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Second@s Plus, a lobby group in Switzerland consisting of mostly Muslim immigrants, demand that Switzerland removes the cross from the nation’s flag.

They will run a campaign in October against this Christian symbol which they consider unfit in today’s multicultural Switzerland. They consider the flag offensive to Muslims.

This has caused a heated debate. But this is just one of many similar cases taking place almost every week in Western democracies. Some groups demand a freedom from seeing or hearing things they don’t like or agree with. These demands come mainly from some Muslim and homosexual groups. They pro-actively seek to reduce freedom of expression and introduce freedom from hearing!

It is of great concern that citizens of democracies work to dismantle democracy; they strive to eliminate basic human rights. But it is equally worrying that some politicians, authorities and journalists move in the same direction.

Just one recent example from the UK: The police in Lancashire recently ordered the owner of a Christian cafe to stop having Bible verses on a TV screen inside the café. Why? It might offend someone who is not Christian.

This absurd no-one-must-ever-be-offended-principle leads towards the death of free speech. If you never want to expose yourself to a dissenting opinion I recommend you become a hermit in the Sahara. Or a dictator.

PS: Viewer discretion is advised, the following image may be deemed offensive, and may even cause great distress among some.


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9 million people live in Sweden. Approximately 300 000 Swedes go hunting every year and they shoot 100 000 moose.

Moose hunters need to know what a moose looks like. If they don’t know, you certainly don’t want to be around during hunting season. Your success as a hunter depends on knowing your target.

One can only succeed – or fail – in relationship to a target, a defined purpose, specific objectives.

The same applies to Business as Mission, BAM, initiatives. We can only determine success or failures based on our purpose, objectives and focus. So what is the purpose of BAM, its objectives and focus?

Last year I gave a short presentation at the international Lausanne Congress in Cape Town on this topic. Watch this ten minute video clip to learn more.

Mats Tunehag examines what factors determine the success or failure of business as mission. He argues that it’s important to remember our objectives and refuse to compromise on professionalism, excellence and integrity.

 

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There is a global shortfall of about 1.8 billion good formal jobs, according to Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup.* That is nearly a quarter of the world’s population.

Many people live in the insecure informal job sector, which often is filled with survival activities in the form a subsistence business. Most people hope for a formal job, but many have no or little prospect to find one. And the problem is increasing.

50 million new jobs need to be created in the Arab world alone by 2020 and there is no indication of that happening. Unemployment rates are 24% in Egypt, 27% in Jordan, 30% in Tunisia, 39% in Saudi Arabia and 46% in Gaza. (The Economist 10 Sep 2011)

44 million people in the so called rich world are unemployed and another 11 million are underemployed. The human costs are enormous, for joblessness increases depression, divorce, substance abuse, etc.

Youth are disproportionately affected and it goes for both rich and poor countries. In Spain, for example, 46 percent of young people under the age of 25 are out of work. In South Africa it is over 50 percent.

The challenge is huge and global. What must be done?

Handouts do not give dignity – jobs do.**

Aid can ease problems temporarily but cannot create 1.8 billion new jobs.

Micro-loan programs can help, but tend to build the informal economy and thus run the risk of cementing people and nations in poverty.

Jim Clifton writes:” The demands of leadership have changed. The highest levels of leadership require mastery of a new task: job creation.”

But as we stress again and again in the global business as mission movement: We don’t want just any kind of jobs. The Mafia also creates jobs. The traffickers put people to work in the sex industry. No, we want to create jobs with dignity that add value to life, which bring good and holistic transformation to people and societies.

To this end we need innovators, entrepreneurs and mentors. One study referred to in The Economist (10 Sep 2011) “shows that between 1980 and 2005 all net new private-sector jobs in America were created by companies less than five years old”.

As stated in the Business as Mission Manifesto***:

“We call upon the Church worldwide to identify, affirm, pray for, commission and release business people and entrepreneurs to exercise their gifts and calling as business people in the world – among all peoples and to the ends of the earth.

We call upon business people globally to receive this affirmation and to consider how their gifts and experience might be used to help meet the world’s most pressing spiritual and physical needs through Business as Mission.”

* Excerpted from The Coming Jobs War by Jim Clifton (Gallup Press, October 2011)

** John Paul II has written a brilliant encyclical on work and human dignity. Please see http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091981_laborem-exercens_en.html

*** The Business as Mission Manifesto can be found under Further Reading.

Korean version of this article can be found under ‘Further Reading’, click here

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The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is a global network of churches and international organizations in 128 countries. WEA is serving a constituency of 600 million people.

