如何让商务人士参与宣教

寻找同路人

如何让商务人士参与宣教

                                                                                               

宣教不只是牧师和宣教士的事情。整个教会都应当支持宣教。神赐给教会各样的恩赐，用于完成大使命来荣耀他。

大多数教会已经明白如何通过祷告和提供资金来支持宣教。然而大多数教会看不到，教会成员还可以将他们的经商技巧用于海外宣教。不仅如此，那些真正会做生意的人可以为基督徒提供机会，使他们可以到拒绝或限制福音传播的国家去宣教。

你听说过商务宣教么？

什么是商务宣教？

这是什么？商务宣教就是创立一桩合法的生意，以便使宣教在一些地方由不可能变为可能。

当今需要商务宣教，因为在全世界很多国家建立教会传播福音都变得难上加难。比如沙特阿拉伯、阿富汗、中国，在这些国家，政府仍然会强制取缔宣教工作。如果我们“立了志向不在基督被称过的地方传福音”（罗15：20），那么我们就要帮助教会找到进入这些国家的有效途径。

幸运的是，政府欢迎人们来做生意。他们很看重商务带来的投资和就业机会。被视为做生意，可以让教会植建者更易被接纳，因为这些地方还是把宣教士和“十字军”视为同一个概念。

地方教会怎么参与到商务宣教中来呢？

因为教会植堂的任务属于教会，所以商务宣教的事工也应当植根于教会。那么地方教会怎么参与进来呢？

一、兴起多结果子又热衷于传福音的的商务人士
教会应当在会众中兴起成熟又忠心的商务人士。无论他们是在美国国内还是海外，只要他们能多结生命的果子，都应当接受门训，并被鼓励带门徒、传福音给其他人。

这并非旨在设立一个单独的项目，而是要培养一种全教会成员都参与宣教的文化。关心福音的传播，不应仅于限于宣教委员会或是几个教会成员的责任，相反，整个教会都应当参与到教会植堂中来。

与此同时，对于商务人士来讲，他们会因为自己擅长生意就想当然地认为自己是称职的。然而，他们很快就会发现他们的经验尽管有用，却不能直接运用到商务宣教项目中来。鉴于教会对于商务宣教项目对教会植堂的关注，以及大多数受约束的国家通常是发展中国家，他们的商务环境不怎么友好的状况，商务人士必须以学习者的态度，灵活地处理局势。教会因此要筛选出既有经验又谦卑的商务人士。

二、让商务人士参与具体的机会
商务人士参与商务宣教的方式很多。让我重点列举三种。前两种适合国内，而第三种也是最有效的一种只适合于国外使用。

1）商务人士可做商务项目的咨询师
教会植堂团队想建立公司，就会在制定公司计划，开办公司，经营公司方面需要帮助。我在“Access Partners”工作，其宗旨是帮助建立可持续发展的公司，来支持在福音受限的地方植建教会，在那里，我们把建立商务宣教公司的步骤分解为6个独立的部分。

• 发现：明确潜在的商机
  
• 探险： 确定商机的可行性(包括一个初步经营计划)
  
• 准备开办： 为开办公司做准备：文书工作，招募资金和人力资源
  
• 开办： 开始的操作
  
• 成长： 持续的支持
  
• 转折： 制定出口战略
  
  
  

每一步都有商务人士参与的方式。 例如，磐石教会的一位成员帮助我们制订了一个培训中心的经营计划。圣约生命教会的另一位成员，为我们所支持的咖啡生意培养销售主管。咨询可以在一个人的老家或一段短期旅行中发生。这两个我们都做过。

2）公司持有者可以将他们的经营延伸到海外
教会植建者需要合法的现有企业。在美国 建立一家新的公司不是容易的事情，哪怕美国是世界上最欢迎企业的国家之一。所以在制约福音传播的国家建立公司那几乎不可能，例如巴基斯坦、越南或者也门。 这些国家不仅不发达，基础设施有限，而且存在商业腐败和政府的繁文缛节。

一个解决办法就是和现有公司合作，来支持这些教会植建者。如果您的教会有开公司的，鼓励他们寻找海外建立教会的方法。 目标不是为了使这些新的国外分公司能赚大钱； 然而，他们应该至少是接近收支平衡，以便支撑他们正常的运转。

3）教会可以鼓励他们的商务人士去国外进行商务宣教
商务宣教最大的挑战就是找合适的人选。通常，总是由对做生意既不合格又不感冒的教会植建者运转公司。我们认为，解决办法是选择对做生意有经验的老手去国外。

在Access Partners,我们会雇佣这样的人来企业主管部门工作。我们寻找商务人士来和教会植建团队合作，并管理公司日常运行。从而使其他人腾出手，来专心于他们的教会植建工作。

谨记：筛选你所支持的宣教团队，以便你能确保他们的教会植建计划是基于圣经的教导。一个做生意的团队不能等同于应该得到支持的团队。我们建议建立长期的关系，确保你个人了解教会植建者。更好的情况是，你能帮助你所差传的教会成员。

一个福音机会

鉴于当前政府方面的限制，商务宣教提供了一个机会，促使教会中涌现新的合作关系，以一种越来越重要，越来越灵巧的方式传播福音。愿神使用整个教会将福音传遍全世界。


How to Get Businesspeople into Missions

Missions isn’t just for pastors and missionaries. Missions should be supported by the whole church. God has gifted his church with a variety of gifts for carrying out the Great Commission and glorifying him.

