The Underlying Principles that Shaped a Kingdom Impact Approach Framework

by the TSME Team

Imagine…

The day of the big trip you’ve been planning for months is finally here. You nervously do one last scramble through the house and sift through your luggage to make sure it’s all there. Toothbrush? Yes. Breathable and sweat-absorbing shirts? Yes. An assortment of over-the-counter medicines for stomach ailments of any kind? Check. Passport? Check.  (Wait is that really my passport, double-check… yes!).

Today you and a small group from your church start a multi-week odyssey to visit BAM practitioners residing amongst least-reached peoples in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The group is comprised of a mix of aspiring BAM workers, investors and church leaders. And though your roles vary, you share a few common beliefs as a small group. You believe:

• That God is on mission for the redemption of all things and all peoples for His glory
• That God chose to partner with His Spirit-filled people to invite those from every tribe, tongue and language to his eternal kingdom
• That business (and indeed all work) can be offered as worship to the Living God (no sacred/secular divide)
• That business done well provides unique opportunities amongst least-reached peoples to see kingdom transformation.
• That how we steward our lives and resources matters to God. God owns all the resources and we steward what we are given for His purposes.

The overarching goal of your trip is to evaluate the ‘impact’ of a handful of companies operated by kingdom practitioners. All these companies have advertised that they are doing Christian work, spiritual impact, advancing the kingdom, or some similar set of words. The questions your small group are intent to answer is what does this mean, is ‘impact’ taking place, and how can we evaluate this? As a global partner and investor, you find yourself asking questions of stewardship, “Are these resources of God I invested stewarded well? Is the risk worth the ‘impact’? Could I in good faith invite others to join as investors on the journey?’ And, on another level of importance, the BAM practitioners with whom you are partnering are asking similar questions of effectiveness and worth, “How are we doing?! Are we on the right track? Is all we’re “suffering” worth it?”

The team has a desire to get a proper understanding of the kingdom impact taking place in and through the businesses in these various contexts.

Alright, you start in Cairo and spend time with the founders of the now sizeable micro-finance company making loans to thousands of local residents. You re-pack and spend three days in Tashkent with a software company. The company has a small team of eight and there is concern about their product/market fit given recent worldwide disruptions, but they have already seen meaningful fruit from their discipleship efforts. Before you know it, you’re back in the departure lounge and about to fly to Pakistan. When you land in Karachi, you meet a Pakistani follower of Jesus who has recently built a manufacturing company. The company partnered with a South East Asia firm to utilize new technology for a replacement building material as a substitute for bricks. This eases the extreme physical and human cost in the historically abusive brick-making industry in the region.

At this point of the journey, your heart is stirred afresh by seeing all that God is doing. You knew these types of companies existed and that men and women of faith were leading these companies, but you simply couldn’t have dreamed of the meaningful transformation taking place because these leaders chose to move into these specific ‘neighborhoods’ and build a kingdom-centered business….

You finally make it to Kuala Lumpur and your mind is reeling. What numbers shall we use to quantify kingdom impact?  How should we compare the company operating in a city of 20,000,000 with that of a company in the foothills of the Himalayas? How do we compare the small company of 12 in Amman utilizing AI-propelled medtech solutions with the group operating a business hotel in North India?

While on one hand, you’re thrilled at the opportunity to see the activity of the kingdom of God scattered through all these least-reached communities, you realize how difficult it is to answer, “What is kingdom impact and how is it evaluated? And how can company leaders faithfully maintain kingdom centeredness over long timeframes?”

Have you ever wrestled with such important topics?

Have you ever been on such a trip?

Did you know that there are indeed phenomenal kingdom-focused companies in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia? (There are!).

Transformational SME (TSME)

Over the past two decades, the TSME team has wrestled with the concepts presented in part one. TSME is a global community investing through an evergreen fund for holistic kingdom impact in the world’s toughest markets (the Middle East, North Africa and Asia).

As we deploy capital to growth-stage, kingdom-companies amongst least-reached peoples, we execute an intensive due diligence process. This multi-month process includes on-site visits for qualified companies to assess the company’s potential for commercial success while integrating with equal rigor our assessment of its kingdom impact potential. This process has emerged as the Kingdom Impact Approach Framework, or KIA.

 

Read Part 2  for a deeper introduction to the Kingdom Impact Approach Framework.

 

 

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Connect at: transformationalsme.org

 

 

Photo by Alex Azabache on Unsplash