Business as Mission

Business is a worldwide shared discipline, providing multiple benefits to people, families, communities and nations. With the potential to generate income, jobs, relationships, and opportunities, it carries some of the most powerful forms of worldwide societal contribution.
BAM (Business As Mission) is becoming an increasingly acknowledged vehicle for impacting communities through job creation, use of societal resources, technological innovation, and relationship building – which in turn creates powerful opportunities for sharing love, hope – and the gospel.

What Qualifies as “Business As Mission”?

BAM is most commonly considered to be the following:

• Profitable and sustainable businesses
• Intentional about Kingdom of God purpose, and impact on people and nations
• Focused on holistic transformation and bottom lines of positive economic, social, environmental and spiritual outcomes
• Concerned about the world’s poorest and least evangelized people groups

Shepherd’s Staff is a nearly 20-year ministry, and a flexible, agile and innovative partner for churches and their members engaging in BAM ventures, in both open-access and creative access countries.

With a proven track record of serving foreign missionaries with excellence since its founding in 2001, our team has expanded in the ways in which we serve churches, empowering them to be the sending authority across today’s mission work including BAM.

“Whereas traditional missions and missionary work is typically self-funded or financed through the generous contributions of donors, Business As Mission is ultimately self-sustaining through the business itself, and allows a long term presence. Therefore, a profitable and sustainable business will have long-term impact and create relationships that become safe and genuine places for spiritual discussions.”

We believe that as God has led local church leaders and members to discover and establish alternative on-ramps to fulfill the Great Commission, He has also called Shepherd’s Staff to use its expertise, knowledge, and flexibility to design services for both BAM practitioners and Tentmakers (need to define this somewhere?).

Shepherd’s Staff provides the flexibility and innovation that BAM endeavors require, and the essential services for success in either open-access or creative-access countries.

Primary Services for BAM & Tentmakers

1. Receiving and disbursing donated support funds for salaries during the initial period of language and culture learning – and beyond. *
   * For creative access countries, we provide this service discreetly through our other non-profit entity established specifically for this purpose.
2. A legal means for funding business startups using donated funds.
3. Access to inexpensive group health insurance and a 403b retirement plan.
4. Connections with internationally experienced coaches, mentors and business professionals to support projects.
5. Tentmaker Specific: Shepherd’s Staff provides a method for workers employed by international corporations, or other foreign entities, to supplement their income through donated support funds. We also provide access to retirement and health care benefits, if needed.
6. Addressing worker safety and security issues.
7. Advice regarding legal requirements for setting up and operating a foreign business including guidelines for determining best legal business structure: Corporation, LLC, or other
8. Ongoing commitment to those in the field, and their home church.

Consider partnering your church with Shepherd’s Staff to learn how to send people into a BAM calling around the world, including creative access countries.

If you are someone that believes God may be calling you to serve in a BAM capacity, please contact your home church and ask about a Shepherd’s Staff partnership.

For more information, please call 505.248.9849 or send us a message.