 25 years ago, a handful of mission organizations had started to include BAM in their strategies. Today most of the oldest and major Evangelical mission agencies in the world are involved in BAM.

4. 25 years ago, BAM was not a topic in academic institutions. Today many universities and MBA programs teach BAM, and there are dozens of PhD’s and a lot more Master theses on BAM from all over the world.

5. 25 years ago, we talked about investments in BAM companies in thousands of dollars, today in millions of dollars.

6. 25 years ago, there were no BAM incubators or accelerators, but today they exist in about 20 countries.

7. 25 years ago, there were no BAM networks. Today there are 30+ BAM networks—national, regional and international. Most are related to a country or a region, and others are focusing on an issue, industry or constituency.

8. 25 years ago, the conversations about BAM were in English. Today there is BAM material, conversations and work in over 20 languages.

9. 25 years ago, BAM was not a part of the Lausanne Movement, but it was introduced 2002, which was the start of the first global think tank on business as mission culminating at the Lausanne Forum in Thailand in 2004 and the Lausanne Occasional Paper on BAM. Since then, around 40 global consultations on business as mission topics have been convened, resulting in over 30 white papers on BAM. At the Fourth Lausanne Congress in Korea, September 2024, where 5000 people from about 200 countries participated, around half the attendees had indicated on the registration form that they were interested in faith at work, including business as mission.

10. 25 years ago, we approximate that there were about a dozen BAM resources. Today there are almost 1000 BAM Resource Library entries and Blogs here on the BAM Resource Centre at businessasmission.com alone—articles, papers, videos, books, organizations, and more.

God is good, and he is at work. There is a significant kairos moment in our generation, manifesting itself on all continents. We are in anticipation for what He will continue to do in the next generation.

AMDG—Ad Maoirem Dei Gloriam—for the greater glory of God!

 

Mats Tunehag is the Chairman of BAM Global, and he is a global thought leader on Business as Mission, BAM. Since the 1990’s he has created numerous networks of leaders from business, church, missions and academia from all continents. He has served as an advisor to groups involved in business, investment, freedom businesses, research and partnership development. He is the chief architect of the ‘Business as Mission Manifesto’ and the ‘Wealth Creation Manifesto’, which is a conceptual framework for the global BAM movement. See: matstunehag.com/about/ for more about Mats.

Together, Towards, Tomorrow
Building from Generation to Generation

That’s the theme of the BAM Global Summit this year. Join us and discover what God is doing through business as mission.

 

Discover More About the Summit & Register

 


 

Photo by Imagine Buddy on Unsplash

 

 

BAM: A Game Changer in a World of Trade Wars and Political Chaos

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by Grace Kim


The world feels like it’s on edge. Tariff wars are shaking up global trade, the U.S. is more divided than ever, and businesses everywhere are scrambling to keep up. In times like these, Business as Mission (BAM) isn’t just a nice idea—it’s a necessity. BAM isn’t about just making money; it’s about using business to create real, lasting change—economically, socially, and even spiritually. And right now, that mission is more important than ever.

BAM vs. the Global Trade Wars

Let’s face it—trade wars are messy. The U.S. and China have been locked in a battle of tariffs, leaving businesses caught in the crossfire. Supply chains are disrupted, costs are rising, and small businesses are struggling. BAM, however, offers a different way forward. Instead of relying on fragile international trade deals, BAM businesses focus on local economies, fair trade, and sustainability.

Think about it: when businesses invest in local suppliers and ethical sourcing, they build economic resilience. BAM-driven companies aren’t just chasing the cheapest deal; they’re creating jobs and opportunities where they’re needed most, reducing dependence on unstable global markets. This isn’t just smart business, it’s a way to fight poverty and promote fairness in an unpredictable world.

BAM in the Middle of U.S. Political Turmoil

Meanwhile, in the U.S., things are far from stable. Political unrest, social division, economic uncertainty—businesses are navigating a minefield. But BAM can be a force for unity and stability. Instead of adding to the chaos, BAM businesses focus on ethical leadership, employee care, and community impact.

At a time when people are losing trust in big corporations and political leaders, BAM companies stand out by doing business with integrity and purpose. They create jobs in struggling communities, invest in social entrepreneurship, and promote values that bring people together, not tear them apart. In a polarized world, BAM is proof that business can be a bridge, not a battleground. Read more

Virtue is priceless: For Everything Else, There’s Excellence

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by Phil Hanson & Terry Young

 

As authors, and with a nod to Mastercard (see below), we have been looking at businesses through a kingdom lens. In Part 1, we explored what it might look like for Christian business owners to pursue both excellence and virtue. But what does pursuing virtue mean? What specific virtues are we talking about? And how might we assess how well we are doing in that pursuit? That’s the topic of this post, Part 2.