Most churches already understand how they can support missions through prayer and financial support. Yet many churches overlook how members can put their business skills to work for the sake of overseas missions. Not only that, but it’s the members with real business skills who may provide the best access for Christians to obtain access to closed or restricted countries.

Have you heard of something called business as missions?

WHAT IS BUSINESS AS MISSIONS?

What is it? Business-as-Missions (BAM) is about creating legitimate businesses that enable church planting in areas that would otherwise be closed to evangelism.

BAM is needed today because it is increasingly difficult for church planters to live and share the gospel in many countries around the world. Think places such as Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and China, where governments continue to crack down on mission work. If we make it our “ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named” (Rom. 15:20), then we need to help church planters find creative means for gaining access into these countries.

Fortunately, governments welcome business. They value the investment and the jobs that businesses bring. Being identified with a business also helps church planters to be more accepted in their community as they operate in cultures whose understanding of “missionaries” dates back to the Crusades.

HOW CAN LOCAL CHURCHES BE INVOLVED IN BAM?

Even as the task of church planting belongs to the local church, so the task of BAM also is one that is finally rooted in the local church. How can local churches get involved?

Raise up fruitful businesspeople who are passionate for the gospel.

Churches should raise up mature and faithful businesspeople in their congregations, people whose lives are fruitful regardless of where they are in the States or overseas. Businesspeople should be discipled and encouraged to be discipling and sharing the gospel with others.

This doesn’t mean developing a program per se, but rather cultivating a culture that encourages members as a whole in the task of missions. Concern for the spread of the gospel should not be limited to a missions committee or a few members; rather, the whole church should be involved in supporting their church planters.

At the same time, it is all too easy for businesspeople to think they are competent and qualified simply because they are good businesspeople. However, they will find out quickly that their experience, though helpful, is not directly transferable to BAM projects. Given the church planting focus of BAM and the fact that most restricted countries are usually developing countries with unfriendly business climates, businesspeople must be flexible and approach situations with a learner’s attitude. Churches should thus filter their ranks of businesspeople for the right combination of experience and humility.

Involve businesspeople in specific opportunities.

Businesspeople can be involved with BAM several ways. Let me highlight three. The first two can be done at home while the third, which is the most effective, must be done overseas.

1) Businesspeople can be consultants for a business project.

Church planting teams who desire to establish a business need help in developing a business plan, launching the business, and running the business. At Access Partners, a group that I work for which helps to foster sustainable business development for the sake of church planting in restricted areas, we have broken down the business development process for a BAM company into 6 discrete steps:

• Discovery: defining a potential business opportunity
  
• Exploration: determining the viability of such an opportunity (including a preliminary business plan)
  
• Pre-Launch: preparing for launch through doing paperwork, raising funds, and recruiting personnel
  
• Launch: beginning operations
  
• Growth: on-going support
  
• Transition: defining an exit strategy
  
  
  

Each step has a way to involve businesspeople. For example, a member of Solid Rock Church helped us develop a business plan for a training center. Another member of Covenant Life Church mentors a sales director for a coffee business that we support.

Consultation can occur from a person’s home city or through a short-term trip. We have done both.

2) Business owners can extend their operations overseas.

Church planters need legitimate pre-existing businesses. It is difficult to start a new company in the U.S., one of the most business friendly countries in the world, it’s nearly impossible in the kinds of countries that restrict the spread of the gospel, such as Pakistan, Vietnam, or Yemen. Such countries not only are developing, with limited infrastructure, but also have corrupt business practices and huge amounts of government red tape.

One solution is to partner with existing businesses to support these church planters. If you have business owners in your church, encourage them to look for ways to use their business in a way that supports church planters overseas. The goal is not for these new overseas branch offices to be wildly profitable; however, they should at least be close to breakeven in order that the business is able to support their on-going operations.

3) Churches can encourage their businesspeople to move overseas and run a BAM company themselves.

The biggest need in BAM is the right people. Too often, businesses are run by church planters who are both unqualified and not uninterested in running a business. We believe the solution is to recruit seasoned and experienced businesspeople who will go overseas.

At Access Partners, we have a Business Directors program in which we recruit such people. We look for businesspeople to partner with a church planting team and manage the team’s business operations, freeing up the rest of the team to pursue their church planting focus.

A note of caution: filter the missions teams that you support so that you are sure they have a church planting strategy that is biblical. Simply because a team is doing business does not mean they should be supported. We recommend establishing long-term relationships where you know the church planters personally. Ideally, you should help members of your church whom you have sent out.

A GOSPEL OPPORTUNITY

Given government restrictions at the present, BAM presents an opportunity to encourage new partnerships in our churches in an increasingly important and strategic way for the gospel. May God use the whole church to bring the whole gospel to the whole world!

本文作者是Access Partners的执行主管。

翻译肢体：邱晴晴

来自群组: 金灯台团契分享组