The Big Picture

So what is Business As Mission?  The basic concept is that by coming alongside people living in developing countries, areas of abject poverty, or circumstances that may seem otherwise hopeless, we can honor God by simply using the knowledge and skills He has given us.

I will admit that I used to question my ability to participate in “missions” around the world, for a variety of reasons.  But in the end, I think I thought that in order to be a missionary, I would have to forsake the very skills I have spent years and countless thousands of dollars developing through formal education, work experience, etc.  But I’m coming to realize that I have skills and knowledge that can be invaluable for supporting struggling endeavors, and building relationships as a natural outgrowth  of those efforts. 

You won’t see me standing on a box with a sign indicating the end of the world is coming.  I’m not planning to hand out countless numbers of tracts.  And I certainly won’t be planting a new church or getting up to preach every Sunday.  But what I will be doing is helping support an existing missionary in Bolivia by providing guidance and support to ensure that positive activities undertaken can be sustainable in the long-term, rather than solely dependent upon ongoing donations for the United States.  What I will be doing is developing relationships with key people who have the ability to affect transformational outcomes, whether those people are in Bolivia, or back in the states.  In other words, I’m planning to use the gifts God has given me, in a manner I can passionately engage.

If you want to see more about what this might look like, you can check out the website of Transformational Ventures, the Business As Mission arm of World Venture, a missionary organization whose vision is “Powerful Partnerships.  Transformed Lives.”  In fact, there are several references to our Bolivia page on the bottom half of that site right now.  There are also a variety of other exciting examples of the impact we can have on the world by using business skills in a positive way.

So yes, we’ll be missionaries.  But probably not in the way you might have expected.  And next week I'll give some concrete examples as we look back on our trip to Bolivia, and exactly what activities we did engage in.