In our booklet How to Merge Kingdom and Business: The Most Excellent Way we used the template of the Christian virtues of faith, hope and love. This obviously isn’t the only possible template, but it is one that has been used by theologians throughout history. Each of St Paul’s three themes can be unpacked as practical ways of working, albeit with some overlap between them.

What becomes evident is that many things going on in business can be mapped back to the faith, hope and love template, even if they were not morally motivated at the start. Business leaders have striven to do what they believe to be the right thing, without necessarily grounding their actions in a Christian context, or that of another faith. This is indicated by the column showing ‘Secular Motivation and Application’ below—i.e. actions in business that could be mapped back to the virtues of faith, hope or love, but without an intentional faith-driven motivation.

One indicator of what is happening is what businesses say about themselves in their advertising straplines, as the table below illustrates.

 

Virtue
Christian Motivation and Application
Secular Motivation and Application
Company Taglines
Faith
  • Hunger for perfection
  • Depends on God
  • Metamorphosis
  • Supernatural process
  • Wanting to do the right thing
  • Getting the best from people
  • Re-engineering
  • Rational process
Pursuit of Excellence (IBM)
Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands (M&M)
Does Exactly What It Says on the Tin® (Ronseal)
Hope
  • Hunger for (God’s) glory
  • Constant over time
  • Mysteriously satisfying
  • Eternal
  • Joyful in hope
  • Energising vision
  • Varies with circumstances
  • Always chasing satisfaction
  • The long game
  • Fun & fulfilment
A Diamond is Forever (De Beers)
Think Different. (Apple)
Believe in Better (Sky Group)
Love
  • Hunger for (God’s) heart
  • The greatest… is love
  • Unconditional love
  • Perfectly, wonderfully made
  • Relationships essential
  • All stakeholders matter
  • Subject to performance
  • Respect for the individual
Have it your way (Burger King)
Fly with friends (Austrian Airlines)
Succeed Together (LEGO)

 

While the taglines of companies give us clues about motivation, they are not exhaustive. To dig deeper into the underlying motivations, we bulleted some characteristics of what companies want and then mapped them back to corresponding Christian virtues. In trying to match them up we, surprisingly, noticed some parallels and some differences between the Christian and secular thinking.

For example, in the faith row above, both sides aspire to goodness: on the Christian side, to perfection and on the business side, to doing the right thing. But by the final pair of bullets, we recognise that one side is supernatural and the other, highly rational.  One side demands rebirth, the other re-engineering; one side depends on God, the other on getting the best from people. We have tried to bridge these similarities and differences with the idea of resilient reliability, which the taglines pick up.

In the hope line we connect a hunger for God’s glory on one side with the need for an energising vision in business—a nice alignment. There’s also a sense of joy, fun and fulfilment that matches across the columns. However, the constancy of Christian hope clashes with the way the human hope swivels in the choppy waters of the market, and while Christian hope is mysteriously satisfied in the glory of God, human hopes are always chasing something they can’t quite catch. Meanwhile, ‘the long game’ is the closest we can get in business to the eternal. We’ve tried to bridge this with the idea of realising renewal, wrapping creativity and innovation into that, and mapping it to strategy and purpose.

In the love row, there is obvious alignment around the centrality of relationships, but God takes an unconditional approach to each soul, whereas business must draw the line somewhere and part company with unsuitable partners, employees or customers. Respect can only go so far versus unconditional love.  However, the two sides can shake hands over the idea of rewarding relationships.

People, Purpose & Process

As authors, we gravitated early on in our exploration of ethics and the workplace to the idea that businesses tend to talk faith-ish and hope-ish and love-ish, whatever their starting motivation, as we have seen above. We set out, therefore, to look for operational virtues in commerce, manufacturing and service provision, that might twin with faith, hope and love in some way, but using more familiar business language.

We concluded that love could be expressed as ‘people’, since business doesn’t work without people. Hope could be expressed as ‘purpose’, and an alternative word for faith is ‘process’.

Diagram 1: Mapping Theological Virtues to Business Values and the 3 RRs

 

It wasn’t difficult to persuade ourselves that the two globally recognised business excellence frameworks we referenced in Part 1 (Baldrige and EFQM) could be condensed nicely under the themes of purpose, people and process. For more details on this, read How to Merge Kingdom and Business: the most excellent way (2024).

