Non Profit--For Profit

One of the most common objections or "concerns" that people raise when it comes to BAM is that doing business will lead to greed or distract you from ministry in the pursuit of money. At first I was surprised when people brought this up. I thought to myself, "If you know me you HAVE to know that is NOT what I'm about." But some of these people didn't know me. And when thinking about others doing BAM, I might have the very same concern if I didn't know them that well. I might have that suspicion, "Is this just a fancy way for them to use God to get rich?"

Here in The Location stinginess is more of a cultural sin than greed. It's like, You shouldn't withhold your money from me--that's wrong! But it's not so wrong (in people's minds) to want more money all the time. But greed is a real thing and it certainly can and does affect us. We should not take it for granted that greed isn't going to raise its head and tempt us. Our defense should never just be, "Oh, I would never do that."

So if a Christian missionary starts a business with the goal/plan of doing BAM, what is going to keep them on the right track? If the business is successful then they would not need to be financially supported by anyone. Therefore, if they would start teaching heresy or if they dropped all ministry just to do business and make money, there would be no recourse of "pulling their funds" to stop it.

I think I have a way to help address this concern, and it is how we have set things up with our work here in The Location. That is to have non-profit ownership of for-profit enterprises.

That means that the missionary (or the minister, if done at home) is not the one who owns the business but is the one who runs it. He or she wouldn't be keeping all the money, nor would it be at their discretion to use as they please. Neither would there be shareholders who control the profits or who are expecting/desiring to get a return on their investment. Instead, all the profits would stay within the company and organization that owns the business.

In the US it is not against the law for non-profits (even tax-exempt organizations) to do profitable business. While some activities would still be taxed, the important thing is how profits are handled. For this set up, profits would not go in anyone's pockets but would be used for the stated purpose of the non-profit organization. So, it is possible for something like a church (a non-profit organization) to own a business like a coffee shop. The income, in addition to covering expenses, can be given to the missions budget or help feed the homeless or any other kind of ministry.

Along with non-profit ownership of for-profit enterprises comes oversight and accountability. I believe that in BAM we should have as thorough a ministry plan as we do a business plan, and vice versa. The board of directors can then hold the missionary(ies)/minister(s) accountable to not only run the business well, but to put excellence into the ministry as well.

So, imagine some possibilities:

A non-profit organization is created in the US and opens several different businesses. One is something like a YMCA center where people come to work out, play sports, take classes on all kinds of different things... and the staff are the ministers who not only interact with the customers but also offer special short courses on the Bible, do discipleship, and run children's programs. Another team of ministers start a coffee shop to reach out to the college and artsy crowd while also having a worship night once a week; hosting group meetings to overcome substance or pornography addictions; and partnering with a homeless mission to help provide food and volunteers on a regular basis. Another group of ministers start an organic farm in a more rural area and host area youth during the summer to help do the work of the farm while also discipling them. The income from the produce covers all expenses.

And I'm sure there are a lot more creative and more impacting ideas out there that others can/will think of. Perhaps this will help you to start brainstorming.

I have actually created a non-profit organization in the US to be the owner of our business here in The Location, and also future businesses we may start in the States that are associated with what we're doing over here. But it takes teams of people with a common vision to do all of this. I'm excited about the possibilities.

So, let's hear your ideas...

Training

Well, I wish I could go into detail on this blog about our training, but I can't. However, I do want to explain and share a little.

We are doing BAM (Business as Missions) here at The Location. (I think I'm going to start calling it "The Location" instead of "here at our location" all the time. Sounds more interesting; more mysterious.) And I will say that it is related to agriculture. That's all I'm going to reveal on this blog.

So what was this training? Well, we do agricultural promotion. That means we have a particular crop that we promote for people here to plant and harvest. It is a crop that many don't know a lot about, but it is suitable and can bring them a good income, too. It is also good for the environment in many ways. So, our agricultural promotion program is a win-win situation for us, for them and for the environment. If that is all we did it would be a good thing for The Location and The People here. (I guess we have to start calling them "The People" rather than just "the people we're working with here at our location.")

But our agricultural program also allows us the opportunity to build relationships with these unreached people in these unreached villages. We get to know them through this work and they get to know us. The local government is completely behind our activities, too, because it will help them have an income, help the environment and help the economy. So whenever we go visit these villages there is no suspicion on behalf of the government--"Are they CIA spies? Are they spreading foreign religion?" No, we've answered that question in their minds already--"Oh, they're there promoting The Crop." (I see a trend here: The Location. The People. The Crop.) So as time goes on and we build relationships it will be only natural to share our beliefs with The People. It won't be as problematic because no one will think that is the main reason we're there.

We have designated a group leader in each village for those who are planting The Crop. Most of these people are also the village headman or the vice-headman. And it is these group leaders we invited for a three-day training this past week. And we had a lot of fun together.

Most of these guys live way up in the mountains and out in the jungles. They represent the poorest of the poor, and also the most difficult peoples to access in this country. But we brought them into town to our office and had all of our lessons prepared with pictures on a power-point. We projected this on a big screen and it was all very impressive to them. Most development organizations just have someone talking without any visual aids, or with minimal visual aids. We had our power point presentations, videos, materials for them to touch and hold, and different things for them to eat and taste. It was all new to them and they all returned to their villages excited about the possibilities for planting The Crop.

They are also more motivated than ever because they now see and know for sure that we are for real. Many people visit country villages and promote different crops promising to buy it at high prices. Then when harvest comes the promoters are no where to be found, or they offer prices much lower than what was promised. The government has been guilty of the same thing. Therefore, most villagers are wary of outsiders who come in promoting something and hyping their product. It takes time, but we plan to always do what we say and build their trust. Over time they will see that we are not trying to trick them or take advantage of them.

So I believe our training has opened a lot of doors. I am confident now that when I, or one of our staff, visits these villages in the future we will be more eagerly welcomed. I am confident that we will now get more requests from families in these villages to plant The Crop than we can supply. I am confident they will be more determined to plant The Crop in the right way so that it thrives and produces the best possible harvest.

Mostly, I pray to our God that his Holy Spirit will open doors through all of these activities for us to share about his great love and offer of forgiveness. I pray that lives will be changed and villages transformed. If you have a moment, please pray for these same things, too.