Are you wondering what business as mission practically looks like? Perhaps you are like many who are intrigued by the concept of business as mission but you really want to dig deeper & understand more. You want to see some clear examples of business as mission.
Our goal in this article is to give you some real life examples of how others have been involved in business as mission. Perhaps we will even surprise you with a few of our examples.
4 Real Life Examples of Business as Missions
Here are a few examples of people who have done business as mission. We have changed names, some details and locations because of security, but the concepts are all true.
Export Business – Traditional Handicrafts
Susie is a single lady working in the Arab world. God has given her a passion to share Jesus with her host culture but she needed a professional identity in order to stay longterm. Susie has always enjoyed arts & crafts so she decided to create a business around this area of interest. She decided to set up a small business that focused on exporting the handicrafts of her host culture. Susie spends her time connecting with local artisans to find the best products. At the same time she is developing personal relationships with the women where she can share the love of Jesus.
Susie has said that the hardest part of the export business is finding a market to sell the amazing products. She can easily find excellent goods but it has been a challenge to find avenues to sell these goods. She has tried to connect with outlets like ten thousand villages but the competition is very high.
Adventure Tourism
Jon and Mark live in the 1040 window serving the Lord among an unreached people group. In order to gain access to the community, they decided to create an adventure tourism company. The host culture has a growing tourism industry, so the idea of developing an adventure tourism company was welcomed immediately. Jon & Mark focused on bringing western tourists into their region to enjoy beautiful countryside and culture. This combination made it perfect for tourism. They have been able to train and hire locals to be involved in their company which has added value to the community. It also gives them direct access into the lives of these amazing people.
Jon and Mark said the hardest part of the adventure tourism company was finding clients who would want to come & do tourism in this remote location.
Cakes for the Kingdom
Another great example is Martha who decided to create a simple business as mission company based on cooking custom cakes for parties and events. Martha was able to hire young women who were coming out of hardship in her business. The beauty of this BAM venture was that it was not complicated and could be reproduced by others in the region.
Martha said one of her biggest challenges was dealing with employees. Martha loved pouring into these young ladies but some would struggle with consistency or fall back into old patterns.
Website Design Company
Fred has always been good with technology & design. Fred decided to get a degree in graphic design during college. When Fred moved overseas to serve the Lord he decided to use his passion for design and his skill in technology to start a website design company. The beauty of this business idea is that it is perfect for the urban setting where he lives. Fred has both local and foreign clients which help pay the bills. While looking for employees, Fred was able to use both local programmers and some Christian designers from the global south.
Fred said that the hardest part of his website design business is balancing the time behind the computer screen and wanting to be with people. Fred is very intentional about spending time after work connecting with local friends at the gym and cafes.
Non-Traditional Examples of Business as Missions
When we think of business as missions, most people’s mind automatically go to the examples mentioned above. Over the years of working in the Arab world, we have come across some other examples of business as mission.
Remote Worker for Foreign Company
A few years ago I ran into Tom who was living in a creative access country. Tom had a unique form of business as mission. Tom was working remotely as a subcontractor for a US company. Before Tom moved overseas he was working for this US company that was owned by believers. The owners knew that Tom had been called into a life of missions, so when they hired him, that told him he could continue working when he moved overseas. Tom didn’t need to raise any financial support because he was paid a full American wage.
Tom said that the hardest part of being a remote worker was his lack of business contact with local business people. Tom overcame this by finding a desk in a co-working space.
Manufacturing
This example of business as mission is more about the US company than the individual overseas. There was a company that provided goods for the transportation industry. They loved Jesus and had a heart for the nations. The owners of this company approached some Christian entrepreneurs in North Africa about manufacturing one of their products. They wanted to order 100,000 pieces of one item (as long as they could match the price from China). What a great idea. I loved the heart of the business owners
The hardest part of this venture was competing with the prices from China.
Business as Missions Example Ideas
If you are looking for some other ideas for your business as mission venture, please check out our BAM Ideas Directory. We have compiled over 50 business ideas that are ranked by different criteria.
If you have other questions, please contact us & we’d be happy to try to help.