The probable
prediction of business as mission on unreached areas in future and what
required from probable missionaries
Introduction
Due
to the antagonistic environment against official entry of pastors and
missionaries, creative methods and differentiated approaches have recently been
launched. Therefore, dual identities such as teachers as missionaries or
doctors as missionaries are so commonly accepted that church plant is achieved.
In addition to this, it is easily seen that missionaries do the mission work
while working as staffs at non-governmental organization (NGO) or participating
humanitarian behaviours. In this context, Establishing businesses at the
unreached areas located in 10/40 windows as the effective tool of preaching
gospel has been debated for a long time among many dual identities. Although
the concept of “business as mission” has become an effective mission strategy
and popular among probable missionaries, there have been various problems that
rise. For example, there are times when operating a business directly deals
with the core characteristics of market mechanism, which conflicts with
biblical teachings. In this paper, the mission strategy of business as mission
will be approached from certain analytical issues such as predictable trend,
effectiveness and qualifications required from missionaries, who is interested
in mission strategy of business as mission. In order for these issues to be
examined, insights and actual enlightenments gained through the participation
of conference and dialogue with missionaries will be shown in this paper.
Recent situations and future trend of business as mission in unreached
areas
In
essence, most of unreached countries have closed the door against official
entry of pastors and missionaries. Priest states “the remaining ‘unreached’
regions of the world, with few exceptions, do not allow the presence of
full-time foreign religious professionals devoting themselves to the task of
religious conversion”[1]
From the governmental perspectives of unreached countries, the things they need
are any types of resources which help their countries escape from diseases,
famine, poverty and injustice. Even if they fail to recognize that only the
gospel of Jesus and not humanitarian aid alone, can ultimately free their people from all
these bondages of sin. This is where the dual identity is birthed. At the same
time, this is where the integration of secular and sacred sector of being missionary
should be achieved to facilitate God’s work wisely. Prior to the advent of
unwelcoming environment against the official religious professionals, the
dichotomy between secular and sacred sector of being a staff at the kingdom of God
was generally accepted. But, it is easily seen that the mixture of various
ratios between secular and sacred in missionaries is differentiated in
unreached countries.
In
this context, the conflict between context and text has existed as one of
imperative issues in terms of mission strategy. Specifically speaking, in an
environmental context, when one missionary encounters a desperate need in the
unreached country for the supply of medicines and elimination of diseases, the
missionary is easily tempted to construct the hospital rather than pursuing the
ultimate goal of spreading gospel. It is possible to end up being a manager of
building even if this missionary is engaged in the work of God. When conversing
with the founder of InterCP, which has professionally focused on missions in
Islamic countries, he stated,
“When many doctors, who wanted
to use their profession as mission tool, asked me to build the hospital as a
tool of mission in Uzbekistan in the beginning of 1980, I rebuked their
proposal. Instead, I successfully earned the used bus from Daewoo, one of
conglomerates in Korea, in a complimentary way on the condition that we
established the logo of company as the advertisement outside the refurbished
bus wherever we go. We remodeled inside of the bus and made one specific
partition in which every patient received the gospel message and pouring out of
prayer no matter how they were diagnosed”.
This above case
is classified as one of successful case of mission works. The work of God was
well established while interacting with what the environmental context requires
missionaries to do successfully. However, when the cultural context or
environmental context overwhelms a missionary, their destiny ends up being a
manager of building or losing their number one priority completely. Likewise,
running a business can bombard missionaries to suffocate their number one
priority, spreading the Gospel.
In
terms of running a business as mission tool, the absence of profit out of
business would be the tough obstacle to the concept of business as mission.
But, in reality, making profits out of business in unreached countries seems
harder than the way business as mission is easily fantasized. When
participating at the InterCP conference as a staff of Toronto branch in Feb,
2014, new insights and enlightenments were gained by the seminar I joined. The
presenter stated “if you make profits out of business embarked in the unreached
countries, your customer should be those who are positioned in the top 2% of
whole population. Their purchasing power is the stronger than the middle class
of United States.” And he added “if foreigners compete with local people, they
can never survive. Therefore, those who think of planting business should
choose the item with which local people can never think of launching
business.” But, rather than efforts of
launching cutting-edge technology-based business or a new creative item, it has
widely seen that many people are engaged with commerce-based business in
unreached countries. Based on my personal talk with a missionary who did God’s
work in Kenya, those who venture into new businesses are supposed to bring the
item which was either a big hit or trend in the developed countries. For
example, it was easily observed that people brought dried grains to the
specific place where couples of grain grinder machines in the beginning of 1980
in Korea. These machines disappeared long ago even if these made profits at
this time. The missionary predicted that the trade of importing these grain
grinder machines could match with the developmental stage of African economy.
