Draft:Business as Mission
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Business as mission (often abbreviated BAM) is an approach within Christian missiology in which for-profit businesses are intentionally used to pursue Christian mission goals alongside commercial objectives. BAM is typically described as seeking “holistic” outcomes by combining economic activity with social and environmental impact and explicit spiritual aims, sometimes framed as a “quadruple bottom line.”[1][2]
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BAM overlaps with, but is distinct from, related concepts such as workplace evangelism, tentmaking, and faith-motivated social enterprise. Movement literature commonly distinguishes BAM from “business for mission” (using profits primarily to fund external ministry) and from “platform” or “cover” businesses established mainly to obtain visas for traditional missionary work.[3][4]
Terminology
The phrase “business as mission” is described in movement publications as a relatively recent term, used to name a set of practices grounded in older biblical and missiological ideas about work, vocation, and witness through economic activity.[5]
History
Christian mission history includes long-standing models of self-supported ministry, often discussed under “tentmaking” (a reference to the Apostle Paul’s trade). In modern missions discourse, “tentmaking” has commonly referred to workers who take employment in another country and engage in religious witness through professional life. Movement writers often describe BAM as related but different, emphasizing entrepreneurship and enterprise ownership rather than employment alone.[6]
Emergence as a movement label
Before the publication of Lausanne Occasional Paper No. 59, several book-length works helped articulate and popularize the use of entrepreneurship and for-profit enterprise in Christian mission. These included On Kingdom Business: Transforming Missions Through Entrepreneurial Strategies (edited by Tetsunao Yamamori and Kenneth A. Eldred, 2003), which presented “kingdom entrepreneurship” using case studies; Wayne Grudem’s Business for the Glory of God (2003), which argued for the moral legitimacy of business within Christian ethics; and Rundle and Steffen’s Great Commission Companies (2003), which described for-profit “Great Commission” businesses as a missions strategy.[7][8][9]
A major milestone frequently cited in BAM literature is the work of Issue Group 30 (“Business as Mission”) at the Lausanne Forum for World Evangelization (Pattaya, 2004). The group’s findings were published as Lausanne Occasional Paper No. 59 (copyright 2005), edited by Mats Tunehag, Wayne McGee, and Josie Plummer.[10][11]
Later publications continued to consolidate the field, including edited volumes such as Business as Mission: From Impoverished to Empowered (2006) and revised or expanded editions of earlier works, including a revised edition of Great Commission Companies (2011).[12][13]
Core concepts and claimed distinctives
BAM is typically defined by intentional integration of:
- commercial viability (operating as a real, for-profit business),
- social goals,
- environmental outcomes, and
- explicit spiritual aims such as Christian witness, discipleship, or church-related goals.[14]
Quadruple bottom line and “CSR+”
Movement writers have described BAM as aligned with “triple bottom line” thinking (financial, social, environmental) but adding a fourth spiritual dimension. Tunehag popularized the label “CSR+” to describe this extension of corporate social responsibility frameworks to include explicit Christian spiritual intent.[15][16]
Relationship to social enterprise
In academic discussion, BAM organizations have been described as a form of “hybrid organization” that blends market-based operations with non-market (often religious) mission goals. Scholars have noted that such hybrids can face tensions in governance and performance measurement when commercial and religious aims interact.[17]
Practices and models
BAM practices vary by context, but movement descriptions commonly emphasize:
- small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and local job creation,
- ethical business conduct and stakeholder responsibility,
- long-term presence through enterprise operations, especially in restricted-access settings,
- community development outcomes linked to employment, training, and supply-chain development,
- workplace relationships as the primary context for religious witness and discipleship.[18][19]
Funding and governance
Research has examined the relationship between donor support and BAM outcomes. In one empirical assessment, Rundle reported differences between donor-supported and business-supported practitioners in economic performance measures and explored how governance structures (such as boards) relate to effectiveness.[20]
Organizations and networks
BAM is discussed within several evangelical networks and resource initiatives. These include:
- the Lausanne Movement’s issue-network work related to business and mission,[21]
- the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission’s BAM publications,[22] and
- BAM Global and related resource centers that curate training materials, case studies, and bibliographies.[23]
Research and typologies
Academic work on BAM spans missiology, theology of work, social entrepreneurship, and organizational studies. Survey research has proposed typologies differentiating practitioners by motivation and practice, including distinctions between “BAM” identities and adjacent categories such as “faith-driven entrepreneurship.”[24]
Criticism and controversies
Writers supportive of BAM and critics alike have discussed recurring concerns, including:
- transparency and deception risks, especially where businesses are established primarily as cover for other activities,
- conflicts between profit motives and religious goals, including risks of instrumentalizing employees or customers,
- ethical concerns about proselytization and power dynamics in employer-employee relationships,
- measurement problems, such as ambiguous success metrics when spiritual outcomes are included alongside commercial performance.[25][26][27]
See also