Business As Mission (BAM)
Business as Mission is a concept which has been around through the whole of church history in one form or another. Today it is a movement defined in evangelical Christian circles as “…a God-given vocation and institution in society, with the potential to bring multiple benefits to people, communities and nations. Business as mission intentionally leverages this intrinsic power of business to address spiritual needs, hand in hand with social, economic and environmental needs.“(1)
Joao Mordomo served on the Lausanne Forum’s “Business as Mission” Issue Group. He defines BAM as:
“the doxologically-motivated development and use of authentic business activities (especially small to medium sized, or SME) to create authentic ministry opportunities leading to the transformation of the world’s least-reached people and peoples spiritually, economically, socially and environmentally”(2)
According to the Business As Mission Think Tank a Business As Mission is:
• Profitable and sustainable businesses;
• Intentional about Kingdom of God purpose and impact on people and nations;
• Focused on holistic transformation and the multiple bottom lines of economic, social, environmental and spiritual outcomes;
• Concerned about the world’s poorest and least evangelized peoples.(3)
As you can see, the BAM model directly fits our Vision at Bread For Life, To see Africa and Africans become spiritually, socially and economically vibrant.
We presently have six different ministry areas, which are functioning as BAM ministries, our agricultural ministry Beulahland Farms, the Water For Life project, our Ray of Hope Community Centers, our shipping company BeulahGroup LLC, the BFL guest houses which we call Center for Spiritual Renewal, and our newest the Ray of Hope Academy.
Please click on the tabs under this Business As Missions section to learn more about each of these exciting BAM ministries at Bread For Life.
_____________ Citations _____________
(1) Joe Plummer (2014). Business As Mission Introduction. businessasmission.com/get-started/
(2) Joao Mordomo (2016). Business as Mission (BAM) To, In and Through Diaspora. In Sadiri Joy Tira and Tetsunao Yamamori (Eds.) Scattered and Gathered, a Global Compendium of Diaspora Missiology. (pp. 243). Eugene, OR. Wipf and Stock Publishers.
(3) Joe Plummer (2014). Business As Mission Introduction. businessasmission.com/get-started/