Business as Mission: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice [Paperback]

C. Neal Johnson (Author), Steven Rundle (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 8, 2009

Business as mission (BAM) is a mission strategy whose time has come. As global economics become increasingly interconnected, Christian business people and entrepreneurs have unanticipated opportunities to build kingdom-strategic business ventures. But Christian companies and business leaders do not automatically accomplish missional purposes. BAM requires mastery of both the world of business and the world of missions, merging and contextualizing both into something significantly different than either alone. C. Neal Johnson offers the first comprehensive guide to business as mission for practitioners. He provides conceptual foundations for understanding BAM's unique place in global mission and prerequisites for engaging in it. Then he offers practical resources for how to do BAM, including strategic planning and step-by-step operational implementation. Drawing on a wide variety of BAM models, Johnson works through details of both mission and business realities, with an eye to such issues as management, sustainability and accountability. Business as mission is a movement with enormous potential. This book breaks new ground in how faith and work intersect and are lived out in crosscultural contexts, where job creation and community transformation go hand in hand. Come, participate in what may well be one of the most strategic mission paradigms of the 21st century.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There is a growing awareness throughout the world church that in the twenty-first century business as mission (BAM) may well prove to one of God’s primary, if not the principle, instrument of world evangelization and kingdom transformation. Neal Johnson’s presentation of BAM is masterful, comprehensive, clear, wonderfully readable, motivating and challenging--the best in the field. May this work help to motivate and mobilize biblical Christians around the globe to new, creative and committed missionary action to, within and through the marketplace to proclaim in word and deed the coming of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Charles Van Engen, Arthur F. Glasser Professor of Biblical Theology of Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary )

"Finally, a complete book on the subject of business as mission. If God Is at Work is the 'why' of BAM, clearly, Neal's work is the 'how.' It is detailed, packed with great advice providing a step-by-step approach to doing BAM. It is punctuated with examples and tells it like it is. As the working encyclopedia for business as mission, it is a must for anyone who is considering work in this field directly or tangentially." (Ken Eldred, author, God Is at Work )

"Masterfully combining 'how come' and 'how to,' Neal Johnson has crafted an instant classic on marketplace missiology. His unusually rich experiences in work, ministry and education prepared him to offer in a single volume almost everything we need to know philosophically, theologically, scripturally and practically with the greatest mission opportunity in the twenty-first century--business as mission. While elaborating the complexities and ambiguities of definition and implementation--this is no slick quick fix book--Johnson leaves us with a heart panting after God’s own heart in the words of Jesus: 'As the Father has sent me, I am sending you' (John 20:21), a fully incarnational mission." (R. Paul Stevens, Emeritus Professor, Marketplace Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, BC, part-time faculty, Bakke Graduate University, Seattle, adjunct professor, Biblical Graduate School of Theology, Singapore )

"Johnson's Business as Mission: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice delivers on its title. If you want simple bromides about business as a mission field, this book is not for you. But if you recognize the centrality of work in God's created order, and if you want to integrate Christian teachings and workplace life through the lens of mission, then this richly resourced book is a must-read." (David W. Miller, Ph.D, director, Princeton University Faith & Work Initiative, and author of God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement )

"The most powerful and complete presentation of business as mission I have seen to date! Neal goes beyond theology and inspirational stories, delving into the real-life issues of doing BAM in a global context. I highly recommend this book for those who are serious about using their business skills for God and who recognize the importance of spiritual stewardship when running an evangelistic business in a foreign land." (Thomas Sudyk, CEO, EC Group International, India, China and North America )

"The global business as mission (BAM) movement has for many years been on a journey toward holistic transformation through business and the quadruple bottom lines. Dr. Neal Johnson has developed an important road map for our journey. Fellow BAM travelers everywhere: Use this map!" (Mats Tunehag, Senior Associate for Business as Mission for the Lausanne Movement & the World Evangelical Alliance )

"Be prepared to have your view of the marketplace launched into a new orbit! This is easily the most comprehensive and valuable guide to business as mission ever written, perhaps because no one is better qualified to write it than Neal Johnson. This book will serve multitudes who are finding that business may be the primary gateway to extending God's kingdom into every corner of the earth in the decades just ahead." (John D. Beckett, chairman, the Beckett Companies, and author of Loving Monday and Mastering Monday )

"Neal Johnson's Business as Mission is the most comprehensive manual in the history of the marketplace movement. For years to come this will be the foundational text used by mission agencies, universities and seminaries, and business leaders interested in BAM. It identifies and simplifies the definitions, strategies, practical steps and key players in the worldwide BAM movement." (Kent Humphreys, Ambassador, FCCI / Christ@Work )