Love could be expressed as ‘people’, since business doesn’t work without people. Hope could be expressed as ‘purpose’, and an alternative word for faith is ‘process’.


Pathways Towards Kingdom Business

The table above suggests that there are good ethical intentions in many organisations. However, this observation doesn’t help us to establish how big a gap there is between such an organisation and a ‘kingdom business’—i.e. an enterprise motivated primarily by kingdom of God purposes—and what the pathway might be to get there.

We have previously described the journey towards becoming a kingdom business as having two axes: one axis of improving excellence of practice and performance and the other axis of ever-improving virtue.

Diagram 2: A virtue and excellence matrix

 

These two paths have some parallel with the ideas of faith and works. And as such, both faith (virtue) and works (excellence) are required for a kingdom business. All virtue and no excellence manifests itself in worthy but unsustainable, likely uncompetitive, business; all excellence and no virtue may deliver a booming business but without a moral compass, much less able to make the world a better place.

Another principle for moving towards virtue and excellence together is Voltaire’s idea of perfect versus good. He famously argued that perfect is the enemy of good. Striving for perfection will inhibit important small steps of improvement. Our kingdom businesses must strive for virtue without compromising the day-to-day practical improvement in how the operation performs.

All excellence and no virtue may deliver a booming business but without a moral compass, much less able to make the world a better place.

For almost 30 years, now, Mastercard has been running its Priceless advertisements. They start with emotive scenes: families reuniting in an arrivals lounge for Christmas; or a Mom going in search of her Irish roots. The cost of the arrangements—flights, trains, drinks, etc.— float across the scene. At some point the voiceover explains that the experience you are witnessing is priceless, adding, ‘There are some things money can’t buy; for everything else, there’s Mastercard.’

So what is our framework all about?  Well, to paraphrase, this seminal slogan, ‘Virtue is priceless; for everything else, there’s excellence.’

Application

As authors, we hope that the RR3 Framework that we introduce here and in more detail in our book—that connects the theological virtues of faith, hope and love, to the business-oriented triplet of process, purpose and people—may help to ground discussions around Christian or kingdom business more directly to biblical principles.

In our observation, a lot of what is published is good news stories, i.e. we did this and that and then these good things happened! There is nothing wrong with sharing such stories, but having a framework forces us to ask how good the good things really were and to test for virtue and excellence in all three of our themes.

Even if you aren’t the CEO or company owner, you may still use the RR3 Framework to find a voice in your organisation. You might find managers willing to have a conversation that starts something like this, ‘From our advertising, we want to offer the following. As a Christian, that looks a bit like faith (or love or hope). I was wondering whether you’d be interested in getting your practice closer to your tagline….’

Think about it and then find a way to talk about it.

 

For more on these topics, see our booklet, How to Merge Kingdom and Business: The Most Excellent Way, available from Grove books or on Amazon.  

 

Phil Hanson is a senior chartered engineer with a track record in industry and Christian service. He grew IBM’s Manufacturing Consulting Practice to $50M pa and his contribution was recognized with visiting positions at Newcastle and Cambridge. He has an MBA, a couple of Masters in theology and was ordained in retirement in the Church of England.

 


Terry Young is a missionary kid and active church member who went into R&D and became a professor before founding Datchet Consulting. He has published patents, 100+ academic articles, and books on Bible study and leadership. With a PhD in lasers, he is a member of The Operational Research Society and a Fellow of the British Computer Society.

 

 

Photo by Celpax on Unsplash

Kingdom Business: The Intentional Pursuit of Virtue and Excellence

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by Phil Hanson & Terry Young


When a business offers breakfast to children heading to school on an empty stomach, we applaud. In some parts of the world, we can point to examples all around us of companies making a local difference in ways like this.

However, what is their motivation? It’s worth thinking about the mix of possible motives, from genuine altruism to exploitation for marketing advantage. Adam Smith thought that business had a way of cleansing people’s ethical outlook: no matter how selfish the goals of business leaders, the resultant wealth brought good to the whole society. That’s an idea we explore in our booklet, How to Merge Kingdom and Business: The Most Excellent Way.

A neutral observer today might be inclined to conclude the opposite to Adam Smith, that self-interest is one of the prime reasons that business can do harm.

Diagram 1: Some consider self-interest to be wholly in conflict with doing good

Can a Christian business leader simply trust in Adam’s Smith’s misguided attempt to combine virtue and practice, and the idea that all will necessarily come good? Or do we need to be more intentional?

