dayton roberts 1981 a missionary strategy of "tentmaking"
TRANSCRIPT
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Background
Briefing
Paper
Number 14
Latin America
Mission
5465
N.W.
36 33166)
P.O. Box 52-7900
Miami,
FL
33152-7900
(305)884-8400
September
1,
1981
This paper has been
prepared
by
the Administration
primarily
for in ternal use. I t may not be quoted or reproduced without
~ e r m i s s i o n
I t
is dated, and subject to revision a t any
time.
A
MISSIONARY
STRATEGY
OF ''TENTMAKING
One of the catch phrases in mission circles
today
is "tentmaking." Taken
from the experience of
the Apostle
Paul,
who
at times supported himself in his
missionary labors by
exercising
his
trade of leather
craft ing, or making
tents
(with Aquila
and
Prisc i l la ,
the
label
of tentmaking
has
often
been
loosely
applied to
several
really diverse categories of Christian service. With
equal
carelessness,
i t
has been proposed as a
cure-al l
for the
constantly recurring
shortages of
missionary
support.
Tentmaking is
indeed a
valid
option
for helping in
the
mission of the
Church, and as
such
should
be
explored, but panacea
i t
is not
Wade
Coggins r ight ly observes that careful definit ions
can help point
us
towards
effective
ut i l iza t ion of the tentmaking option.
In
a somewhat refined
form, we
ci te here
his
defini t ions.
(See
his
paper
of
March
13, 1980,
for the
Evangelical Foreign Missions
Association.)
1.
Career
missionary.
This
i s
a
Christian who
i s :
1.1 Called of God to missionary service to, or on
behalf
of, people in
a foreign
culture,
1.2
For
whom
th is
is a
primary
and
l ifelong
commitment,
1.3 Who
is
supported for th is purpose by gif t s f ~ o m the
Lord's people,
and
1.4 \vho labors under the supervision of a
mission and/or
other church
related enti ty .
2. Tentmzker. This term refers to a Christian
who
i s :
2.1
Equally called,
committed and
directed, but
2.2
Who spends part of his time earning
remuneration, ei ther
2.21
to replace
or
supplement
the supporting gif t s from the Lord's
people, or
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-2- A Missionary Strategy
of
"Tentmaking"
2.22 to gain access or
credibi l i ty for
the communication of
his
message.
As we
understand the
term,
a
tentmaker
must be
under
the
supervisi
on of
the
church, mission or
para-eccles ia l
asency,
or
else
i f
he
is se l f -
directed)
he must be Working in harmony with them, and following common
strategies and objectives. In other words, he is a part-time career
missionary,
but with
a
different source or sources of
support.
3. A Christ ian witness.
Every
Christ ian, on the other hand, i s cal led to
witness
to his fai th
in Jesus
Christ and, ~ ~ t i n
the
l imits of his
circumstances, . in that sense to
be
a
mi.'3sionary.
His witness
may
i..te "international" and/or "overseas," thus
enhancing
i t s
value
to
the worldwide cause of the
Gospel.
I t should not be assumed,
however,
that
simply by
crossing
an ocean a Christ ian can
thereby
become
an effect ive
witness )
.
We should note,
of
course,
that
these three
classif ications
are not r igid
and
may
overlap. For eKample St. Paul himself shifted
from
the s ta tus of a
career
missionary
to that of a tentmaker and back
again.
I t is
&lso
t rue
that
the l ine of dist inct ion between
the categories is often blurred.
Take the
case
of
an MK*
who
returns to earn his/her l iving in the land of his/her bi r th
and there to .;ritness for Christ . Is
he/she
an "ir,::.c.rnational Christian witness"
or
a "tentmaker"? He/ she might be ei ther one--or both I t ~ o u l d seem that
the
determining
facto.: here
would
be the
degree to
which
the person
consciously
seeks to work
in
harmony with a specific strategy or under the direct ion (formal
or informal) of a church
or
missionary ager.cy. If he/she i s trying
to
do th is ,
he/she would
be
classif ied more as a
tentmaker
than
simply
as
an
overseas
witness.
Tentwaking
is
easier in
some professions than in
others.