"C. Neal Johnson's Business as Mission would be my first choice for a single textbook on the subject. It is comprehensive, up-to-date, theoretically lucid and instructive for implementation. Business is a strategic tool for a new breed of crosscultural workers in the twenty-first-century mission. Not only will it be used for evangelism but also for securing the economic well-being of the people." (Tetsunao Yamamori, Lausanne senior adviser and president/CEO of WorldServe Ministries )

"Neal Johnson has provided a systematic, strategic and tactical approach in answering the important question on how to conduct business as mission in a God-honoring way." (Luis Bush, international facilitator, Transform World Connections )

"Neal Johnson and I have been friends for many years during which we've experienced several generational leaps in the practice and understanding of BAM; with this book, Neal has jumped to a new BAM best-practices world record. This book is a must-read for those already doing BAM as well as for those considering BAM. May this book also catalyze closer working relationships and trust between mission agencies and the business people and especially entrepreneurs of the world." (Dwight Nordstrom, chairman, Pacific Resources International )

"In this book, Dr. Neal Johnson does a masterful job of explaining business as mission (BAM) and its missiological significance. He also moves the conversation forward by providing insights--drawing from his personal experience and his research--into the 'how-to' questions that so many aspiring practitioners are asking. His book will be extremely useful to anyone interested in BAM, students as well as practitioners." (from the foreword by Steve Rundle, associate professor of economics, Biola University, Crowell School of Business, and coauthor of Great Commission Companies )

About the Author

C. Neal Johnson (Ph.D., Fuller Seminary) is the founding dean of the School of Business and professor of international business at Bakke Graduate University in Seattle, Washington, an institution which seeks to go beyond traditional business schools and help transform global communities through Christian business and entreprenurial education. Before joining Bakke, Dr. Johnson was a senior fellow and scholar in residence for Business as Mission (BAM) at Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi. In addition, Dr. Johnson has had an extensive and unique thirty-year career as an attorney, banker, educator, business consultant and entrepreneur both domestically and internationally.

Steve Rundle is associate professor of economics and business as mission at Biola University in La Mirada, California. His teaching and research interests are focused on the intersection between international economics and faith-based business. He is also the editor of Economic Justice in a Flat World: Christian Perspectives on Globalization.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: IVP Academic (December 8, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830838651
• ISBN-13: 978-0830838653
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #333,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive.... Almost, February 9, 2010

By 

J. Gary "strategic foresight" (Virginia Beach, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Business as Mission: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice (Paperback)

Having played a key role to create the Perspectives program, I am certain that Johnson's book will become the default handbook for any BAM student, business owner, church mission pastor or aspiring missionary. It is tour de force in nearly every way. It appeals to me as an MBA professor, as it covers entrepreneurial and economic facets of Business as Missions (BAM) in developing economies. As a missiologist, I find it cutting edge and contextually relevant to Evangelicalism. As a strategic leadership scholar, I find its hands-on guidelines for business and ministry practitioners to be practical.

As comprehensive as Johnson's book is, it does not address the macro-issues that must shape BAM as a community of practice. While it does address corporate social responsibility and "kingdom" bottom lines, it could have offered a stronger business call to sustainable development and social entrepreneurship, in the vain of Friedman's _Hot, flat, and Crowded_ (2008), or Hart and Quinn's _Capitalism at the crossroads: Aligning business, earth, and humanity_ (2007).

These issues of systemic business transformation are not foreign to Evangelical discourse, as McLaren has shown in _Everything Must Change_ (2007). Christianity must address the macro issues of transforming business so it doesn't live beyond its limits, in creation abuse, energy overuse or debt formation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive Business as Missions Book is a Hit, January 23, 2010

By 

C. Amex (NV, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Business as Mission: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice (Paperback)

If you're a "BAM" proponent, practitioner, or promoter, this book, "Business As Mission: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice," is the one you'll want to buy and read. Neal Johnson gives over 400 pages of great reading for students and business leaders already interested in Business as Mission but are looking to get the full picture. If you don't know about the BAM movement and are a business person, get this book and make your business count for the Kingdom. I'm a Perspectives veteran and a businessman myself, so this book really makes sense.

4.0 out of 5 stars BAM Review, February 8, 2011

By 

cliff - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Business as Mission: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice (Paperback)

It was a good book and a great place to start if you want to create a business as a mission. Highly recommended.