The
industry has its courses in terms of developmental achievement. In other words,
in order for information technology (IT) industry to be developed, all the
infrastructures have to be established prior to the establishment of the
further complex industry. Even if industrial structures and development of each
unreached country have idiosyncratic features due to the local environment, most
of unreached countries have no liberty from the application of predictable
stages most developed countries have already taken. Accordingly, many Christians
try to do businesses by predicting what the specific unreached country needs
and bringing the item to the market based on the speculation of industrial
stage on which it sits. This causes Christian business entrepreneurs to depend
on the commerce and trade. And this is why old-fashioned business trend or
items which have already disappeared in developed countries are easily observed
in unreached countries. However, it has been reported that there are intense
competition, fraudulent schemes, and false activities among so-called
Christians. The founder of the InterCP said “When visiting any unreached
country to observe the local environment, be very careful not to say anything
about the item you are going to launch when encountering people, especially
introducing themselves as either missionaries or pastors.” And he stated
“One Christian tried to bring used
locomotives to do the railroad business in Uzbekistan. So, he tried to make
contract with Korean National Railroad (KORAIL). Before he put the signature on
the contract, he went to Uzbekistan to observe the local environment. During
his stay, he encountered one Korean, who introduced himself as a pastor.
Experiencing deeply gladness in him and graceful help from him, he talked with
him about many issues and his business plan blurted out from his mouth. Result?
Other person took the contract from KORAIL.”
During ten years
of my immigration in Canada, I have seen some miserable stories that Korean
people stole money from Koreans by taking disadvantage of their linguistic
weakness. It is very tragic to see similar cases in mission fields. Apart from
this, the certain type of exploitation seems to be unavoidable when it comes to
the profit. Without mentioning the unfair treatment of labor force and sweatshop
labor in less-privileged countries regarding these items such as coffee, cotton
and cocoa, profit seems to be accompanied by the exploitation even if any kinds
of businesses are established in mission field. In addition to this, the
conversation I had with one missionary, who has ten years of mission work in
northern Vietnam when visiting Hanoi last summer still seems to echo around the
ears. He stated “due to the increase of labor cost in China, lots of assembly
lines and factory have moved to Vietnam.” From the ultimate perspective of
nature in business, it is very evident that once the labor cost is increased
and human right becomes more protected, capital starts moving from place to
place, in which the maximization of profit can become possible. Putting all
these characteristics of local environment and fundamental elements of business
together, it seems to me that if one Christian business man does any kind of
business in unreached country, it would better for him to gain the profit out
of business and seek out the truthful missionaries. Then, it is advised to make
donation to them as the supplementary help to plant underground churches.
The
presenter at the conference introduced the concept “business and mission”
instead of “business as mission.” Business and mission means that if one
Christian does the business and gain the profit out of it, he cannot be
classified as a missionary. It seems to me that when gaining profits from the
business, he would be better to remain as a supporter to help missionaries, who
are truthful to their role as missionaries.
In other words, when Christians attempt to implement business as the
effective tool of mission, according to the business as mission model, profit needs
to be abandoned. The struggling challenge is that although Christians start
business with the intention of putting the profit into missional goals, most of
them are tempted by greed if the business gracefully arrives at the profitable
point. When business does not make profit in the sector of “business and
mission”, this would be problematic. However, whether business does not make
profit or does make profit, both sides can cause Christians to face challenging
issues in the sector of “business as mission”. Although the integration of
secular and sacred sector of engaging in God’s work is popular, it seems wise
for the separation of the two sectors and so that differentiated missionaries
need to work in collaboration on the soil of unreached countries.
Effectiveness of business as mission and requirement of probable
missionaries
Whether
approaching into businesses as supplementary tools to support mission
financially or running business in itself as mission tools, business has bundle
of inextricable philosophies in the definition of business which are prevalent
among people, even Christians. The problem is that these generally accepted
thoughts and teachings in business are unbiblical. For example, in order for
one specific item to be competitive in the market, it is generally explained
that the persistent focus on the strength point should be emphasized rather
than being attentive to the weakness. And this basic concept, being taught in
the fundamental business principles, seems to have taken its firm fortress in
the intellectual realm of many Christians without any defiance. However, the
strength point of one specific item or business is to be emphasized while the
weakness should be dealt biblically. Biblical scripture has the contradictory
approach against the very basic fundamental of business.2 Corinthians 9 says
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made
perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my
weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” In addition to this, this
excerpt from documentation on tentmakers seems to demonstrate how deeply
Christians have been embedded with plausible teachings and learnings.
