Journeys in Business as Mission

We interviewed some of our ‘Introduction to Business as Mission’ trainees from current and past years to discover more about their journeys in Business as Mission.

Gabriella, IBAM 2011 - BAM Practitioner

What is your background and what made you want to come and do an IBAM Course?

I am a Brazilian living in China and for many years I have been running a business exporting Chinese goods to Brazil. I come originally from a missionary background and at first did not think doing business was a valid calling for me.  Although I had been involved in a business that has mission aims, I felt I needed to hear more about God’s purpose for business. I came to learn and be better equipped to do what I am doing. 

How has IBAM made a difference to you?

Well I have been completely shocked! I mean my thinking has been turned upside-down! One really big thing for me is that there is a name for what I am doing and there are others with the same heart and vision.  I have begun to connect things together and get a better understanding. I have realised how limited in my thinking I have been and my mind has been really opened to how God can use business for His Kingdom. Wow, it is really possible that God has called me to business!

How has IBAM prepared you for the next step in your life?

I didn't really expect to come out of IBAM with a business plan, but that is what I now have - a business plan for growth! I have received practical help so that I understand what I need to do to grow the business. I have seen better what stage I am in the business and what the next steps should be, especially about some of the business systems that I need to put in place. I have got coaching on financial planning and how I need to develop my accounting systems.  I feel so encouraged by the mentors on this course and I also have a contact for a mentor in China that can help me in the future.

Ryan, IBAM 2011 - Business Owner

What is your background and what made you want to come and do an IBAM Course?

I’ve been interested in business most of my life, but I have felt a call to mission too.  I thought I should become a missionary or pastor in the traditional sense, but I didn’t really want to!  I worked as an Electrical Engineer in the Navy for many years and as I was thinking about leaving for Bible School, a colleague challenged me that there were many ways to serve God.  I began to see that could be through business too. In 2007, while I was in my first year of business school, I started a business called Flashdrivepros.com, which is still growing. I had read some books on business as mission, but I wanted to learn more. I came to IBAM to get a deeper introduction to business as mission and a clearer idea of how I could serve God in business. 

How has IBAM made a difference to you?

IBAM has helped me externalize the concepts that I had begun to think about and understand them better.  Before I was thinking much more about running a business and doing ministry alongside, perhaps donating money to mission too. I was concerned about how I would balance competing goals between business and mission. However, IBAM has revolutionized my thinking so that I will have a much more integrated approach. I realize that I can have an impact for the Kingdom directly through my business, in the way I run it, the way I meet market needs with my products and services, how I relate to clients and so on.

How has IBAM prepared you for the next step in your life?

IBAM has brought greater freedom to me and affirmed that I can really fulfill God’s calling on my life through business.  As an entrepreneur I was feeling like I wasn’t doing a great job fulfilling other roles that the business needs. So practically speaking, I have realized that I can use my time most effectively doing the things I am best at. 

Juan & Hilda, IBAM 2010 - IT Professionals

What is your background and what made you want to come and do an IBAM Course?
We are both IT professionals from Puerto Rico. We had a brief idea about what business as mission is, but we wanted to understand it better and see how we could fit in and make an effective impact for the Kingdom of God in business. We specifically wanted to get some tools to help us establish a BAM company in Uruguay, one of the least reached nations in Latin America. 

How did IBAM make a difference to you?

The biggest thing for us was to see business as mission in action through the business visits and field trip. We heard stories and we saw the reality of what it means to be a BAM company reflected in the faces of the employees!  We heard about the realities of doing BAM and how we need to depend on God. For us it was important to see that this is also a way of ‘living by faith’, but in the context of a business.  The teaching about how we can be servant leaders in the marketplace was important for us, since usually we only hear about how we can serve in church! The testimonies of BAM practitioners and teachers has left a deep impression on us, they shared personally so that we got more than just theory.  

How did IBAM prepare you for the next step in your life?

IBAM has really been a gift from God to us. We got many of the necessary tools for starting a BAM company in Uruguay. It is great to have the ‘Prepare’ focus for the longer course because not only did we get the foundations we needed, we were also practically equipped in the basics of starting a business from zero. We have also had a lot of chances to teach and encourage others out of what we learned during IBAM. Work is often not valued in our culture, not regarded as something good at all. We have been able to share with so many people that our professions are a gift from God, that work can be a way of ministry and worship.

Wil & Abbey, IBAM 2008 - Business Owners

What is your background and what made you want to come and do an IBAM Course?

We had been part of a mission organisation for many years, but had also been feeling a call into the business world and were wrestling with our sense of identity. When we came to IBAM we had done some small business investing, but wanted to build a business ourselves. For us coming to IBAM was about having an intentional and focused time of processing through our call to business and also wanting to be better equipped to do it. 

How did IBAM make a difference to you?
We had thought a lot about discipleship and had even taught on it. However, we grappled with the question of how do we apply discipleship in our generation, in society today... How do you actually disciple a nation? In IBAM we worked through how business can be an effective means to disciple people in a day to day context. It really deepened and solidified our thinking.  We saw different business models, got a better understanding of the realities of the business environment and were able to break out a bit from our own Western perspective.

Going on the field trip to Indonesia was also very impacting. We visited an area that had been devastated by the Tsunami and saw that in spite of billions of dollars in relief efforts, how little tangible effect there had been from that money 3 years on. A typical response to ‘feed the hungry and clothe the naked’, as Jesus entreats us to do, is to come in a throw money around. As an alternative, we realised that creativity in business and productive work are a means that God uses to provide. We saw how a business can have a tremendous, lasting impact.

How did IBAM prepare you for the next step in your life?

When we came to IBAM we had the ideas for a business, but needed help in practical planning.  IBAM gave us the basic principles for business and showed us what we needed to work through to start a business.  Now we are 3 years into the business development, and we have obviously learned a lot through the start-up phase. However, we are still using the tools and ideas we learned in IBAM, now applying them to a new phase in the growth of the business.