Business as Mission: From Impoverished to Empowered

Business as Mission

Publisher: Pasadena: William Carey Library

Author: Steffen, Tom & Barnett, Mike eds. 2006.

ISBN-13: 978-0878083886

This is a “must read” book that will give you a solid foundation by authors who are experts in their fields. It is a compilation of papers presented during 2 EMS meetings in 2005 which sought to clarify several issues and questions raised by this relatively new strategy called Business as Mission (BAM). You will find BAM’s biblical foundations as well as some of the historical background of business people who saw doing business as a strategy to reach the lost. The case studies are varied in terms of geography and business types, which provide some idea of the breadth of BAM. For those planning to do BAM, the last section provides insight on some of the struggles. It asks the tough question: “How can we hold Business and Mission in the tension required to do justice to both?” Most people setting out to begin a business that will be missional may not be asking the larger questions such as: “Is globalization good or bad?” “Will my business be another form of colonialism or am I really developing people for the Kingdom?” “Will we really show a new way of economic progress that doesn’t create the haves and the have-nots?” We should thoughtfully consider those questions. We need to understand the impact of our business upon the people with whom we are doing business.