Combining doing well with doing good is worth deeper consideration. It’s a path that some Christian entrepreneurs have chosen, so how reasonable are their hopes of succeeding?

The Staircase

To help understand this, we created a simple matrix that deals separately with business ethics and business practice. This is a key factor in the discussion: the workplace itself cannot bind virtue and excellence together nor does it automatically set them in opposition to one another.

Diagram 2: A virtue and excellence matrix

 

This staircase model frees us to address ethical virtue and the excellences of business practice separately. (One can walk along a corridor next to the stairs without rising: to get to the next level, you must decide to take the stairs.) However, in doing so, we are not claiming that virtue and excellence are disconnected from each other. Each axis shapes how customers and others view the company and affects the viability of the business. Shoddy products might undermine a strong ethical brand, while dodgy behaviour weakens confidence in a strong bottom line.

A key message from the staircase diagram is that one must be as intentional in the pursuit of virtue as one is in pursuing excellence.

As we note in our book, ethics at work largely come from the people at the top. Even the much-acclaimed Victorian philanthropists had their blind spots, caring passionately for their local employees but not attending to slavery and oppression in their overseas supply chains.

Most businesses are likely to be doing both good and bad at the same time, however well run they are. Products and services that have a noble purpose may weigh on the positive side of the scales while unkind employee relations may tip the balance in the opposite direction. Critically, all business leaders are tipping the scales one way or another, both through action and through neglect—reflecting the theological categories of commission and omission.

A key message from the staircase diagram is that one must be as intentional in the pursuit of virtue as one is in pursuing excellence, if a credible business is to flourish under a business as mission-type banner. For some in the BAM fold, this may mean more attention to the ethical nervous system, to others it may require a sharper focus on business protocols, procedures and practices.

Intentional Excellence

The excellence axis of the diagram is well understood now that a few decades of measurement and dialogue have shaped our understanding of what works in business. Business gurus and prominent leaders still write their books, but an evidence-based consensus has emerged over how to manage, how to set up HR systems, how to run logistics, production lines, and so forth. We cite the Baldrige Excellence Framework and the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) as leading international organisations that gather such knowledge and produce benchmarking tools for businesses.

As authors, we are familiar with best business practice and the maturity models and other tools used to assess performance, but it is not clear how deeply embedded this mindset is in Christian entrepreneurial circles. We shall return to this topic in our second blog in this series, when we address approaches that may be helpful in assessing how well we are doing.

Intentional Virtue

There are various ways in which organisations can set their sails in the market’s prevailing wind. Regardless of its ethical stance, every business is affected by 3 R’s: regulation, representation and renewal. To continue the sailing metaphor, each offers ethical opportunities and challenges, depending on how the leadership tacks:

Regulation sets standards and provides tools to assess compliance, so that achieving compliance may be heralded as a business virtue.

Representation is a way to spread accountability for business decisions and practices. The result, however, may simply be determined by the strongest voice(s). It is no guarantee of ethical behaviour.

Renewal provides another potentially positive influence when new ways of working are driven by waves of technology, for example. Enlightened ways of working do emerge but not everyone benefits.

None of these three approaches can ensure lasting and deeply rooted change to the scales of business virtue.

Christian bosses may be marked out by their integrity, their good example, their personal witness and a track record of compassionate execution of necessary business changes. They have, however, an opportunity to do much more than simply being good role models. They can do things in their businesses that have a ‘multiplier’ impact so that their business can begin to make the world a better place. This might be described as accelerating God’s kingdom rather than simply advancing it.

Kingdom Business

Management consultants love to explain things using the two-by-two matrix and this emerging idea of ‘kingdom business’ can be explained this way too. There are, for any business, two directions of travel, as shown in our earlier staircase diagram.

The first of these directions is the pursuit of business excellence, the adoption of industry best practice and benchmarking against market leaders and others. The journey is one of continuous and shared improvements with occasional step functions of discontinuous change. It is by this means that customer expectations are exceeded, market share is improved, and financial results maximised.

The second direction of travel is that of increasing virtue. It is when the good the business does in the world exceeds the bad. It too is a journey of both large and small steps.

Business leaders can do things in their businesses that have a “multiplier” impact so that their business can begin to make the world a better place.

