Through missional business, SIM workers are able to cross barriers into communities where Christ is least known.
In places where there are few Christians, entrepreneurs, professionals and tradespeople can use their skills as a platform to offer both economic and spiritual hope with those they interact with.
Some of the businesses within SIM, include artisan handcrafts, language institutes, tourism, vocational training, business consulting, food processing, personal coaching and many more.
Business ministries enable our workers to integrate quickly into the culture, develop an identity within the community and build trust with the local people they work with.
Global Ministry Point Person for SIM’s Business Ministries, JP Gradone, explains: “Business Ministries opens up an opportunity for people who’ve always had a desire to serve God oversees, but only saw the possibility in the context of the traditional mission model.
“Business Ministries allows them to align their vocational skill set with the calling of God to the unreached in a holistic manner.”
In Asia, business ministries are serving least-reached communities in nine countries.
Among SIM’s workers are Stephen and Lucy* from Australia, who joined an existing BAM English teaching business.
But within a few weeks of starting, the first Covid lockdown happened and the couple had to switch to YouTube video tutorials and run online classes.
However, the experience helped Stephen and Lucy to genuinely become part of the community as they stood shoulder to shoulder with local people.
“It was two years of hard work, but we learned a lot,” they say.
Today, they’re building connections with professionals, who are eager to learn English, through in-person classes and corporate classes at various workplaces.
Reflecting on what they’ve learnt, Stephen remarks: “We’re currently participating in a course about the theology of business and it’s been such a blessing to reorient our hearts toward a God-focused perspective on money and business.
“The leader has been encouraging us to realise that business is a tool that God has given us as a means to help lift burdens off people. The aim isn’t profit (although we must steward our resources towards profit so our businesses can continue to run and bless people) but to help as many people as possible. “
The couple are now looking forward to building up the business team, employing more staff and building deeper connections with those they encounter.
“As we make some steps forward in our business, there’s a real joy in thinking about how God might use these steps to bless more people and to let them see something of him,” adds Stephen.
First published on SIM Australia’s website (*Names changed)
Pray
- Praise God for the different skills he gives people to use in his global mission.
- For the lives of employees, clients and customers to be transformed through SIM businesses.
- For God to mobilise more of his people to open doors to the gospel through business.