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Alliance Missions and Business Professionals
Posted by
Bob Fetherlin
,
13 January 2007
·
699 views
How can we unleash laypersons who are business professionals to help in Alliance missions? Many of them are already traveling to do business in countries where Alliance missions resources are being invested. Rather than asking these C&MA business professionals to just show up at their local Alliance church on Sundays to pay for and pray for missions, why not have them engaged in front-line, missional activity? After all, they're like lions all week in their businesses. Why should they be treated like lambs when they show up at church on Sunday morning, often relegated to the sidelines with the expectation that as long as they behave and write big checks, they're "in"? When their hearts are overflowing with a love relationship with Jesus and their passions align with His mission, ways can be discovered to engage them in front-line, missional work.
What might some of these opportunities look like? Here are five ways Alliance business professionals with love and devotion for Jesus Christ can help carry out His mission overseas:
• Use their profession as a basis for obtaining visas for themselves and others in areas of the world with high concentrations of unreached people - This would help establish presence in countries closed to professional, clergy missionaries. Business professionals involved in this could live their lives and conduct their work in ways prompting questions to which Jesus Christ is the answer. This would fit into the growing "kingdom professional" and "business as mission" models of cross-cultural ministry.
• Go short-term to a country to work with the "on the ground" team of missionaries and church partners in building relational connections with business professionals in that setting - In urban church planting among middle and upper class professionals, missionaries not of these socio-economic classes find it challenging to build relationships with local people who are of these classes. Having US Alliance business professionals make periodic, short-term visits to build relational bridges with local professionals can open doors in very helpful ways for "on the ground" personnal.
• Invest in beginning a branch of their business in an overseas context thereby providing opportunity to be witnesses while helping local people have jobs - In many impoverished areas of the world, unemployment runs at over 50%. This results in economic hardship for communities and the developing churches within them. Having increased job opportunities directly helps the local economy and indirectly can breathe greater fiscal health into the church.
• Provide business seminars (values-based business, best business practices, etc.) in overseas contexts in a way that opens doors for Christian witness and relationship building - This would be accomplished by US Alliance business professionals going to a country short-term for this purpose. Again, these would be settings in which relationships could be built opening the door for eventual opportunities to introduce people to Jesus Christ.
• Develop micro-enterprise loan opportunities among the poor - This would be a way of helping people enslaved by poverty help themselves with the goal of improving their own lives and living conditions. With over half the world's population living below the United Nations-defined poverty line, there are tremendous opportunities to infuse capital and build the necessary infrastructure for this to happen. As the poor are recipients of this kind of compassion, their hearts tend to open to the message being carried by those helping them.
I recently had a business professional join me for a trip to a country in Latin America. I was overjoyed as I watched him build connections with people in the community where a future Alliance church is envisioned. This worked well . . . and can undoubtedly work well over and over again as business professionals are invited and encouraged to use their skills and gifting to be a part of Alliance missions!
What might some of these opportunities look like? Here are five ways Alliance business professionals with love and devotion for Jesus Christ can help carry out His mission overseas:
• Use their profession as a basis for obtaining visas for themselves and others in areas of the world with high concentrations of unreached people - This would help establish presence in countries closed to professional, clergy missionaries. Business professionals involved in this could live their lives and conduct their work in ways prompting questions to which Jesus Christ is the answer. This would fit into the growing "kingdom professional" and "business as mission" models of cross-cultural ministry.
• Go short-term to a country to work with the "on the ground" team of missionaries and church partners in building relational connections with business professionals in that setting - In urban church planting among middle and upper class professionals, missionaries not of these socio-economic classes find it challenging to build relationships with local people who are of these classes. Having US Alliance business professionals make periodic, short-term visits to build relational bridges with local professionals can open doors in very helpful ways for "on the ground" personnal.
• Invest in beginning a branch of their business in an overseas context thereby providing opportunity to be witnesses while helping local people have jobs - In many impoverished areas of the world, unemployment runs at over 50%. This results in economic hardship for communities and the developing churches within them. Having increased job opportunities directly helps the local economy and indirectly can breathe greater fiscal health into the church.
• Provide business seminars (values-based business, best business practices, etc.) in overseas contexts in a way that opens doors for Christian witness and relationship building - This would be accomplished by US Alliance business professionals going to a country short-term for this purpose. Again, these would be settings in which relationships could be built opening the door for eventual opportunities to introduce people to Jesus Christ.
• Develop micro-enterprise loan opportunities among the poor - This would be a way of helping people enslaved by poverty help themselves with the goal of improving their own lives and living conditions. With over half the world's population living below the United Nations-defined poverty line, there are tremendous opportunities to infuse capital and build the necessary infrastructure for this to happen. As the poor are recipients of this kind of compassion, their hearts tend to open to the message being carried by those helping them.
I recently had a business professional join me for a trip to a country in Latin America. I was overjoyed as I watched him build connections with people in the community where a future Alliance church is envisioned. This worked well . . . and can undoubtedly work well over and over again as business professionals are invited and encouraged to use their skills and gifting to be a part of Alliance missions!