This picture of a kingdom business is one in which both directions of travel are taken equally seriously. It is like a flight of stairs, onwards and upwards. It is where, perhaps, the balanced scorecard treats ethical results with the same emphasis as commercial results. God’s kingdom is not an extra to be achieved in good times when the business can afford it or the poor relation of creating shareholder wealth.  Instead, God’s kingdom purposes become the ultimate purpose of the business.

Up and to the Right?

There are different trajectories for businesses in this picture. It is not all about starting in the bottom left and systematically marching up the stairs.

There are many businesses which survive with ad-hoc business processes because they are operating in some sort of protected market. At some point that protection will disappear and they will be forced along the excellence axis. An ad-hoc business isn’t a great foundation for making a kingdom difference.

Then there are well performing businesses that are commercially sound but who have paid little attention to the opportunities they have to make the world a better place and for whom the journey is up the virtue axis.

Some enterprises start out with a significant noble purpose which is unambiguously their reason for existence. Many charities start this way. They typically have two challenges. The first is the professionalisation of everything they do (advancing on the horizontal axis). The second is avoiding mission drift and maintaining their position on the virtue axis against a pressure for creeping secularisation of their purpose.

Whilst there are numerous well-established templates for measuring business excellence, measuring where any business is on the virtue axis is less well understood. We will address the issue of how a business can begin to measure kingdom progress in the next post in this two part series.

These ideas are explained in more detail in the Grove booklet, How to Merge Kingdom and Business: The Most Excellent Way, available from Grove books or on Amazon.

Read Part 2

 

Phil Hanson is a senior chartered engineer with a track record in industry and Christian service. He grew IBM’s Manufacturing Consulting Practice to $50M pa and his contribution was recognized with visiting positions at Newcastle and Cambridge. He has an MBA, a couple of Masters in theology and was ordained in retirement in the Church of England.

 


Terry Young is a missionary kid and active church member who went into R&D and became a professor before founding Datchet Consulting. He has published patents, 100+ academic articles, and books on Bible study and leadership. With a PhD in lasers, he is a member of The Operational Research Society and a Fellow of the British Computer Society.

 

 

Photo by Mohammad Bagher Adib Behrooz on Unsplash

Greed Isn’t a Business Problem (Here’s What Is)

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by Erik Cooper

 

I heard (another) infuriating story about a corrupt businessman this morning. A friend shared how his brother might lose a ton of money because someone completely misrepresented himself in a massive business deal.

“It’s the dark side of business for sure,” my friend said over coffee.

That made my blood boil—not just for my friend’s brother, but because these kinds of stories are what so many people associate with business: greed, corruption, deception, selfishness, taking from others, and hoarding for yourself.

These broken counterfeits have become synonymous with business in the minds of many. So when we start talking about business as mission (BAM), business as a sacred calling, or leveraging the marketplace for God-honoring Kingdom purposes, it’s no wonder some people can’t break through the dissonance.

But it’s worth wrestling with…

Is business inherently selfish? Is it just some sinful, cutthroat institution man invented to survive in a fallen world? Is business synonymous with greed? Or worse—does business make people greedy?

I’d like to pose a different take. Check this out:

“So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.” – Colossians 3:5

Greed isn’t a business problem. Greed is a worship problem.

At its core, good business is about adding value to others and the world around us. It’s about seeing a need and meeting it, recognizing a problem and solving it, or creating something the world is missing.

When business is redeemed by the gospel, it actually becomes the antidote to greed—not the cause of it. This paints a beautiful, redemptive picture of what business and the marketplace can be.

Don’t buy into the sin-broken caricature. Business isn’t synonymous with greed; it’s an opportunity to create, serve, and bless. This makes it a perfect tool to make Jesus known to the world.

The real question is, what are you worshipping?

 

First published in The Stone Table weekly newsletter and published on The BAM Review with kind permission from the author.

 

Erik Cooper is the President of The Stone Table. After starting his career in the business world, Erik spent 12 years in full-time ministry, both on staff at a large suburban church and as a church planter in a downtown urban context. In addition to his role at The Stone Table, he also serves in executive leadership of Community Reinvestment Foundation, a nonprofit real estate company that provides high-quality affordable housing all over Indiana while investing its profits into missions through The Stone Table.

 

 

Helping BAM Practitioners Start Well and Endure for the Long-Term

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To celebrate the launch of a new BAM Global Consultation on BAM Practitioner Care and Well-being, we are reposting a resource blog from two years ago that first helped us identify the gap in this area. Read more on BAM Endurance here.

by Jo Plummer

Recently I received a question about training resources and spiritual courses from a BAM practitioner who reads our blog. There already are lots of great resources on this site and elsewhere for helping BAMers start well and endure for the long-term. This post is designed to introduce some resources that BAM practitioners may find helpful for both preparing to launch into BAM and enduring long.