“A tentmaker in China reminded me
recently of the standard business teaching, “Go with your strengths.” The
thinking is that if you strive to become proficient in a weak area, it will
take too much time and effort away from working in the areas in which you are
most productive and profitable. In other words, if you work to be good at
everything, you will be great at nothing. Peter Drucker, the management guru,
agrees, “Don’t focus on building up your weaknesses. Understand your strengths
and place yourself in a position where there strengths count. Your strengths
are what will carry you through to success…” It sounds like solid advice, but
there is one problem. In seeking to redeem our corner of world, we (those in
business) are not only fighting the battle in the marketplace, we are also
doing battle in the heavenlies. And in fighting the Evil One, we understand
that he does not fight fair. Rarely does he attack our strengths. Normally, he
attacks our weaknesses. Thus, as tentmakers, we need to build on our strengths
while fortifying our weaknesses, for it is our weaknesses that will knock us
off the field.”[2]
Secondly, what is generally accepted among even Christians, who are
interested in launching business in unreached countries, is that in times of
economic recession, the substantial size of lay-off is unavoidable to maintain
the status quo or gain the surplus from restructuring human resources, not to
speak of the suspension of investment. But, this response against an economic
recession always does not seem to be righteous based on the depth of biblical
understanding. Matthew 20:1-16 describes one owner of vineyard who hires
employees at various times. My personal meditation on this biblical scripture
is not about the unfair treatment of pay but the owner of business who does not
seem to worry about the money when hiring people. What if he had to hire people
in the economic recession while hearing all the complaints from other
employees? Of course, the biblical scripture does not say anything about
economic cycles. However, neither economic boom nor economic recession seems to
be imperative issue. Among many Christian business men, there is one man, named
Do Won Chang who founded “Forever 21”, one of the fastest growing merchandise
clothing companies. It is clearly said that “in the year of 2008, which United
States was financially devastated, our goal was not to satisfy certain amount
of profit, but to hire 7,000 employees.”[3]
Against the excruciating environment financially, forever 21 tried to hire
7,000 employees and opened up the shops whereas many fashion brands followed
after one of the business fundamentals, many future missionaries accept easily
with unfiltered through biblical lenses. Result? It was a huge success. And
when asked by many reporters and some who were filled with jealousy to answer
the secret of success, he said “I loved God with all my heart”[4]
it is very evident that God performed something phenomenon beyond the horizon
of our intelligence. However, if someone confessed that the success of business
is to love God with all my heart, how do non-believers respond? In my
speculation, even if probable missionaries acquired many types of trainings
administered in any mission organization, it is evident that they will be
ineffective on unreached areas unless they abandon the two prevalent secular
business strategies, which are treated as rational and common knowledge. In
realistic sense, it is very evident that missionaries are dispatched from
developed countries to underdeveloped countries. In other words, probable
applicants for becoming missionaries must have their knowledge and values,
which have been strengthened through all the secularized systems, conquered by
biblical values. What if missionaries, determined to establish a certain
business as mission, witness Christ as our ultimate savior while allowing the
certain exploitation of either labor forces or natural resources? The failure
of integrating a life of witness with Christian ethics in a holistic way can
cause intelligent local people to reject Jesus inside even if the effort of
delivering Gospel is achieved passionately.
Accordingly, the applicants for mission need to bring secularized values
and plausible teachings under the biblical microscope so that they may acquire
a truthful discernment as the “pre-field experiences”[5]
it seems that daily struggles and battle with secular values prior to the
arrival of unreached countries make missionaries end up being the truthful
missionaries. Tom says “workers who did not have a daily devotional life prior
to moving overseas are clearly less effective than those who did.”[6]
In this context, a daily devotional life seems to be something achieved by the
applicants voluntarily, willingly and persistently. And it is believed that
this devotional life would have no relation with any types of trainings
established through the curriculum of mission organization. After all, who you
are in front of God and what you do are destined to be extended in the
unreached areas. Tom states, “obviously, those who are better witnesses at home
are more likely to be better witnesses overseas.”[7]
Conclusion
There are evident mixtures of various methods or
approaches to missions in unreached areas. Different approaches are like
different colours. The different colours demonstrate how the different colours
come together in order to make a picture. Sometimes, it seems to be very
chaotic and confusion with the absence of solid examples and role models. In
this chaotic atmosphere, the establishment of business has been examined from a
variety of angle as one of approaches into local people. It is believed that
business can be an effective tool which can endow local people with the
self-reliance to finance churches as a further step, not to speak of a
delivering tool of Gospel. However, where there is a profit, there is the
battle with the greed. Business creates the tension whether it makes profits or
loses money. After all, whether we are to become the heaven-anchored people or
not is, in my analysis, the primary matter. And these excruciating process and persistent
struggles are to be done as pre-field experiences predominantly. It seems
evident that we are tempted to testify who we are by what we do. However, from
biblical perspective, who we are determines what we do. In other words, who we
are during pre-field time period will be demonstrated on mission field.
Personally, I have heard that one missionary who gave birth to the baby in
Muslim country instead of Canada and put the child to the local school instead
of the international school. And I still remember that the reason why Korea
experienced the revival was the decisive willingness through which many
missionaries never left Korea despite the hazardous time caused by the Korean
War. Ultimately, how deeply the inner world of probable missionaries are
conquered by God is the most essential key in terms of unreached mission.
Bibliography
Lai,
Patrick. Tentmaking: Business as Missions. Waynesboro, GA: Authentic,
2005.
Snodderly, Beth, and A. Scott Moreau. Evangelical
and Frontier Mission Perspectives on the Global Progress of the Gospel.
Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, 2011.
Steffen, Tom A, and Barnett. Business
as Mission: From Impoverished to Empowered. Pasadena, Calif.: William Carey
Library, 2006.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbzX61cO318