Teachers for
example, can often
avai l
themselves of the time and opportunity
to
p r f o ~ m much
service
for
the Church.
Medical doctors
have
also
been effect ive
in opening
doors to evangelism.
Y..any
teclmical
occupations
do
not
allow
:: i
u ; for a consistent missionary
labor, however, and ot hers require too much tra veling, with insuff icient
opportunit ies for
service
except
for a quick
wo
r d of tes t i DDny. Anyone i
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A Missionary Stratery
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witness
to Christ in Saudi
Arabia, or
Libya?
In
many
s i tuat ions
tentmaking
may
be
at
least a part of the
answer.
Since God
uses
a l l three of
the above
types of service
to
produce
growth in
His Church, i t is appropriate and essential that the
Latin
America Mission seek
to ut i l ize both career and tentmaking missionaries,
incorporat ing
them into
i t s
programs
of evangelism and
outreach.
At the same
time, i t
should
also seek
to find ways of mobilizing the
witness
of
a l l
available Christians in t :e extension
of God's kingdom
and for His
glory.
Some L A M stu 1 ies ident i t ies are only
s l ight ly
disguised )
Case l Mr and Mrs. A were undersupported when their service leave
ended.
So Mrs. A agreed to accept a job which had been offered
to her
a t the
Overseas
University.
The
assurance of
th is salary put
the
A
family
over the minimum
support level , and
they could
return to the
f ield.
Mrs. A uses
her
job
as
a
ministry. She i s a tentmaker.
Case
2.
Mr.
B
is
on
the
Coral
Gables
staf f .
There
is
no way
his
missionary
a l l o w ~
;ould
suffice to support
his
family in the Miami
area.
So Mrs. B
takes an outside job. This,
too,
is tentmaking.
Case
1_ Dr. C feels called to minister in medicine
in
Ni c
aragua.
The
only way he
can
do th is , ap p
arent ly,
i s
to take
a
job in
a
government
hospital
on the Atlantic
coast. He
i s able to give considerable time to
Christian
service, and he receives some
support
from
the U.S.
He
becomes a tentmaker.
Case i Mr D holds a job with
an
overseas company
He
is
called
upon
to do a lo t of traveling and overtime work,
but
he ass is ts in the local church
as
much as he
can, and t r ies to
maintain a fa i th f ul
witness
on
the
job.
His
is an overseas Christian
witness,
but he
would probably
not
be
called
a
tentmaker.
Case
5. On the other
hand,
Mr E owns his own business and
manages to
find considerable
time for
the Lord's
work. He is on
several
local
boards,
is act ive
in
the ministry
of
his church
and is trying to make
both his
own
witness
and
the collective
act ivi ty
of his
business
contribute
to the
growth
of
the
Church overseas.
He
would be :called a tentmaker.
Case
6.
Miss
F is an M who has
chosen
to l ive
and work
over : eas (in
the
land
of
her
bir th)
and
to
collaborate
with the
~ l s s o n
in every
way she
can.
She feels better about being independent of U.S. support, and
her
very independence
has given her a wider entree into
the society in which
she
works
and ministers .
She
is
a tentmaker.
Mission policies of the L A M which ref lec t the preceding convictions,
and allow
for cases l ike those ci ted, include those that (1) permit remunerative
act ivi t ies on the part of i t s
missionary
aff i l i a tes ,
(2) allow for
f lexibi l i ty
in
support
levels
and
for contractual
aff i l ia t ion, and
(3) govern
the responsi
bi l i t i es of spouses.
(See
Principles and
Government,
5.5, 5.6, 6.2;
Manual
of
Personnel and Administrative Regulations, 2.4, 3.7, 3.72; and the
u o p o ~ t
Plan
(Appendix
B
of P AR],
3.1, 3.3.)
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Missionary Strategy of Tentmaking
The
Latin
America Mission s currently developing a framework for more
effect ive
involvement
of
volunteers , short- termers and lay col laborators n
overseas witness to Jesus Chris t .
There
s
room
for
everybody
n the great
Hission of the Church.
w
Dayton
Roberts
Vice
President