However, having asked advice from a few other business as mission leaders, we identified that there are relatively few dedicated, BAM-related resources for what the mission community calls ‘member care – that is helping ensure the personal, physical, relational and spiritual well-being of BAM practitioners. There are, however, many general member care and spiritual life resources that we can glean from in the wider Christian community, and a selection of these are also listed below.

Training & Preparation: Launching Well

How do people get from BAM vision to BAM reality? What training resources are there out there for BAM practitioners? What factors help launch BAMers out into stable, successful business as mission enterprises? What are the skills and characteristics that BAM companies are looking for as they recruit? How do potential BAMers best develop themselves and prepare for doing business as mission?

Here are some places to start:

  • Courses & Training Page – BAM Resource Library
    Looking for some BAM-related training? Start with the Courses & Training page in the Resource Library here on the BAM website for a list of training organisations and course providers related to BAM. Follow that up by browsing the Video & Audio Page which links to many Podcasts and Video Series which have great content and are all totally free to access. (And of course we have great Books and Papers listed too, as well as over 550 Blogs to read – see Blog Categories listed on this page!)

Read more

Multiplying Your Influence by Using Good Words

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by Dave Kahle

 

“Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” Did you have that saying in your childhood? Or one like it?

It was a response from our parents when we were verbally attacked, criticized, or otherwise made to feel bad by what someone said to us. It was probably helpful in nudging us off our hurt feelings. However, like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, in my childhood, it was untrue!

The truth lies in the opposite direction. While words may not break our bones, they can have a huge impact on our lives. On one hand, they can build us up and give us confidence and dedication, and on the other, they can generate feelings of inferiority, a defeated self-image and lead to depression and passivity.

Words are one of our most powerful tools for living a life of fulfillment and purpose.

The Bible is full of passages that remind of this powerful truth and encourage us to choose our words wisely. For example, the Bible is God’s Word. Not Gods feelings, not God’s actions, not God’s intentions. It is God’s Word for a reason.

Words are one of our most powerful tools for living a life of fulfillment and purpose.

In addition, God spoke the world into existence. It was His words that formed creation. (Genesis 1, NIV)

And, Jesus is called the Word. ..

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. (John 1: 1, NIV)

In case there is any confusion, Jesus makes clear how important words are to God:

But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. (Matthew 12:36-37)

As with so many other passages, we often relegate the idea to the realm of “church” and give ourselves a pass when it comes to our behavior in the marketplace. But there is no exception here for people in the marketplace. No where does it say, “This applies to your life, except your business or career. You don’t have to obey this on the job.” Read more

Multiplying Your Influence by Striving for Excellence

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by Dave Kahle

 

As a college student, I supported myself by working in a relatively expensive men’s clothing store. It was a small local chain, with five stores around town – one big headquarters store downtown, and four suburban stores in shopping centers.

One of our premium clothing lines was named after the designer – Oleg Cassini. He came to our city to promote his line, and the company’s executives held an evening reception for him. Even though I was just 19, I was one of the few employees from the suburban stores who were invited.

Why was that?

Even though I was young and relatively inexperienced, I was the number one salesperson among the four suburban stores. The company wanted to recognize that excellence by including me in the reception. It was excellence in my work that led to the reception invitation and the consequent recognition and influence.

That was my first exposure to a powerful rule of human behavior by which Christian businesspeople can create a disproportionate impact for the Kingdom: Excellence in your work inevitably leads to greater influence and that influence can create a significant impact for the Kingdom.

Excellence in your work inevitably leads to greater influence and that influence can create a significant impact for the Kingdom.

Since then, I’ve seen the connection between excellence and influence manifest in multiple situations, people and industries.

For example, in athletic contests, it is the outstanding player who is interviewed after the end of the game. Patrick Mahomes, the American football quarterback, to name just one, often gives credit to God in postgame interviews. That’s a perfect example of excellence in work translating to influence for the kingdom.

In company meetings, it’s the star salesperson who is often asked to opine on the new product line or lead the discussion on strategy or tactics. In my work, I often interview some selected representatives of the sales force for a client company. The people that management selects to talk to the consultant are invariably the best. Those who are struggling with mediocrity aren’t considered.

