Business as Mission Adresses the Big Issues Facing the Church

In Tim Keller’s latest blog post, he points out five big issues facing the Western Church. They are:

The opportunity for extensive culture-making in the U.S. The rise of Islam. The new non-western Global Christianity. The growing cultural remoteness of the gospel. The end of prosperity?

I recommend you head over to the Redeemer City to City website and read what Keller has to say about these issues. It helps to focus on these shifts in the evangelistic landscape of the West. Doing so will help us to anticipate new opportunities and threats to our efforts to achieving our goals as Kingdom strategists.

One thing I am encouraged by as I read these is that in many ways the...

Defining the Business as Mission Movement

The following is an excerpt from the BAM Survey 2007 Report, an in-depth assessment of the state of the Business as Mission movement that I wrote while developing the consulting services division of EC Group International. The report is based on survey responses from 497 people in 38 countries.

Though based on data collected in 2007, many of the insights contained in this report are valuable in understanding the state of the Business as Mission movement at the beginning of 2010. That is why over the course of the next several weeks I will be posting excerpts from the report on this blog. Additionally, you can purchase an electronic copy of the BAM Survey 2007 Report for $14.99.

Whether you are a BAM practitioner, a church or missions...

15 Reasons “Church Online” Should Be Debated

Jesus Christ is on Facebook

I personally am a huge proponent of Christians leveraging the power of the Internet to advance the Kingdom and to give glory to God. I recognize that the web is changing the way people live their lives, I see it in my own family. My nigh-two year old is already comfortable with video calls and would rather look at pictures of her mother and brother on the computer than look at them in person. It is apparent to me that Internet will be a integral aspect of the lives of future generations of Christians.

As Christians around the world are exploring new expressions of faith within the virtual context of the web, people are forming strong opinions...

Blog Action Day 2009 | Climate Change

I’m proud to participate in Blog Action Day, an annual event where bloggers from around the world focus the power of their medium to address a global issue in the hopes of inspiring change. I got involved in Blog Action Day last year when the topic was something I’m passionate about: poverty. You can read my post from last year here.

The topic for this year (climate change) is not something I’m passionate about – BUT – that does not mean it is not an important issue. In fact, environmentalism is part of our Christian calling and every Kingdom strategist needs to consider how their work as part of redeeming creation, impacts creation.

Environmentalism is part of our Christian...

Motivations for BAM as a strategy (part 3)

Organization consideration of Business as Mission as a strategy is typically in response to three (3) drivers:

Response to global trends Challenges facing the organization Perceived benefits of Business as Mission

In Part 1 of this series I discussed the first driver, identifying key trends facing missions organizations. In Part 2 I discussed how organizational challenges makes BAM an attractive solution for missions organizations. Finally, in this post I will identify some of the perceived benefits of Business as Mission and discuss some misconceptions that are common among missions organizations. ...

Motivations for BAM as a strategy (part 1)

As Business as Mission increases in popularity, it is gaining the attention from traditional missionaries who perceive its potential for enhancing their ministries, solving challenges, and addressing needs. As you consider the role Business as Mission will play in your organization, it is important to know what environmental factors as well as what internal perceptions have lead to BAM’s consideration.

My research shows that interest in Business as Mission is typically in response to three (3) drivers:

Response to global trends Challenges facing the organization Perceived benefits of Business as Mission

In this article, I will discuss the first driver, identifying key factors facing missions organizations and making recommendations on how much weight these issues should be given when considering BAM. In