The Lausanne 2004 Forum Business as Mission Issue Group worked for a year, addressing issues relating to God’s purposes for work and business, the role of business people in church and missions, the needs of the world and the potential response of business. The group consisted of more than 70 people from all continents. Most came from a business background but there were also church and mission leaders, educators, theologians, lawyers and researchers. The collaboration process included 60 papers, 25 cases studies, several national and regional Business as Mission consultations and email-based discussions, culminating in a week of face to face dialogue and work.
This 1st Global Think Tank on BAM produced:
(These are also available in a few other languages, see below: BAM articles and papers in other languages than English)
The 2nd Global Think Tank, in partnership with Lausanne, is working 2012 – 2013.
- www.bamthinktank.org (available now but official launch March 15)
BAM Books
There is a BAM bibliography is available.
A few samples:
Introductory booklet to BAM
Building the Kingdom Through Business: A Mission Strategy for the 21st Century World, by Bridget Adams & Manoj Raithatha. Available at www.instantapostle.com (from March 27, 2012)
If it’s business that shapes the world, then how can we use it to shape the world for good and for God? Against the background of an international debate on business
ethics and more just societies, this book looks at Godly business in Biblical, historical and practical ways. It includes advice on starting a business, and case studies of businesses already making a difference.
Business as Mission: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice, C. Neal Johnson, Inter-Varsity Press, January 2010
Business as mission (BAM) is a mission strategy whose time has come. But Christian companies and business leaders do not automatically accomplish missional purposes. BAM requires mastery of both the world of business and the world of missions, merging and contextualizing both into something significantly different than either alone. C. Neal Johnson offers the first comprehensive guide to business as mission for practitioners. He provides conceptual foundations for understanding BAM’s unique place in global mission and prerequisites for engaging in it. Then he offers practical resources for how to do BAM, including strategic planning and step-by-step operational implementation. Drawing on a wide variety of BAM models, Johnson works through details of both mission and business realities, with an eye to such issues as management, sustainability and accountability.
Business for the Glory of God: The Bible’s Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business Wayne Grudem, Crossway, 2003
Can business activity in itself be morally good and pleasing to God? Sometimes business can seem so shady-manipulating the “bottom line,” deceiving the consumer, or gaining promotions because of whom you know. Wayne Grudem introduces a novel concept: business itself glorifies God when it is conducted in a way that imitates God’s character and creation. He shows that all aspects of business, including ownership, profit, money, competition, and borrowing and lending, glorify God because they are reflective of God’s nature. This biblically based book is a thoughtful guide to imitating God during interactions with customers, coworkers, employees, and other businesses. See how your business, and your life in business, can be dedicated to God’s glory.
Business as Mission: The Power of Business in the Kingdom of God, Michael R. Baer, YWAM Publishing, 2006
Like never before, Christian business leaders have the chance to play a pivotal role in transforming society and spreading the gospel. But seizing this opportunity requires thinking differently about God, about his kingdom, about his purposes in the world, and about business. In this book, Mike Baer rejects the unbiblical thinking that ministry and business are by definition separate activities – that our lives can be compartmentalized into the sacred and secular. Instead he guides business leaders in developing the vital characteristics of a kingdom business – the kind of business that will free them live fully integrated lives and lead organizations that significantly impact the world.
Great Commission Companies: The Emerging Role of Business in Mission, Steve Rundle and Tom Steffen, IVP, 2011 (Rev. Expanded Edition)
Business as mission has emerged as a significant new model for mission in the twenty-first century. In this landmark book, economist Steve Rundle and missiologist Tom Steffen offer their paradigm for the convergence of business and missions – the Great Commission Company. In an era where multinational corporations have global influence and impact, the Great Commission Company opens up new possibilities for missions-minded entrepreneurs and businesspeople who want to change the world to the glory of God. This revised and expanded edition provides new and updated case studies of Great Commission Companies in diverse contexts around the world.