In industry associations, it is the leading companies who are asked to be on the committees and chair the task forces. Read more

What is Business as Mission? A Brand New Explainer [Video]

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We’re excited to share with you our brand new 3 minute explainer video for business as mission!

 

Business as Mission is the creation and growth of for-profit, sustainable companies that are intentional about Kingdom of God purposes. Business as mission (BAM) addresses the economic, social, environmental, and spiritual needs of unreached peoples and vulnerable communities.

 

Concept and script by BAM Global Communications Team, animation by Alana Schreiber. An initiative of BAM Global.

Read more

What Kind of Entrepreneur was Paul the Apostle?

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by Min-Dong Paul Lee and Dave Pederson, Wheaton College

Read Part 1  |  Read Part 2

On the road to Damascus, Paul’s life was transformed from a self-promoter to a steward of the gospel to the gentiles. A curious fact is that Paul never quit his job as a tentmaker. Why did Paul remain a leather-worker artisan throughout his missionary career? Could it be that this daily business was an integral part of his ministry? We use the lens of a modern entrepreneurship theory called entrepreneurial effectuation theory to unlock Paul’s combining of business and ministry.

Effectuation theory offers a unique perspective explaining the entrepreneurial process. Most entrepreneurship theory assumes that entrepreneurs start with a goal (i.e., creating products or enterprise) in mind and mobilize resources to achieve the end. Effectuation theory offers a very different perspective. It argues that entrepreneurs begin with assessing their available resources and determining the next best step given the resources, allowing them to adapt their goals and strategies as circumstances change. This approach emphasizes flexibility and improvisation over rigid planning, creating a more dynamic model for understanding the entrepreneurial process.

While some may distill effectuation theory into ‘going with the flow,’ there is a clear strategic emphasis that entrepreneurs exercise, especially when following a goal that is impressed upon them rather than manufactured by themselves. As a steward of God’s mission, Paul had a specific goal that was given to him. Yet, he seems to adapt his methods at nearly every turn to find the best approach to launching and building churches. Paul combined his tentmaking work with ministry to find and create opportunities and solve problems. Let us use the lens of four principles of effectuation theory to examine Paul’s unique ministry.

Bird-in-Hand Principle (Start with What You Have)

The Bird-in-Hand principle asserts that successful entrepreneurs create solutions with immediately available resources, such as their skills, knowledge, and networks.

When Christ confronted Paul on the Damascus road, he sent him on a mission to the gentiles. Paul immediately had to make a resourcing decision. According to a Roman Stoic philosopher, Musonius Rufus, an itinerant teacher like Paul could provide for themselves in four ways: (1) Paul could find a wealthy gentile patron; (2) he could collect tuition from his students; (3) he could beg for a living; (4) he could work with his hands. Paul learned leather-working skills from his youth. So, he chose to apply his skills in supplying for his needs and worked in the trade throughout his life. In fact, even when he was under house arrest in Rome at the end of his life, he worked to pay for the rent (Acts 28:30). Read more

The Mindset of a BAMer: Lessons from Paul the Apostle

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by Min-Dong Paul Lee and Dave Pederson, Wheaton College

Read Part 1

 

BAMers have two integrated identities: Missional and entrepreneurial identities. We know that our missional identity is grounded in our conviction as stewards of God’s mission. Then, what is part of our entrepreneurial identity? What distinguishes entrepreneurs from everyone else?

In their influential study, The Entrepreneurial Mindset, McGrath and MacMillan define five critical characteristics of entrepreneurs as (1) opportunity-seeking, (2) disciplined, (3) focused, (4) adaptive, and (5) collaborative. Are these characteristics relevant for BAM entrepreneurs? Through examples from the work and life of Apostle Paul, we show Paul’s entrepreneurial mindset, firmly anchored in stewardship identity, was an essential driving force for his mission.

Opportunity-Seeking

The first characteristic of an entrepreneurial mindset is opportunity-seeking. Like good chess players, entrepreneurs are not just focused on what is happening on the board. Instead, their mind is racing ahead to predict the moves ahead. Entrepreneurs stay alert and constantly scan the environment to look for new opportunities.

The Book of Acts paints a fascinating portrait of the Apostle Paul, a man whose defining characteristic was his relentless pursuit of opportunity. While he sought opportunities to advance his career and crush the nascent Christian movement before the Damascus experience, after conversion, his opportunity-seeking mindset was redirected towards spreading the Gospel in Damascus and Jerusalem. Yet, Paul’s initial zeal did not always yield positive results. His attempt to preach to the Hellenistic Jews in Jerusalem backfired, forcing him to retreat to his hometown of Tarsus (Acts 9:28-30).

