If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing...(1 Cor. 13:2b)

Business Ministries

Use your training and skills in the global marketplace!

Business professionals represent a growing number of committed Christians who realize they can use their expertise to do bi-vocational mission in countries where it is difficult or impossible to obtain a missionary visa or where this opens the door to share the gospel with a specific group of people. Some use their business skills to help strengthen local churches and communities.

Billions of people, more than three quarters of them in Asia, still haven't heard of Jesus but we encounter restricted access to some of these countries and many people in these lands see Christianity as a western religion and one to be actively resisted. These situations call for creative approaches to mission.

Professional skills have been tools for mission ever since the apostle Paul used his business of tent-making to support his evangelistic ministry and to win access to the marketplaces of the cities he visited. You can take the gospel to the world by working in a local company or running a business. Like Paul and thousands of others who have lived the gospel as expatriate workers through the centuries, MMI sees this as a logical way of doing mission. Of course, in order to serve effectively you will also need to have suitable ministry skills.

A Christian who works for a computer company in Asia said, "Doing business as mission gives me acceptance in the community where I choose to live. Rather than causing suspicion, when I tell people that I am here to work they understand and accept me as a normal part of their community. They are grateful because our computer company is providing jobs for people in their city."

"The company where I work has fifteen people working with it, and only two of them know Jesus. Every day I go to work, I have the chance to display my faith by the way I live, and to share the gospel with them when appropriate. It has been rewarding to see my co-workers ask questions about following Jesus."

What skills are needed?

Mission opportunities abound for people with typical marketable skills in areas such as engineering, agriculture, music, community development, business, hospitality management, medicine, education, agriculture, computer science, teaching English. In fact, almost any professional skill can be used in world mission.

How will I be supported?

Most people who are using business as a base for ministry are financially supported by friends and churches in their home countries, while others receive their entire income from the company for which they work, with no financial support from home. Others, such as early retirees, may be able to serve as self-funded volunteers. There is a lot of scope for creativity. All you need is a willingness to live cross-culturally and a heart to share the Gospel with others.