My Business, My Mission: Fighting Poverty Through Partnerships, Doug Seebeck and Timothy Stoner, CRC Publications, 2009
My Business, My Mission tells the story of a movement that is changing the lives of tens of thousands of people in the most impoverished nations on earth. It is also transforming business people in the northern and southern hemispheres by exposing them to a revolutionary paradigm: the idea that God has called them into mission through business. Through the work of a remarkable organization called Partners Worldwide, North American businesspeople and entrepreneurs in developing countries are joining together to fight poverty. Their mission is simple: to expand their businesses, create wealth, and provide jobs for the poor in Christ’s name.
Business as Mission Articles
Mats quotes Pope John Paul II in Centesimus annus 1991 on profit and capitalism:
Asian, African, and Latin American perspectives
There are an increasing number of publications (books, articles, papers) on Business as Mission, BAM. Many are authored by Westerners from a Western perspective and these contributions are good and helpful. But it is not a fair reflection of the global BAM movement, since probably most practitioners and many thought leaders are non-Westerners or run BAM businesses in the Arab world and Asia.
WEA-MC Journal Connections, BAM issue, fall 2009 contains articles on Business as Mission from thought leaders and practitioners from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and North America.
http://www.weaconnections.com/Back-issues/Business-As-Mission.aspx
The articles include:
- Case Study on BAM SME from Korea to Other Parts of Asia. Joseph Lee
- Restoring People, Changing Businesses, Transforming Societies – A Case Study from Indonesia. Julian Foe
- The Challenges and Opportunities For Business As Mission: A Perspective From Africa. Dennis Tongoi
- Bossa Nova, the “Beautiful Game” and Business as Mission (A Brazilian Perspective). João Mordomo
- Larger-Sized Business as Mission (BAM) Companies. (Chinese Perspectives) Dwight Nordstrom & Vince Liang
- Why Is Bangladesh Poor and Taiwan Rich? Mats Tunehag & Peter Shaukat
- Business as Mission: Towards a Biblical and Practical Theology of Work and Business. Bridget Adams
- Church, Missions and Business: Roles, Responsibilities, Tension and Synergies. Peter Shaukat
- Human Trafficking: Business as Prevention and Restoration. Jennifer Roemhildt Tunehag
- Ten Principles: BAM in areas of Prostitution and Trafficking. Annie Dieselberg
- The Experiment in Integrated Mission – Business, Mission, and Social Transformation. Trev Gregory
- The Mission of Business: CSR+. Mats Tunehag
- Chickens, computers, and steel parts – Why business-based ministry is so effective. Matt in Asia
A Biblical perspective on work – video
Most of us will spend the bulk of our lives working. Paid or unpaid is not the issue. We may work as an employee in an office or work in our garden or work with the kids on their homework. But most of us have never heard a sermon on work. What is work? What is a Biblical perspective on work?
God created cabbage, and the Koreans used that to create kimchi. Was that right? Spiritual? Just mundane matters? How did God view the product line of his work? How should we view kimchi-making?
Daniel and his three friends worked for the Nebuchadnezzar administration. Would it have been better – and more spiritual – if they had become rabbis and done “synagogue planting”? Is it more God pleasing to be a missionary than a business person? Is it more spiritual to evangelize than to mop the floor?
Why do we think and act “Pyramid of Christ”, when the Bible talks about the Body of Christ? What is “full time ministry”?
These and similar issues are dealt with in a sermon at Sarang Community Church, a Korean American mega church in Los Angeles. The title for the sermon was: God is at work and he loves it!
Click here to watch the 35 minute video clip –> God is at work and He loves it!
Other BAM articles and papers in 14 other languages than English
Arabic, Bahasa, Chinese, Farsi, Finnish, French, German, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese: http://www.matstunehag.com/further-reading/
1. Editors: Mats Tunehag, Wayne McGee, Josie Plummer