WEA has asked me to make a statement and a video on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.


The destructive act of 9/11 is outnumbered daily by small acts of love, by millions of people of faith everywhere.

We mustn’t let a spectacular evil deed overshadow the good deeds we all can do every day.

As eloquently stated in holy Scripture: “Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.”

Global spokesperson on Religious Liberty for the World Evangelical Alliance.

Member of the Global Council of Advocates International, a global network of 30 000 lawyers in over 120 countries.

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One can identify 3 essential activities which have helped to catalyze and grow the global Business as Mission (BAM) movement: 1. Developing the concept,  2. Spreading the concept and 3. Applying the concept.

Of course one cannot credit just one book, event, person or organisation with the current interest in Business as Mission amongst Christians today. BAM is a Biblical concept and thus as old as the foundational stories of creation. It is based on theology and anthropology; who God is and what he does, and who we are as human beings and what we are called to do. Good and godly principles of work and value added processes are found in the first chapters of the book of Genesis. God has used women and men throughout history to serve God and nations in and through business.

Developing and Spreading the Concept
Nevertheless, in our time there is a new growing global movement of people, organisations, churches and businesses who are understanding and embracing Business as Mission (or ‘BAM’) as an idea. Consultation work on Business as Mission, including a Global Think Tank on BAM under the auspices of the Lausanne Movement in 2004, has helped with the assessment of BAM practices and have been key developing our understanding. (You’ll find the Lausanne BAM Paper 2004 under ‘Further Reading’.) Since then the number of books and organisations focused on BAM has multiplied.

Applying the Concept
Although the number of BAM businesses in the Arab world and Asia have been growing steadily, this growth has been relatively slow. There are many more who accept the business as mission concept than those who are actually applying it.  Of course there will be some natural time lag between understanding and action and not all who hear about BAM will be cut out for business as mission practice. But even allowing for this, there is still much more ‘BAM talk’ out there than BAMers taking up the challenge of starting and developing BAM companies. How do we bridge that gap?

I have observed in the global BAM movement since the mid-90s, that many pioneering and gifted entrepreneurs have started and developed successful BAM businesses. There have also been many failures, often related to the wrong people trying to do the right thing. But I don’t believe that’s the end of the story.

High and Medium Level Entrepreneurs
In any given context there are more medium-level entrepreneurs than high-level entrepreneurs. There are just a few Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Ingvar Kamprads (IKEA) who can start from scratch and build big. There are others who can start with an idea and develop a growing business in the small to medium size range.

But how are we to tap into the many more medium-level entrepreneurial people who also are good managers, but probably won’t start from nothing?  People in this category can often run a franchise successfully, a McDonalds, a Starbucks, a Chick-fil-A, etc… These are businesses ‘in a box’ so to speak. Not quite as simple as unpack, read the manual and go… but nor are they as difficult or high risk or demanding as starting something from nothing.

BAM in a Box
I recently met a fellow BAMer who has a background in franchising in the US. Now based in the Middle East, he told me about a recent gathering in that Region that consisted mostly of aspiring BAMers. They were enthusiastic, but had little or no prospect of succeeding.

Are we missing something in BAM because we are assuming everybody can start from scratch? Are we missing an opportunity to tap into this pool of committed people because we don’t have a ‘BAM in a Box’ to offer? Could these people become good BAMers if there were franchising options? Many people are medium-level entrepreneurs, medium risk takers and good managers. These are good qualifications for franchise operators.

BAM in a Box is also worth exploring and pursuing as we deal with human trafficking. Regions with high unemployment are high risk areas for human trafficking and unemployment makes people vulnerable to traffickers’ cunning schemes.

Rescuing people out of trafficking and prostitution is insufficient unless there is a job with dignity at the other end. Thus BAM in a Box can be one answer to scalable job creation measures both in prevention of human trafficking and restoration of its victims.

The spiritual, social, demographic and economic challenges of the Arab world and Asia are enormous and growing. How can we begin to meet the many needs there?

BAM in a Box could potentially engage more people in applying BAM. That would mean more opportunities to serve people and nations by providing employment and good services and products, and so on.

Global conversations are underway on business as mission and franchising. We need to move further. Are you an entrepreneur who can help develop BAM in a Box?

(This article was originally published in e.zine, a quarterly magazine for the business as mission movement. The September issue has more articles dealing with BAM in a Box)

PS. Under ‘Further Reading’ you’ll find a three page memo on BAM in a Box which I wrote in May; it elaborates further on the issue. There is also a Korean translation of the article.

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