Have you heard of B4M? It’s a growing field of creative ways to do and fund missions! B4M is Business FOR Missions, which means a business that exists just as much to further the spread of the gospel and the advancement of the Kingdom as to make money. Another similar term is Business AS Missions (BAM). This is basically a type of B4M, usually one that is a mission in itself, employing unbelievers and training them in Kingdom concepts, providing jobs, blessing the community, and much more, in order to love on people and live missionally at work. During our SOSM (School of Strategic Missions), we had a week of teaching on B4M/BAM, and saw many, many incredible and creative examples of businesses functioning for the Kingdom, here in the U.S. and all over the world.
God has endless creative ways to fund missions. This particular concept is growing by leaps and bounds in the world of missions, as many nations become more closed and/or hostile to the Gospel, and believers must be more creative about legitimately getting into and living in those nations. You certainly can’t get a visa to get into China if you’re listed as a missionary (short of miraculous intervention, of course)! But a teacher, an engineer, a retail store owner, etc, etc – well, that is quite a different story. Similarly, in Muslim nations/areas, a missionary will simply not be accepted by the community if other people are his means of making a living. It is considered dishonorable, if not highly suspect. So much the better to own a business that provides jobs in those nations, enabling him to be a contributing part of the community, and giving him both the credibility and the face time to build relationships.
You can see the immense potential in this way of doing missions! And of course, this allows for the hybrid sweet spot of supporting your own family, being able to give much into missions, AND then being able to put any financial support others sow into your mission directly to ministry! Of course, this method is not always possible – there are many expressions of missions and ministry that may necessitate full funding from others. Living among third world animists in the Amazon River Basin, for example. Or callings such as pastors and even intercessors that require intense levels of time spent in prayer, learning, preparation, etc. There are many callings and places of ministry that need to be provided for completely by the Church. Here, though, we just want to share our excitement for what this new season of Business in Missions could bring…
Have you heard about the Divine Transfer of Wealth? It has long been talked about among prophetic circles. God has said that a huge amount of the world’s economy will shift to His people. We do believe that is going to happen – but we don’t necessarily think it will happen overnight. This is not some wave of the magic wand that suddenly drops billions of dollars into church accounts. It is the Church learning how to create wealth and use money for the Kingdom. Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “But remember the LORD your God, because he is the one who gives you the ability to produce wealth, in order to confirm his covenant that he promised by an oath to your ancestors, as is the case today.”
We WILL learn how to produce wealth and this really excites us – what if we had access to the limitless resources of God here in the natural, because our faulty understandings of money and wealth have been redeemed by Truth? How much further and faster could we spread the Gospel? How many more children could we feed? How many more could learn sustainable practices to feed their family? How many more water wells could we provide? How many more life-saving/life-transforming surgeries? How many more young people could get training to GO?
We believe that this shift WILL happen as believers begin to understand how finances really work in the Kingdom, to accept the Truth of the riches of our inheritance in Christ (which is certainly not limited to money, but includes it!!), and to move in an abundance that rejoices in giving greatly to the work of God! We also believe that this BAM movement is a huge part of how this shift will happen. Business people, after all, are already the resource for a large part of funding for missions. As God increases our capacity and assists our creativity, more and more and more businesses will spring up. Businesses that are full of the life and abundance of God, because they are built by Him for a joyful purpose, creating fruit that goes far, far beyond money!
As we move forward in our missionary journey, you will see us combining traditional fundraising with the launch of businesses and programs designed to generate wealth. This doesn’t mean that we need fewer financial partners – there is a blessing for each of us when we give that goes far beyond money. We believe in the value of investing generously in ministry and have seen the fruit of our own investments, but we also believe that our impact in the Kingdom can be multiplied exponentially when we move in our God-given power to engage the world of commerce.