This experience may have been another critical turning point for Paul. What he thought was an opportunity was only a distraction when it was not God’s timing. Nonetheless, Paul had the humility to listen to others and went back home to Tarsus and the surrounding regions.

When God’s timing arrived, in contrast to his earlier self-directed pursuit of opportunity, Paul sought opportunities in God’s will and timing. This shift led him to unexpected and fruitful places. For instance, in the Philippi prison, Paul shared the gospel with the jailer’s family. His commitment to spreading the gospel extended even to encounters with powerful rulers. When engaging with King Agrippa, Paul’s passionate proclamation left a lasting impression. Agrippa, taken aback, remarked, “In a short time, would you persuade me to be a Christian?” (Acts 26:28). Paul’s reliance on divine guidance allowed him to discover opportunities he did not anticipate.

The Spirit-guided insight for spotting fruitful opportunities is an essential quality of a BAMer.

Discipline and Focus

Discipline and focus are intricately connected like the two sides of the same coin. Once entrepreneurs spot opportunities, they pursue them with enormous discipline and focus. They have a bias toward action and are disciplined to turn ideas into products and services that meet real needs. Focus demands an unrelenting prioritization of the best opportunity. The entrepreneurs first select the most fertile battleground – the industry or arena with the most promise. Then, within this chosen domain, they focus on the most attractive opportunity. This inevitably necessitates trade-offs. Other potentially alluring opportunities are cast aside. They understand they must give up something to focus on the best possible opportunity. Read more

The Apostle Paul: An Entrepreneurial Steward

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by Min-Dong Paul Lee and Dave Pederson, Wheaton College

The Apostle Paul is one of the most extensively studied biblical characters. However, much of the research focused on his theology, leaving Paul’s human side – his behaviors and motivations – underexplored. With the advancement of modern behavioral sciences, new conceptual tools are available to analyze his ministry from fresh perspectives. For example, what would we learn if we examined Paul’s ministry through the lens of modern entrepreneurial research?

Paul: The Accidental Theologian and Natural Entrepreneur

Paul was a theologian by accident. He didn’t see himself as a writer of long treatises. Rather, he saw himself as God’s servant and practitioner carrying out the pastoral and missionary work of the emerging movement of Jesus’ followers. If we focus on his actions and decisions, we see a unique figure that was highly proactive and entrepreneurial. He planted over a dozen churches, coached many leaders, wrote almost half of the New Testament books, and engaged in trades in multiple cities.

Paul’s life is an apt example of what modern organizational scholars describe as an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs have the uncanny ability to see the unmet needs in the market. They are willing to take the risk to create something that exploits the opportunity to add value to society. Modern entrepreneurship research suggests that entrepreneurs possess a distinct mindset characterized by five key features:

1. Opportunity-Seeking: They stay alert and actively scan the environment for new opportunities

2. Disciplined: They are determined and persistent in pursuing their goals

3. Focused: They prioritize specific goals and are willing to make strategic tradeoffs

4. Adaptable: They adjust their strategies to the changing environment

5. Collaborative: They recognize the power of working together with others

Interestingly, Paul had all the marks of an entrepreneur even before his conversion. Paul was a Hellenistic Jew from Tarsus in the province of Cilicia. Yet, he moved to Jerusalem to become a student of Gamaliel, a leading figure among the Pharisees in Jerusalem, eager to climb the religious ladder. When the Jesus sect emerged, Paul saw it as a heretical threat and began to persecute them with discipline and focus. He often adapted his strategies of persecution, growing ever more violent. He was willing to collaborate with even the Sadducees to achieve his objective. Paul was an ambitious entrepreneur driven by his religious zeal and personal success.

Transformation as an Entrepreneurial Steward

Everything changes on the road to Damascus. The encounter with the risen Christ shook Paul to the core and fundamentally transformed his identity, purpose, and practice. It is not that he lost his entrepreneurial edge. Instead, God redirected his natural disposition toward a whole new mission (Acts 9:15). Paul continued applying an entrepreneurial mindset in his missionary work. However, instead of being self-driven and opportunistic, he submitted himself entirely to the leading of his master and committed to the new mission. To describe this unique blend of entrepreneurial mindset with a servant’s heart, we introduce the term entrepreneurial steward. Entrepreneurial stewards are people whose identity is firmly anchored in the stewardship commitment to serve their master’s interest while leveraging their entrepreneurial talents. Read more

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